In celebration of the 55th season of Sesame Street, Chris Stapleton, Noah Kahan, SZA, Reneé Rapp, and Samara Joy, are the musical guests set to appear on the series in 2025, which will premiere new episodes on January 16.
Along with additional guests, including actor Michael B. Jordan, sports legend Billie Jean King, and celebrity hairstylist Jonathan Van Ness, the 55th season will be available on PBS stations nationwide, along with the PBS KIDS app in the fall of 2025.
“There’s a lot to learn from music—yeah, timing and harmonies and melody and different styles and different cultures,” said Sesame Street mainstay Elmo, who first appeared on the show in 1980. “It’s really cool! We’ve got a lot of wonderful people come and do some music with us on ‘Sesame Street,’ like Miss Reneé Rapp and SZA. Chris Stapleton, Noah Kahan, Samara Joy … lots of great people.”
On November 29, 1969, Sesame Street first aired on public television. The children’s educational show continues to send out early development and education curriculums for kids across more than 150 countries. The series has won more than 11 Grammy Awards and 200 Emmys, along with two Peabody Awards and the Kennedy Center Honor for lifetime artistic achievement, the first for a television show.
The new season will feature episodes focused on “emotional well-being, helping children learn accessible strategies to comprehend and cope with big feelings through fun, lighthearted, relatable, and engaging stories,” according to Sesame Street.
“New episodes of Sesame Street will help young viewers understand and express their feelings, learn new mindfulness practices, and as always, have a blast with their favorite furry and funny friends,” said Sal Perez, executive producer of Sesame Street, in a statement. “Whether it’s taking a volcano breath when angry, learning to give yourself a hug when frustrated, or wiggling it out when disappointed, we are empowering children with the strategies to help build resiliency and the foundational skills for emotional well-being.”
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Dr. Rosemarie Truglio, senior vice president of curriculum and content for Sesame Workshop added, “This season’s emotional well-being curriculum was developed in response to the growing mental health crisis affecting children globally,” said Focusing on emotion awareness and social connection skills, children will learn that all feelings are important and that we all experience big feelings, as well as how to navigate social scenarios with friends, families, and the wider community.”
The season will kick off with Reneé Rapp (Thursday, January 16), followed by Michael B. Jordan (Thursday, January 23), Samara Joy (Thursday, February 6), Noah Kahan (Thursday, March 6), SZA (Thursday, April 10), Chris Stapleton (Thursday, July 24), Jonathan Van Ness (Thursday, August 21), and Billie Jean King (Thursday, August 28), who will all join Sesame Street characters in songs and lessons.
Specific lessons from the musical guests during the 55th season span one on gratitude with SZA to an acoustic song about feelings with Rapp, Stapleton’s tribute to friends and music, a song about feelings from Khan, and a jazz-bent teaching on taking turns by Joy, who insisted on singing live.
“It very rarely happens on ‘Sesame Street,’ said Bill Sherman, music director for Sesame Street. “I can only count, like, a few times. There was Stevie Wonder back in the day, which is a classic. And there’s Billy Joel. There’s John Legend. There’s a couple people that actually sing live, but Samara insisted on it.”
For his episode on the show, Stapleton wanted to write his own song, which he worked out with Sherman over Zoom.
“Chris Stapleton really wanted to write his own song,” said Sherman. “It was really one of the most surreal two-hour Zooms that I really ever had in my life.”
Photo: Chris Stapleton by Zach Hyman, Courtesy of Sesame Street
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