Nick Carpenter, known professionally as Medium Build, is a singer-songwriter whose music reflects a tumultuous journey of self-discovery and acceptance. Born in Georgia but raised on the East Coast, Carpenter was raised in a deeply religious Christian family, the son of former missionaries. These traditional values gave his childhood a strong foundation that would eventually cause him to challenge the fundamental principles his upbringing instilled in him.
As a child, Carpenter was steeped in his family’s religious traditions. His parents introduced him to a deep devotion to their church which went on to form the core of his identity. All that changed as he approached high school. It was during this time that Carpenter started to doubt his family’s faith. He was not content with surface answers—he wanted to go below the surface and classrooms developed by his cultural experiences.
For me, building relationships with people of different faiths was essential not just to my personal journey but to making this change happen. These interactions incited a new firestorm of confusion and anxiety within him, plummeting him into an internal battle. Carpenter recalls, “There was a guy that I wanted to be and the guy that I was — and they weren’t connected.” This mismatch between theory and practice piqued his interest. By 18, he started to doubt, and eventually reject, his belief system.
The decision to leave the church was not without repercussions. As Carpenter’s dependence on drugs escalated, his relationship with his parents became increasingly strained. Their pain compounded from profound loss as he became apostate from their shared religion. In Parsons’ hands, this tension becomes an exploration of the difficulty of honoring the bonds of kinship with honesty and self-definition. The things that were making you, the things that are making me. And we all know you can’t run from family,” he continues.
As he worked through these complexities, Carpenter found songwriting to be a powerful tool in making sense of what he was going through. His lyrics serve as the perfect diary, chronicling his journey from darkness to light. They illustrate the unique tension he felt as a child, always testing his parent’s faith. “I think for the past, it’s been very helpful to give that kid a voice — usually the 10-year-old that felt stuck in that really weird, sticky, Christian, zipped-up place,” Carpenter explains. In sharing his story through music, he discovered the healing power of expressing those emotions and experiences.
Now based primarily between Alaska and Tennessee, Carpenter has popped in recent years next to other up-and-coming stars such as Zach Bryan and Noah Kahan. Now, millions of listeners in the U.S. and worldwide connect with his music, which flows from disarmingly honest, diary-like lyricism. Having found the success that’s eluded him for decades, Carpenter’s been able to embrace another side of his identity — his queer self. This discovery imbues an even deeper richness to his craft as Ben folds complex themes of accepting and loving oneself inward.
Yet Carpenter’s story is as much one of strength as it is of struggle. He confesses to wrestling with inferiority complexes and desire for escapism in these chaotic chapters. “What I was doing to try to combat that was go harder, do more, party harder, go to every restaurant, have every wine, experience more,” he shares candidly. These moments of empire stretching were in stark contrast to his deep yearning to connect and belong.
In recent years, Carpenter’s songwriting has gained new significance as she has more publicly embraced her queer identity. He expresses a desire to explore who he can be and who he wants to become: “Now I’m a bit more curious about who I can be or who I want to be.” This changing story feels familiar in more ways than one. Simultaneously, it resonates with viewers all around the globe, who are going down their own paths of self-discovery.
Carpenter is growing into herself as an artist with each passing day. His passion lies in providing a voice to the voiceless, the outcasts, and the misfits. His music serves as an extension of those experiences. It welcomes people into the fullness of their being. “I think there’s still that little Christian kid that wants to save everybody, say yes to everyone,” he notes, underscoring the complexity of his identity and the influence of his upbringing.
