“And it’s half my fault but I just like to play the victim, I’ll drink alcohol ’til my friends come home for Christmas.” I am sure you have heard these pain-stricken lyrics being played on the radio, as it hit Top 40 months ago. If not the radio, TikTok has broadcasted Noah Kahan’s “Stick Season”, in every emotional-related video since the song’s release.
This past year, Noah Kahan, a long brown-haired and bearded-songwriter from Strafford, Vermont became viral for his heavy-hearted folk songs and relatable Northeastern lyrics. The song that sent him to his celebrity fame and Grammy nomination is called, “Stick Season.” The title refers to the term that Vermont locals describe as the dreary gray time of the seasonal year when the leaves fall off the trees, but snow has yet to fall.
Kahan’s powerful voice, along with his acoustic guitar and banjo, captures chilly piercing moments through his raw poetry and real-life problems which make a listener want to sway to and press repeat. He shares his struggles with heartbreak, alcohol, anxiety, and depression, which in the winter months can be all too familiar. His songs make listeners understand his small-town American woodsman blues and are addicted to the feeling.
Before his year of a Grammy nomination, Kahan released many songs that brought him to the charts like 2020’s “Maine” and 2017’s “Hurt Somebody”. But it wasn’t until his third album, which he wrote eight years after he signed to a record label, that he was a nominee for 2023’s Best New Artist at the Grammys. Celebrities like pop singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo were also quick to jump onto the fan club of Kahan with a cover of his song, “Stick Season” for BBC Radio.
Over the last couple of months, Kahan rereleased new versions of songs on his album Stick Season with features of popular indie and alternative artists including “Dial Drunk” (with Post Malone), “Call Your Mom” (with Lizzy McAlpine), “She Calls Me Back” (with Kasey Musgraves), and “Everywhere, Everything” (with Gracie Abrams). One of my favorite songs of his is when Kahan sings, “Forgive me for my northern attitude, oh I was raised out in the cold” in “Northern Attitude” (with Hozier).
Most recently, Kahan is on tour in the United Kingdom. On February 9th, he released his last song in his rerecorded Stick Season album called, “Forever”. On Feb. 15th, the singer posted on X, “I hope I can play arenas forever but if I don’t just know I’m living out childhood dreams rn and I couldn’t be more grateful for it.”
As a fan, I can’t wait to see what Kahan comes out with next and I’ll try my best to get tickets to his summer 2024 tour in America.