Stick season is almost over. Noah Kahan has announced the dawn of his next era, confirming that his next single “The Great Divide” will be officially released on January 30. The musician confirmed the release of the song with a video on Instagram, playing a couple lines from the song with clips of Kahan in the studio and of the rural New England scenery with which he is so associated. The video bears the message “anything great is worth the wait.” The track can be pre-saved now.
Kahan fans may recognize “The Great Divide” already. The Vermont native has played the song at live shows since 2024. Kahan told British GQ that same year that the song was inspired by a friendship where he and the friend would smoke and drink to excess, hoping that it would help break down some of the emotional barriers between them, but it never did. “There was an atmosphere of pain where we were, but we would never speak about it because of a stigma that you shouldn’t be a baby and talk about feelings,” Kahan said of his upbringing in Vermont.
Those themes of masculinity and friendship are ones that Kahan has signaled he will explore more on his forthcoming album, which doesn’t yet have an official release date. After the release of Stick Season in 2022, Kahan’s parents divorced, which has also impacted his life and work. “Fundamentally that facade of your parents as superhuman falls away and you see them as human beings with flaws,” he told GQ.
Although it’s been over three years since Kahan’s last album Stick Season, the musician has kept plenty busy. In 2023, he released an expanded version of the album, and another extended version of the album in 2024, featuring reimagined versions of the tracks with guest artists like Gracie Abrams and Post Malone. Kahan also toured extensively on The Stick Season Tour and The Stick Season (We’ll All Be Here Forever) Tour, which kept him on the road from 2022 until 2024. Kahan was also nominated for Best New Artist at the 2024 Grammys, and nominated for Best Country Duo/Group Performance in 2025 for his duet “Cowboys Cry Too” with Kelsea Ballerini.
