One of the four songs Noah Kahan released as part of his unexpected The Great Divide: The Last Of The Bugs Edition deluxe project the day after the original album's arrival.

Ahead of its eventual release, ‘Staying Still’ was the subject of widespread speculation from fans, who wondered whether the track was set to be part of the forthcoming Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping soundtrack. After debuting it in November 2025 at The Busyhead Project benefit concert in Boston, Massachusetts, Kahan continued to tease the track throughout the lead-up to The Great Divide.

When Kahan dropped the official tracklist for The Great Divide on April 2nd, fan-favourites like ‘Shape of My Shadow’, ‘Pain is Cold Water’ and - crucially - ‘Staying Still’ were absent.

Artists tease songs all the time that never see the light of day. But ‘Staying Still’ was a whole other case, because Kahan shared a clip of this soulful track via his secret TikTok account, @thelastofthebugs, on the same day he dropped the album's tracklist.

What's more, on Kahan's official TikTok post announcing the full tracklist for The Great Divide via his colourful collection of song-title patches, he used that same ‘Staying Still’ clip as the audio. Fans in the comments initially took this as Kahan playfully goading them after not including the song on the tracklist, but although he says he's “mean because he grew up in New England”, we didn't think he'd be that mean.

In a later X exchange, Kahan joked about all the conjecture surrounding ‘Staying Still’. After a fan furiously asked, “can you just answer everyone’s question, where is staying still?”, the ‘Orange Juice’ crooner hilariously responded, “Staying still”.

Then, on April 25th, we got the answer we'd been waiting for, with the ‘Northern Attitude’ singer-songwriter surprise-dropping the track on the deluxe version of The Great Divide, alongside ‘A Few Of Your Own’, ‘Lighthouse’ and ‘Orbiter’.

‘Staying Still’ captures the tumultuous blend of angst, self-doubt and frustration that Kahan infuses so well throughout The Great Divide. With the raging electric guitars, dramatic drum pattern and Kahan's aching, atmospheric vocals, ‘Staying Still’ feels cut from the same sonic cloth as his Stick Season stand-out, ‘Homesick’.

As the song reaches its visceral crescendo, Kahan's layered, reverb-laden vocals collide with the dramatic instrumental, giving ‘Staying Still’ a rich, galvanising conclusion.

Like many songs on The Great Divide, such as ‘Dashboard’, ‘Paid Time Off’ and ‘American Cars’, ‘Staying Still’ pivots around a lead character who is driving in New England. The protagonist grows increasingly frustrated as the traffic worsens, with references to Charles River and Storrow Drive hinting that he's driving to Logan Airport.

There's a famous Boston term, ‘Storrowing’, which refers to moving vans that get trapped under one of the numerous low-clearance bridges on Storrow Drive; this feels like it could be a metaphor for our protagonist feeling emotionally stuck. Kahan's description of “the Harvard track team” running likely refers to the fact that the university's athletics squad often trains along the Charles River.

Kahan has expressed his distaste for the drive to Logan Airport before, with this particular narrative following a narrator who worries about a lover leaving during his travels. He nervously asks her if she feels comfortable ‘Staying Still’ while he is away.

As part of his official The Great Divide album announcement, Kahan shed some illuminating light on what this body of work represents to him, “From a long silence forms a divide, a great expanse demanding attention. I stare across it. I see old friends, my father, my mother, my siblings, my younger self, the great state of Vermont. I want to scream these feelings, to gesticulate wildly at the figures on the other side, but my voice has grown hoarse and muted after years of climbing a ladder towards the wild, spiraling dreams that have materialized in front of me”.

The Vermont native offers insight into his creative process, “Instead, I wrote them down next to a piano in Nashville, next to a pond in Guilford Vermont, in a legendary studio in upstate New York, on a farm with a firetower in Only, Tennessee. The songs are the words I would say if I could. They are the fears I dance with in the moments before I drift off to sleep. The music here is my best attempt to delve deeper into the people, places, and feelings that have made me who I am. I am grateful for all of it, for all of you, for listening to them, if you choose to do so”.

Kahan has repeatedly touched on how challenging he found the writing process for The Great Divide, as the pressure to outdo his magnum opus, Stick Season, weighed on him, something he explored in-depth in his 2026 Netflix documentary, Out of Body. During an interview with Zach Sang, he reflected on how he managed to overcome his writers’ block, “It was a hugely cathartic experience. I had been so stressed and so lost and was literally thinking about quitting and going to work at my golf course as a divot repair person”, adding, “The Great Divide for me, I’m so proud of, because not only did it come out of a time of great pressure and expectation. I felt like I was fully able to say what I wanted to say in the songs”.

“We drank, and I convinced you that the wildfire smog was the Northern Lights
Lately, I've been lookin' at you harder, just takin' you in
At the callus on your fingers from the handbrake grips on your junkyard bikes
Your boots so filled with water, I mean, soakin' wet

-

But you could punch me in the gut
And it wouldn't hurt like watchin' you grow smaller on the back road
And I never ask for much
But I hope that Logan crumbles and gets hit by a tornado

-

Oh, I can't keep on starting over
Sleepin' in a bed half empty, daydreamin'
All love must leave, oh, but search for it I will
Honey, tell me, are you good at staying still?
Are you good at staying still?

-

Oh well, will you up and lеave
Or will you be therе in the mornin'?

-

I always hated the sunlight at 3pm
Where it's too soon to quit thinkin', too late to change anythin'
I’m racking my brain for the one line that would change your mind
I'm showin' you plane crashes online, couldn't hurt to try

-

But the Charles meets the sun
And the Harvard track team runs
Past my truck, stuck on Storrow
And I never ask for much
But I hope that Logan crumbles and gets hit by a tornado

-

'Cause I can't keep on starting over
Sleepin' in a bed half empty, daydreamin’
All love must leave, oh, but search for it I will
Honey, tell me, are you good at staying still?
Honey, tell me, are you good at staying still?
Are you good at staying still?

-

Put in love, put in hours, put in ceremony
As I was, how you were, what was there before me
Nevermind, nevermind, oh forget about it
I'll be good, I'll be fine, I can laugh about it

-

I try to keep on starting over
I'm sleepin' in a bed half empty, daydreamin'
All love must leave, oh, but search for it I will
Honey, tell me, are you good at staying still?
Are you good at staying still?
Are you good at staying still?

-

Oh well, will you up and leave
Or will you be there in the mornin'?”

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Noah Kahan

Artist