So, here we are in 2026. If you’ve been anywhere near a radio, a TikTok feed, or a coffee shop in the last three years, you’ve heard that stomp-clap beat and the line about a mom forgetting someone exists. It’s hard to believe there was a time when Noah Kahan was just a "folk-pop guy" trying to figure out if people outside of New England would care about a song named after a local weather window.
Honestly? He wasn't sure they would.
Stick Season isn't just an album title. It’s a very specific, kinda depressing time of year in Vermont. It’s that gray, skeletal period between the last leaf falling and the first real snow. It's muddy. It’s bleak. It feels like the world is holding its breath or just gave up. Kahan took that hyper-local vibe and somehow turned it into a global phenomenon that, by late 2025, landed him a SoundExchange Hall of Fame Award and billions of streams.
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How did a kid from Strafford (population: roughly 1,000) manage to make everyone from London to Sydney feel homesick for a place they’ve never been?
What Most People Get Wrong About the Stick Season Sound
A lot of folks look at the success of the title track and think it was some overnight TikTok fluke. It wasn't. Kahan started teasing that chorus back in late 2020. He was stuck at his mom's house during the pandemic, feeling like he’d plateaued. His earlier stuff—think Busyhead or I Was / I Am—was great, but it had this polished, indie-pop sheen.
With Stick Season, he basically stripped the paint off.
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He leaned into the "unprecedented detail" of his life. He stopped trying to write "relatable" songs and started writing "true" songs. He mentions specific landmarks. He talks about Zoloft. He writes about the "sad-eyed middle-aged man's overpriced new leather couch" in a therapy office. By being almost aggressively specific to his own New England experience, he unlocked a universal feeling of stasis.
The album didn't just stay a collection of 14 tracks, either. It grew like a living thing. We saw the release of Stick Season (We'll All Be Here Forever) in June 2023, which added fan favorites like "Dial Drunk" and "You're Gonna Go Far." Then came the "Forever" era, where he started trading verses with everyone from Hozier and Kacey Musgraves to Post Malone and Sam Fender.
The Anatomy of a Cultural Shift
You've probably noticed that folk music is having a massive moment right now. Kahan is at the center of it, but he’s not alone.
| Milestone | Impact/Detail |
|---|---|
| The TikTok Hook | The "Stick Season" chorus went viral 2 years before the full song dropped. |
| The Rodrigo Effect | Olivia Rodrigo's BBC Radio 1 cover in late 2023 sent the song to #1 in the UK. |
| Grammy Recognition | Best New Artist nomination in 2024 solidified his industry standing. |
| Live from Fenway | Selling out Fenway Park twice in 2024 was the "victory lap" for the era. |
Kahan’s songwriting works because it’s funny and devastating at the same time. He has this self-deprecating humor that keeps the songs from feeling too "woe-is-me." In "Northern Attitude," he's asking if someone was raised in the cold, basically using the climate as an excuse for being emotionally distant. It’s a vibe.
Why "Dial Drunk" Changed Everything
If "Stick Season" was the introduction, "Dial Drunk" was the moment the world realized he could write a hit that worked in a stadium. The song is frantic. It’s about a low point—getting arrested, calling an ex, the messy reality of burnout. When Post Malone hopped on the remix, it bridged the gap between the folk world and the mainstream charts in a way we haven't seen since maybe the early Mumford & Sons days.
The Mental Health Component
You can’t talk about this album without talking about The Busyhead Project.
Noah has been incredibly open about his struggles with depression and anxiety. It’s baked into the lyrics of "Growing Sideways," where he admits to lying to his therapist just to feel like he’s "winning" at treatment. That level of honesty is rare. By 2025, his mental health initiative had raised over $5.5 million, proving that the connection he has with his fans goes way beyond just selling concert tickets.
People don't just "like" these songs. They use them as a vocabulary for their own transitions.
Moving Past the Sticks: What's Next?
As of early 2026, the Stick Season chapter is officially closing. The live album, Live From Fenway Park, served as the final installment. He’s spent the last few years on the road, playing everywhere from Glastonbury to BST Hyde Park, and the "Forever" collaborations have shown he can play well with others in almost any genre.
So, what should you actually do if you're just now catching the wave?
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- Listen to the full "Forever" edition. Don't just stick to the hits. Tracks like "The View Between Villages (Extended)" give you the full emotional scope of what he was trying to do.
- Watch the live performances. The energy of a Noah Kahan crowd is different. It’s less of a concert and more of a collective therapy session/shouting match.
- Check out the "Busyhead Project" resources. If the lyrics resonate with you because you’re struggling, he’s actually put the work in to provide real-world help for fans.
- Explore his influences. If you like the storytelling here, go back and listen to Paul Simon’s Graceland or early Cat Stevens. You can hear the DNA of those records in every acoustic strum Noah takes.
The "Stick Season" phenomenon taught the music industry a valuable lesson: you don't have to be general to be global. You just have to be honest. And maybe a little bit homesick.
Noah Kahan isn't just the "Stick Season" guy anymore. He’s a generational songwriter who proved that even the grayest, muddiest parts of our lives are worth singing about.