SXSW: Canon’s vulnerability on ‘Take It All Away’ touches listeners

A young woman removed her wristband which read “empty” and handed it to Canon after a concert in Louisiana this February.

“I just really want to give this to you,” she said. “You made a really big impact in my life as you wrote that song.”

The song was “Take It All Away”, a single that Canon had released earlier that month and performed at the show. In “Take It All Away”, Canon expresses the depression he felt after his life-threatening injury in December 2014.

Doctors had recently diagnosed the girl who had given Canon her wristband with diabetes, and she told him that “Take It All Away” was helping her endure.

“I was thrown back,” Canon told Rapzilla at SXSW 2016 as he wore the wristband. “I was like, ‘Man, I’m really honored. This is something you’ve attached to your life, and you feel like you can let this go.’ … Just seeing her response, I’m just like, ‘Ah, I want to hold back these tears.’ But I was like, ‘Aw, forget it. We just gon’ cry together.'”

Canon said this is one of the many testimonies he has heard from listeners impacted by “Take It All Away” after concerts.

“I feel like this song is allowing people to take the culture from where it is … let me explain,” Canon said. “I feel like we’ve created a Christian culture where it’s not okay to not be okay, and I think it’s okay to not be okay. I think it’s okay to suffer and mourn. I think it’s okay to be sad. I think it’s okay to hurt. It’s okay to talk about the pain, the frustrations that you have.

“Man, it’s okay to be depressed. I wouldn’t say sit and wallow for the rest of your life, but it’s okay to have to walk through that season of life. God says that there’s going to be times when that happens, and it’s okay to be there. It’s those moments when you experience God’s grace and comfort.”

Watch part of Canon’s interview at SXSW below, as well as his Rapzilla-hosted discussion about depression shortly after the release of “Take It All Away”, which can be purchased on iTunes.

David Daniels
David Daniels
David Daniels is a columnist at Rapzilla.com and the managing editor of LegacyDisciple.org. He has been published at Desiring God, The Gospel Coalition, Christianity Today, CCM Magazine, Bleacher Report, The Washington Times and HipHopDX.
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