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Eric Church delivered more than just a graduation speech at UNC-Chapel Hill on Saturday (May 10). The country star turned the university’s commencement ceremony into a heartfelt musical lesson, performing “Carolina” while sharing an emotional message with the graduating class of 2026.

Church admitted that putting together the speech did not come easily. Speaking in front of more than 7,000 graduates gathered at Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, the singer revealed that he abandoned several versions of his remarks before finally realizing he needed to approach it through music.

“I have torn up multiple speeches,” said Church, who has earned two Billboard 200 chart topping albums along with several No. 1 and No. 2 projects on the Top Country Albums chart. “I have thrown things. And in one of my fits of frustration, I sat down with a guitar. And I thought, man, who am I kidding. I need to figure out a way to do this with a guitar.”

The Granite Falls, North Carolina native opened his speech with a metaphor centered around an out of tune guitar. “I want to start with a sound,” he told the graduates. “You know this sound. It’s a guitar that’s out of tune — something that almost gets there, it tries, but doesn’t. Some ancient, honest part of your brain knows it immediately. You don’t need training to hear it. You just know. That sound is the sound of something beautiful that has not been tended to.”

Church then expanded the idea into a life lesson built around the six strings of a guitar. “Six strings. When all six are in tune, the chords they make can stop a conversation cold, carry a broken person through the worst night of their life, or make a room full of strangers feel for three minutes like they’ve known each other forever,” he explained. “But if even one is off, the whole chord unravels. Not gradually, not politely. The moment you strike it you know. I believe your life runs on this principle.”

Throughout the address, Church connected each guitar string to a different pillar of life, including faith, family, heart, ambition and resilience, community, and personal identity. He encouraged the graduating class — made up of 4,453 undergraduate students, 1,608 master’s students, and 981 doctoral students — to chase their ambitions while staying grounded in the communities and values that shaped them.

“I want you to want things. You should want things,” Church told the crowd. “The world has more than enough people standing at the edge of their own potential waiting for a permission slip that was never gonna arrive. Want the thing. Say it out loud. Build toward it with everything you have.”

At the same time, he warned students about losing themselves in a world built around visibility and online validation. “Your generation faces a temptation no generation before has ever faced,” he said. “The temptation to perform to everyone and belong to no one. To be globally visible and locally invisible. To have thousands of followers and no one knows actually where you live. Resist it. Plant yourself somewhere.”

Church continued by urging students to embrace their individuality rather than blending into the crowd. “You were made uniquely, wonderfully, distinctly,” he said. “There’s a sound only you can make. A voice that has never existed before you and will never exist again. The world does not need another cover song. It needs an original.”

As the speech continued, Church returned to his six string metaphor, reminding graduates that every part of life will eventually drift out of balance. “Your faith will go quiet when you need it loud,” he explained. “Your family will get complicated. Your ambition will hollow out and your resilience will wear thin. This is not failure. This is not weakness.”

“The difference between a life that sounds like music and a life that sounds like noise is whether you stop and listen,” he added. “Whether you’re honest enough to hear which string has drifted out of tune, humble enough to make the adjustment instead of just turning up the volume and hoping nobody notices.”

Naturally, the moment would not have been complete without music. Church closed out the ceremony with a performance of “Carolina,” the title track from his 2009 album, as graduates linked arms and swayed together throughout the stadium.

Church joins a growing list of artists delivering commencement speeches this year, alongside fellow country stars Riley Green and Luke Combs, while Hilary Duff recently addressed graduates at Northeastern University.