NOAH KAHAN KICKS OFF NEW ERA WITH ‘THE GREAT DIVIDE’
There are few moments in an artist’s career as critical as the first release following a breakout success. Will you take one step closer to becoming one of the greats or become frozen in the past, shrouded by nostalgia? No one has taken this challenge more seriously than Noah Kahan, who released the first single off and title track off his new album, The Great Divide, due out in April 2026. If the single is any indication of what the album holds, Kahan will no doubt cement himself as one of the mainstream legendary songwriters of the 2020’s through this release.
In the time since the final variant release of Stick Season (Forever) , Kahan tightened his grip on the painfully razor sharp relatability of lyrics and expanded his sound to a satisfying fullness that Stick Season never quite reached. Opening up with a high tempoed folk and rock lead guitar riff, “The Great Divide” is everything we know and love from Kahan. It delves into a range of topics such as mental health, religious trauma, friendship (and the loss of it), set in small-town New England. The story is told through devastatingly vivid imagery that zeros in on the profound impact of the seemingly mundane: Kahan’s signature style.
When listening to the song on its own, Kahan leaves a lot of the message up for interpretation. Is it a past lover? A friend? Yourself? The music video, plays out like a coming of age film and clarifies at least what the song means to him. Kahan regrets painfully failing to support a struggling friend, ultimately leading to a great divide in their relationship.
“The Great Divide” contains some of Kahan’s most gutpunching lyrics to date. In the second verse, while Kahan reflects on his failure to acknowledge his friend's struggle, he sings “I heard nothin’ but the bass in every ballad that you’d play / While you swore to God the singer read your mind.” It’s quiet - yet profound. (Do we think he is aware of the irony of him singing about a singer reading the listeners’ minds?)
Woven into the backdrop of the song is Kahan’s sideline perspective of religious trauma. During the anthemic release of the chorus, Kahan sings, “I hope you’re scared of all the ordinary shit, and not your soul, and He might do with it.” In the outro, he brilliantly wishes his friend to resolve the past trauma by singing “I hope you threw a brick right into that stained glass.” One eagle eyed fan pointed out in the comments of the music video that the younger version of Kahan’s struggling friend wears a cross necklace throughout the video until this line is sung, he appears in the present sans necklace.
Kahan is one of the few examples of how TikTok can have a positive impact on the music industry. Too often, artists overpromise and underdeliver, but Kahan lives up to the hype and then some. He’s consistently worth the anticipation. To say “The Great Divide” has been well received by fans would be an understatement. Tickets for THE GREAT DIVIDE TOUR immediately sold out most dates and led to Kahan becoming the first artist to sell out four consecutive nights at Fenway Park. (Popcrave)
Releasing an over five-minute title track as the lead single was no doubt a risky move on Kahan's part. But clearly, fortune favors the bold, or whatever they say. If “The Great Divide” is any indication of what’s to come in this era, first of all, I recommend you find a good therapist, and then prepare to sit back and watch Noah Kahan, just a guy from Strafford, Vermont, take over the world.