Noah Kahan - The Great Divide (single)
Noah Kahan goes big for the start of his new era — and it absolutely pays off.
Noah Kahan has had a meteoric rise to mainstream success over the past few years, largely off the back of his 2022 single “Stick Season", followed by the album of the same name and its subsequent re-releases. Now, though, Kahan is finally moving on from the Stick Season cycle and commencing a new stage of his career, with “The Great Divide”, the title track of his upcoming fourth album. The five-minute lead single, released on January 30th via Mercury/UMG, sets the tone for a brand-new step in Kahan’s artistic evolution.
While a lot of tracks on his previous record went for a more folk-pop sound, “The Great Divide” leans heavily in the more rock-inspired direction that Kahan explored on tracks like “Homesick”. The production is spacious and The band puts in a solid shift, with the added layers making the track feel that much bigger and more meaningful as a lead single; the instrumental sections in the last third of the track are particularly strong, adding a serious extra punch to the impact of the song. It feels significantly influenced by previous collaborator Sam Fender, but carries enough of Kahan’s unique artistic personality to still feel original.
This personality shines through in what is arguably the most impassioned vocal performance of Kahan’s career so far, especially on the chorus. And the raw emotion is warranted, considering the subject matter of the track. On “The Great Divide”, Noah Kahan describes growing distance between himself and someone in his past who was facing significant struggles with their mental health, his regrets about not doing more to be there for them (“You know I think about you all the time/And my deep misunderstanding of your life”) or even to get them to open up to him about their issues, and his hope that things have gotten better now (“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”). The writing feels vulnerable and nostalgic in a way that’s very familiar for Noah Kahan, with vivid imagery and several great metaphors throughout the track.
Overall, “The Great Divide” is one of Noah Kahan’s strongest tracks to date; it shows him at his most passionate and focused, both vocally and lyrically, and is coupled with an extremely solid rock instrumental. If this lead single is a sign of what can be expected from the upcoming LP of the same name, it could be the start of Kahan’s best album cycle so far.
8.1/10
