This article was inspired by The Great Divide. Noah Kahan’s new album both hurt me deeply and healed something inside of me. Several of the songs are about someone in his life moving away; some focus on the leaving, some focus on the aftermath. The album was well-timed. We are coming up on the end of the college school year, which means many college students are graduating, and some of those who are not are still preparing for a life change such as embarking on a study abroad program or transferring universities. I am one of the latter; in June, I am moving across the country, further away from my family than I’ve ever been. It’s scary and bittersweet and exciting and heartbreaking all at the same time. So here are some songs about nostalgia and change.
“Oldies Station” by Twenty One Pilots
The first time I heard this song, played for me by my ex-boyfriend, I was speechless after the bridge. Songs about nostalgia usually hit me very hard. He told me that the song came out around his high school graduation, so he listened to it a lot during that time. I think this song fits really well for any time of impending change.
Notable Lyrics:
“You don’t quite mind how long red lights are taking / Push on through / Your favorite song was on the oldies station / Push on through”
“Make an oath, then make mistakes / Start a streak you’re bound to break / When darkness rolls on you, push on through”
“Only consistency in your periphery / Is fear and the bridge of your nose”
“Somewhere Only We Know” by Keane
This is a well-known song (at least I think it is). Part of the reason it evokes such a nostalgic feeling for me is because it was in the rotation of songs my family usually listened to in the car when I was a kid. The main background instrumentals being banged out on a piano is so fun, but it also gives the track a more bittersweet quality than if it was, say, electric guitar.
Notable Lyrics:
“And if you have a minute, why don’t we go / Talk about it somewhere only we know / This could be the end of everything”
“I walked across the empty land / I knew the pathway like the back of my hand”
“Is this the place we used to love? / Is this the place that I’ve been dreaming of? / Oh, simple thing, where have you gone? / I’m getting old and I need something to rely on”
“Staying Still” by Noah Kahan
This song is one of four bonus tracks on Kahan’s The Great Divide: The Last of the Bugs. Part of the bridge was teased before the album’s release, so fans were very excited when he released this song on the deluxe album. The song is about hating when someone you love moves away—thus the lyrics “I hope that Logan crumbles and gets hit by a tornado” (Logan is a nickname for Boston’s international airport). As someone who has had many friends enter and exit my life throughout the years—some moving across the country, others moving on from my friendship—this song hit hard, especially the bridge. And it can definitely apply to the feeling of moving away from those you love too.
Notable Lyrics:
“But you could punch me in the gut / And it wouldn’t hurt like watching you grow smaller on the back road”
“Cause I can’t keep on starting over / Sleeping in a bed half empty, daydreaming / All love must leave, oh, but search for it I will / Honey, tell me, are you good at staying still?”
“Put in love, put in hours, put in ceremony / As I was, how you were, what was there before me / Never mind, never mind, oh, forget about it / I’ll be good, I’ll be fine, I can laugh about it”
“I’m Outta Time” by Oasis
I adore this song. The piano and acoustic guitar blend so well, and the lyrics fit so well for packing up one portion of your life and preparing to move on to the next one. Especially with the spoken words near the end of the song: “What’s it going to do, vanish? Is it not going to be there when I get back?”
Notable Lyrics:
“Here’s a song / It reminds me of when we were young / Looking back at all the things we’d done / You gotta keep on keeping on”
“If I’m to fall / Would you be there to applaud? / Or would you hide behind them all? / Cause if I am to go / In my heart you’d grow / And that’s where you belong”
“Pool” by Samia
I listened to this song on repeat for pretty much the entire second half of 2025. It is ethereal and gorgeous. The main theme of the song is wondering how much time you are going to get with the people you love. Please go listen to it. Maybe while lying in bed in the dark.
Notable Lyrics:
“How long do I have left with my dog / Till I start forgetting shit? / Till we’re rich and then we’re not and then we’re rich? / How much longer till I’m taller? / How much longer till it’s midnight? / How much longer till the morning? / Are my legs gonna last? / Is it too much to ask?”
“How long do you think we can sit here / Before we have to move?”
“All Them Horses” by Noah Kahan
I heard part of this song teased before the album’s release as well. The chorus really fits with leaving for a new place. It’s also just a gorgeous, gorgeous (and very sad) song.
Notable Lyrics:
“You know I wanna beat it, wanna beat it bad / Oh, everyone looks happy in a photograph / I crossed the county line, I cannot go back / I’m always on my own”
“Window seat in a ‘90s plane / See the rivers meet and spread like veins / Another airport lounge, another time zone change”
“5 More Minutes” by Sydney Rose
Sydney Rose has an airy, beautiful singing voice. Lately, she’s been posting reels on Instagram covering bits of songs like “Sign Of The Times” and “Twin Size Mattress,” and every time one comes up I have to listen to it. “5 More Minutes” is about missing being a kid, which hits me really hard. (Also, if you like this song of hers, I beg you to go listen to “Briston.”)
Notable Lyrics:
“It’s all I wanted / But not what I thought / I don’t dream / I just wish a lot”
“I look up to my dad / And ask him to help me touch the sky / And I look up quizzes / Will I go to hell when I die? / I got so old so fast / And I cannot go back”
“Heart Shaped Locket” by Shallow Alcove
This song is also about time passing and missing the past, even when you know thinking about it is keeping you tied to nothing. The first time I heard this song, the refrain at the end made me cry.
Notable Lyrics:
“Carry all my old friends / In a heart-shaped locket / Keep ‘em tied around my neck / Even though they hold me back”
“I’m blowing kisses / Like I’m not haunted / By every moment that I miss / Even ones I wish I could forget”
“Tying up my loose ends / Into perfect ribbons / Growing older is a gift / Letting go is just a part of it”
“The hard part is that time, it passes / The best part is that time, it passes / The hard part is it never lasts / But the best part is just that you had it”
“Eldest Daughter” by Taylor Swift
I will freely admit that I do not like The Life of a Showgirl (if you do, that is great and awesome, it’s just not my vibe). I will even freely admit that I do not like the majority of “Eldest Daughter.” However, the bridge of “Eldest Daughter” makes me cry every time I listen to it, and it fits with my life change because in moving across the country, I also get to see my old best friend again. That is why I am including this song. Just listen to the bridge.
Notable Lyrics (aka the bridge):
“We lie back / A beautiful, beautiful timelapse / Ferris wheels, kisses, and lilacs / And things I said were dumb / Cause I thought that I’d never find that beautiful, beautiful life that / Shimmers that innocent light back / Like when we were young”
“Willing and Able” by Noah Kahan
Another track from The Great Divide, but unlike the others so far, I listened to this one on loop crying my eyes out late at night. Thank you, Noah. Anyway. This song evokes a lot of nostalgia and bittersweet feelings toward the past, especially in regard to a relationship with a sibling or an old friend.
Notable Lyrics:
“I’m willing and able / If you wanna kick this rock around / If you’ve got a bone to pick with me”
“Oh, we can fight like we used to fight / Bony-limbed, red-faced, and teary-eyed”
“Look at you leaving again, it’s all you know how to do / Go ahead, take the last of the drinks, the world belongs to you”
“Oh, I wish you could know me / And I wish I could know you much more sometimes / Wish I could do nothing with you / Sit in the yard while the day dies, leave it all on the table / And I’ll say I love you and mean it this time / Say I’m sorry for everything else / If we found a way to the other side, I’d be willing and able”
“Scott Street” by Phoebe Bridgers
I was on a huge Phoebe kick for basically the last three years of high school. “Scott Street” is pretty much about learning to live on your own and then seeing people you used to know and hearing how much they’ve changed. Some may think the last two minutes of the song kind of drag, but I respectfully disagree.
Notable Lyrics:
“Spending money and I earned it / When I’m lonely, that’s when I’ll burn it”
“I asked you, how is your sister? / I heard she got her degree / I said that makes me feel old / You said, ‘What does that make me?’”
“Anyway, don’t be a stranger”
“Down” by Something Corporate
This song is about living in a new place, struggling with loneliness, and missing your old friends. Enough said.
Notable Lyrics:
“Let’s get crazy, talk about our big plans / Places that you’re going, places that I haven’t been / Build my walls up, concrete castle / Keep this kingdom, free of hassle”
“But I hear a sound echo in the emptiness / All around, but you can’t change this loneliness / Look what you’ve found, I’ve fallen down”
“We Go Way Back” by Noah Kahan
Another new track from Mr. Kahan’s The Great Divide. At this point, if you’re not planning to go listen to the whole album after finishing this article, wyd?
Notable Lyrics:
“Out here, I can hear your heartbeat, I can hear the start of a long sigh / I can hear the song of the robin / I haven’t wrote my own in a long time”
“I don’t need my name back, throw my notebook in the basement / Oh, I love you and I can’t fake that for a moment, we go way back / We go way back / Tell me I don’t need options, that I have substance, that I’m important / If it’s only for letting dogs out, sweeping porches, to make me nothing / Take me way back”
“I’ve never seen the rain fall so hard, honey, we’re north of nowhere now / Heaven is a drink in the backyard as we watch the storm touch down”
“You’re Gonna Go Far” by Noah Kahan
This Noah Kahan track is from his previous album Stick Season (We’ll All Be Here Forever). It’s about knowing someone is destined for something different than you are, and thus knowing they will eventually be somewhere far away from you.
Notable Lyrics:
“It makes me smile to know when things get hard / Ooh, you’ll be far / Ooh, you’ll be far from here”
“So pack up your car, put a hand on your heart / Say whatever you feel, be wherever you are / We ain’t angry at you, love / You’re the greatest thing we’ve lost”
“We’re overdue for a revival / We spent so long just getting by / That’s the thing about survival / Who the hell, who the hell likes living just to die?”
I know that was a really long list of songs, so hopefully you didn’t get bored. Music is one of my favorite things in the entire world, and it really helps me cope when things are hard, so I figured I would share some songs that especially resonate with me during this time in my life. Good luck to you, dear reader, no matter whether you’re staying still or going far.