Noah Kahan

About Noah Kahan

Noah Kahan grew up in Strafford, Vermont, a town with about 1,100 people, and that geography has essentially become his entire brand. The isolation, the seasonal depression, the small-town claustrophobia — it's all there in his songs, delivered with enough self-awareness to keep it from feeling like therapy you didn't ask for.

He started posting songs on Spotify in 2017 while still a teenager, which is how most people start now. "Young Blood" caught some attention, then "Hurt Somebody" actually broke through in 2018, eventually getting a remix with Julia Michaels that helped it crack the mainstream. It's the kind of sad-pop that could soundtrack a TV montage, but Kahan's voice had this lived-in quality that set him apart from the more polished singer-songwriter types flooding the algorithm.

His early work landed somewhere between folk-pop and that indie-bedroom sound that was everywhere in the late 2010s. The debut album "Busyhead" came out in 2019 and did fine — songs like "False Confidence" and "Mess" established his thing: anxiety, relationships falling apart, that voice that sounds like it's already tired. He toured a lot, built a following, but wasn't quite breaking out of the "playlist artist" category yet.

Then 2022 happened. "Stick Season" — both the song and the album — turned him into something bigger. The title track became this runaway thing on TikTok, but not in an annoying way. It resonated because it captured a specific feeling about home: the way you can't wait to leave but can't fully shake it either. The album leaned harder into the Vermont setting, the folk elements, the Paul Simon influences he'd always had. "Northern Attitude" with Hozier, "She Calls Me Back," "Homesick" — the whole thing felt like he'd figured out exactly what he was trying to say.

What's interesting is how he's managed to be deeply regional while connecting with people who've never seen a Vermont winter. The specificity is the point. He's not writing "small town" in some vague, universal way — he's writing about Route 89, about specific bars, about the actual feeling of being stuck between who you were and who you're supposed to become.

He followed up with an expanded version, "Stick Season (We'll All Be Here Forever)" in 2023, adding collaborations with Kacey Musgraves, Post Malone, and Gracie Abrams. The deluxe version approach worked because the songs earned it. "Dial Drunk" with Post Malone somehow made sense.

Now he's selling out arenas, playing festival headlining slots, and still writing songs about feeling too much and wanting to go home. He's found this lane where he can be confessional without being precious about it, sad without being a downer. Turns out a lot of people feel like they're from nowhere and can't figure out where they're going.

His crowds sing along to every word, especially on Stick Season. There's genuine warmth in the room—people who drove hours to be there. He plays with a tightness that suggests he actually rehearses, and there's none of the self-seriousness that sinks some indie shows. He'll chat between songs like he's visiting, not performing.

Known for Stick Season, Your Man, Hurt Somebody, Everywhere, Everything, Godly

See Noah Kahan Live