Noah Kahan is a singer and songwriter from Strafford, Vermont. Last year, in 2022, he released Stick Season, his third record. The title track from that record went viral on TikTok when Noah was first writing it, and posting pieces of it. One of those videos has over 10 million plays. And as of this recording, on Spotify, the full song has almost 100 million streams.

For this episode, Noah talked to me about the process of making that song: What led him to first post half a song on TikTok, and what happened after that. You’ll hear the raw recordings off of his phone; the different drafts he made as he worked; you’ll hear the different versions he first shared on social media; and you’ll hear his bracingly honest appraisal of the winding path he took — in his life, and in his music — to get to where he is now.

You can buy or stream “Stick Season” here.

@noahkahanmusic This sucks and I feel guilty buying weed from high schoolers #foryoupage #foryou #depressedjasonmraz #prozackeanureeves ♬ original sound – Noah Kahan

@noahkahanmusic The chorus u requested #foryou #foryoupage #forjewpage #stickseason ♬ original sound – Noah Kahan

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

footnotes:
Gabe Simon
Konrad Snyder
Counting Crows
Avett Brothers
Paul Simon
Appalachian Trail