The pressure to follow up a career-making hit can be enormous, and at one point Noah Kahan thought it might be easier to simply change careers rather than try to match the success of Stick Season.
That’s according to Noah’s new Rolling Stone cover story, in which he says that after touring Stick Season in 2024, “I was just sick of it.” He adds that, faced with the prospect of making his next album, all he could think was, “This thing that’s supposed to be so fun and so rewarding is becoming tiring and making you anxious all the time.”
According to Rolling Stone, Noah began thinking about getting a new job. He got fingerprinted with the intention of becoming a substitute teacher, and also considered enrolling in psychology classes at his local college or even becoming a groundskeeper at a golf course. “I thought that would be such a therapeutic thing,” he explains.
There was some light at the end of the tunnel at the end of 2024, when he first connected with The National member and producer Aaron Dessner at Dessner’s Long Pond Studios. But another setback came in March 2025, when he took a trip to Joshua Tree, California, and ended up having what he calls an “OCD meltdown,” which manifested in him suffering from disturbing intrusive thoughts.
After that, Noah went back on medication and finally, he felt creative again. His new #1 album, The Great Divide, was the result.
“You find out who you are in the moments when you’re alone,” he says. “I needed to be brought back down to earth, and I think the process, as hard as it was, really did bring me back.”
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