Noah Kahan’s new album “The Great Divide” was released on April 24, 2026. This album includes 17 tracks that all bring a feeling of comfort, like sitting by a campfire with your favorite people. Fittingly, that’s what one of the hit songs “Dan” is actually about. Since his last project, “Stick Season”, gained lots of popularity in 2022 with over 4.7 billion streams on Spotify, the expectation was extremely high from Kahan’s fan base. From not releasing anything new for 4 years to now coming out with an album, tour, and documentary in 2026, it created a large amount of pressure for this to be great, and it truly is.
The name of the album and title track “The Great Divide” strongly reflects the vibe the whole piece brings. A deeply personal side of Kahan’s life is brought up as he discusses feelings of growing apart from the people you grew up with. The relatable, authentic, and emotional songs provide a sense of comfort-while also not being too depressing where you can’t listen to it unless you’re sad.
While his last album “Stick Season” also focused on nostalgia and childhood, “The Great Divide” digs deeper. It feels extremely raw, like reading a diary entry from Kahan, and that is one of the countless reasons I love it so much. He doesn’t just touch on childhood in the songs, he explores his personal traumas and mental health struggles along the way. His song, “Willing and Able,” describes Kahan’s personal experience with the strain of sibling relationships and childhood trauma. While his songs are specific to him, the hard hitting lyrics are equally relatable for people and many different relationships in life.
Kahan has a great ability to create both slow, emotional songs, as well as more upbeat music that is just as loved by his fanbase. The song “Deny Deny Deny” touches on the engaging subject of dealing with an emotionally unavailable person and the exhaustion that can bring. While his slower songs are my personal favorites, the lyrics and rhythm of his up-beat music creates for a catchy listen and classics for sing-alongs at his concerts.
After listening to the album, I was intrigued to watch the Netflix documentary that goes with it: “Noah Kahan: Out of Body” which came out on April 13, 2026. The hour and a half film captured his rise to fame and the process of making “The Great Divide” while dealing with mental health struggles of his own. Kahan opened up about his challenges with being from the middle of nowhere in Vermont, to selling out stadium concerts. It broke the narrative that the famous life is all easy and fun by delving into difficult topics you wouldn’t even consider. The film depicted an inside lens into the struggles described in the album, making it a perfect tie-in and providing a full picture of Kahan’s life.
With the album only being out for a few weeks, the popularity has skyrocketed, already having over 215 million streams. Being all I have listened to for over a week, I can confidently say there are no skips on this album. The songs perfectly display the emotions of growing up and out of the life you once had: graduating high school, college, moving out, etc. The more I listen to this album, the more excited and eager I am to get tickets for the upcoming tour.
