Noah Kahan Gives Fans a Taste of What’s to Come!

Photo by Patrick McCormack

Noah Kahan’s new single, The Great Divide, was released on January 30, 2026 and is also the namesake of his 17-track 4th studio album. Not being able to speak more on the album, Kahan claimed on TikTok that “The Great Divide” is a song that “feels like the summer’s last sunset“ or the feeling of “distance between words.“ Kahan’s team has been teasing the chorus of “The Great Divide“ for some time now, whether it’s playing in the background of an Instagram reel or as a voice memo snippet. During the summer of 2024, toward the end of his Stick Season Forever Tour, fans got to hear the song live for the first time during his hometown shows at Fenway Park in Boston. 

Kahan opens the song with a gentle yet upbeat guitar, which is not typically indicative of a soul-crushing, sad song. Starting slow, the song builds into a more indie folk-pop beat as it progresses. The song’s sound is reminiscent of earlier tracks of Kahan’s Stick Season album, such as “All My Love,” “Everything, Everywhere,” and “She Calls Me Back.” A strong bassline runs throughout the song, with a heavy lead guitar complementing Kahan’s voice and lyrics. 

Unlike his traditional self-deprecating lyrics, Noah Kahan is shifting his focus to his interpersonal relationships and the hardships that accompany them. “The Great Divide“ tells a story of an acquaintance of Kahan’s, who is silently struggling emotionally and psychologically, while Kahan grapples with his own grief over the inability to fully understand their struggle. In the first verse, Kahan alludes to having originally bonded with this acquaintance through traumatic events in the past by saying: “We got cigarette burns in the same side of our hands / We ain't friends, we're just morons / Who broke skin in the same spot.“ Knowing it wasn’t a close relationship, Kahan wonders what the acquaintance is silently struggling with.

 As the acquaintance grapples with their internal conflict, the narrator (Kahan) observes the distance growing between them as a result. Kahan presents the idea of religious trauma, as continuously touched upon in lyrics in the chorus: “I hope you're scared of only ordinary shit / Like murderers and ghosts and cancer on your skin / And not your soul and what He might do with it.“ The capitalization of “He“ is intentional as referring to God. Kahan admits that he may not grasp or understand what the acquaintance is going through: “You know, I think about you all the time / And my deep misunderstanding of your life,“ though still expressing that he cares for the acquaintance. From this, he expands on his own guilt for not wholeheartedly understanding the acquaintance's struggle. Kahan blames himself for taking his acquaintances’ pain at face value rather than truly listening to what they are saying, as if their struggles were being brushed off. To this degree, Kahan is overwhelmed with the feeling of grief in underestimating this acquaintance’s struggles. The acquaintance starts to “slowly fade” in reference to suicidal ideation; Kahan’s grief grows as he blames himself for not being brave or strong enough to walk into the darkness with them. In this line, Kahan clearly knows his own emotional boundaries where he cannot walk with them to “slowly fade” away into the darkness, yet continues to wish the best for the acquaintance. 

Through his past work, Kahan has expressed his own struggles with mental health, such as “Growing Sideways” and “Fear of Water,” where he writes of firsthand accounts that his acquaintances may be able to relate to. In this single, the narrator seeks to alleviate his acquaintance’s pain and suffering while respecting his own emotional boundaries to protect his own well-being. By the end of the song, Kahan comes to terms with his own grief and sorrows, thus focusing on the acquaintances’ struggles. He hopes their struggle with God and internal battles subside by saying: “I hope you threw a brick right into that stained glass / I hope you're with someone who isn't scared to ask / I hope that you're not losing sleep about what's next / Or about your soul and what He might do with it.“

As the song centers on his acquaintances’ hardships, Kahan describes the very human grief that comes with being unable to help someone close to you who is struggling psychologically and emotionally. As Kahan has been an advocate for mental health through his music and foundation, he understands what it feels like to be in an internal civil war. As a listener, I found this song to be a demonstration of Kahan’s emotional growth in understanding someone’s struggle while also recognizing when you can’t help any further than you already have. He describes an experience many people have, but few are willing to discuss. There is so much secrecy and stigma that continues to swarm around the topic of mental health, but there is comfort from this song to know you are never alone.

Noah Kahan’s music first gained popularity for his very relatable lyrics of the human experience. “The Great Divide” is no exception to this and continues even further to a place his lyricism has not gone before. As Kahan’s popularity has risen since the release of Stick Season (2022), he has not lost sight of the need to encompass the typical human experience in his music. The Great Divide will be released and available on all streaming platforms on April 24th, 2026.

The Great Divide Album Cover