Everything We Know So Far About Noah Kahan's New Song, ‘The Great Divide’

It's going to be a big week. After waiting for the best part of two years, Noah Kahan is finally releasing his long-awaited new song, ‘The Great Divide’, this Friday (January 30th 2026).

The soul-stirring ode has undergone a number of alterations and adjustments since the Vermont native first teased it back in April 2024, including what seems to be a bold production choice from Kahan. As a result, ahead of ‘The Great Divide’s arrival in a few days, we're breaking down everything we know so far about the track.

First and foremost, we know that ‘The Great Divide’ is key to Kahan's next chapter of music. We don't have the official album announcement just yet, but judging by recent clues and easter eggs, we suspect the unveiling could be coming as early as Wednesday, January 28th. We're predicting the full album to drop on the first day of Spring - Friday, March 20th - which would tie in nicely with Kahan's continued declarations that something big is coming “when the bugs don't die”.

While many of the details around Kahan's Stick Season follow-up album remain cloaked in mystery for the time being, he has confirmed ‘The Great Divide’ will be a cornerstone of sorts to the record. He released his Live from Fenway project in August 2024, and despite performing ‘The Great Divide’ at that historic Fenway show, Kahan took to X to explain why he wouldn't be including it on the live album.

The ‘Northern Attitude’ singer-songwriter began on an apologetic note, “I have news that is going to bum some folks out but I feel the need to explain and not surprise people with.. The Great Divide will NOT be on the fenway live album. I know this is a bummer for some and I love the song so so much but it is for that reason that”.

Kahan expanded by suggesting he's been creating his next batch of songs “around” ‘The Great Divide’, “I do not want to put out a recorded version of that song without the context of the newer music I’ve been writing around it. I do feel like it fits into a new theme that I’ve been exploring for my fourth album (which I have not finished sorry I’ve been on tour for 2 years lol)...and I want to make sure that it comes out in a way that feels authentic to the story I want to tell around it”.

He concluded by expressing his gratitude at fans’ response to the song, “I didn’t realize how much people would love this song and I just started playing it on tour because I was trying to keep myself excited. It’s my fault for teasing it...without the right plan in place to put it out. Love you all and I can’t wait for you to hear these songs”.

Now, bear in mind these posts were from 2024, and it's possible that Kahan has slightly adjusted the direction of his album - and, indeed, ‘The Great Divide’ - since then.

But although he often comes across as very light-hearted and unserious on social media, Kahan is deeply intentional with his albums, so we reckon that if he earmarked ‘The Great Divide’ as a touchstone for the new project two years ago, it likely still is.

I do not want to put out a recorded version of that song without the context of the newer music I’ve been writing around it. I do feel like it fits into a new theme that I’ve been exploring for my fourth album (which I have not finished sorry I’ve been on tour for 2 years lol)

— Noah Kahan (@NoahKahan) August 26, 2024

As for why ‘The Great Divide’ is so important to this next body of work, that'll become more apparent once we have a clearer idea of what the album is called, the core concept, etc. But if Kahan is building a narrative around ‘The Great Divide’, then we can learn a thing or two about the forthcoming record from this track.

The lyrics of ‘The Great Divide’ are - in classic Noah Kahan fashion - a little enigmatic and open to interpretation. Generally speaking, the main arc of the song is a protagonist who is singing to an old friend who he has since grown apart from, with Kahan hinting that they perhaps struggled with religious trauma and spiritual angst. The narrator outlines his hopes that they are “scared of all the ordinary s***”, rather than issues such as “your soul, and what He might do with it”.

This soul-searching imagery could suggest that Kahan's next album will pivot around spiritually-minded tales, and it's certainly true that the folk titan hasn't been afraid in the past to explore religious tension. This is epitomised by songs like ‘Orange Juice’, where the protagonist expresses slight frustration after an old pal neglects their friendship and becomes uber-religious following a car crash, with Kahan admitting jealousy at being “third in the lineup / To your Lord and your Savior”.

There are also references to self-harm and the guilt of not being as present as he feels he should have been for a friend who was going through a difficult time on ‘The Great Divide’. There are an array of fan-theories about what this song means, but the real beauty of it is that listeners are finding their own meaning within it.

Alternatively, rather than being strictly based on spiritually-fuelled explorations and struggles, perhaps Kahan's next album will follow the journey of this same character from ’The Great Divide’ as they work through their issues and their apparent religious trauma. Or maybe Kahan's emphasis on ‘The Great Divide’ is simply a nod to how the next album will sound, rather than a clue regarding its subject matter.

The other important development in ‘The Great Divide’s life-cycle so far is the production. Initially, we became accustomed to hearing this track live, with Kahan performing it acoustic. This bare-bones approach accentuates the intimacy of the story.

Then, he started introducing other elements to the live rendition of ‘The Great Divide’, with a raging electric guitar entering the fray alongside an emphatic, driving drum pattern.

When he shared a clip of the studio version via socials, shortly before announcing the release date, fans were a little shocked to hear how built-out the composition had become. The snippet features a dramatic, slowed-down take on the hook, with the intensity of the electric guitars and the drums dialled up to the max.

We love the stripped-down take of ‘The Great Divide’, but we have faith that, when it drops on Friday, this more heavily produced rendition will quickly become our favourite version. It's a visceral, aching story, and warrants this gravitas and drama.

The last thing to delve into is the question of whether ‘The Great Divide’ could be the title-track from Kahan's new album, a suggestion that some have been floating ever since the ‘Dial Drunk’ chart-topper first started teasing the track almost two years ago.

We have to say that, while ‘The Great Divide’ is a fantastic name, we think it's highly unlikely that it'll be the title of the album. Kahan has been laying the foundation for and sprinkling easter eggs about this next project for a long time, and we haven't had a full-length studio record of this ilk since the original Stick Season in 2022.

Therefore, we think Kahan is keeping the title of this next chapter under wraps until the official announcement. Perhaps it's something to do with “the last of the bugs” - the secret TikTok Kahan started as part of the album rollout - although we doubt this is the exact name of the project, because the phrase stems from the final song on the folk trailblazer's Stick Season, ‘The View Between The Villages’.

Either way, as he prepares to conclude his wildly popular and beloved Stick Season, a new Noah Kahan season is imminent. Excitingly, it feels like this next batch of material will take on a brighter, more hopeful spirit, timed to coincide with Spring. With ‘The Great Divide’, Kahan launches his next era - and we simply cannot wait.

For the full lyrics to Noah Kahan's ‘The Great Divide’, see below:

“I can't recall the last time that we talked
About anythin' but lookin' out for cops
We got cigarette burns on the same side of our hands, but we ain't friends
We're just morons who broke skin in the same spot
But I've never seen you take a turn that wide
And I'm high enough to still care if I die
Well, I tried to read the thoughts that you'd worked overtime to stop
You said, "Fuck off," and I said nothin' for a while

-

You know I think about you all the time
And my deep misunderstandin' of your life
And how bad it must havе been for you back then
And how hard it was to keep it all inside
I hope you sеttle down, I hope you marry rich
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

-

You inched yourself across the great divide
While we drove aimlessly along the Twin State line
I heard nothin' but the bass in every ballad that you'd play
While you swore to God the singer read your mind
But the world is scared of hesitatin' things
Yeah, they only shoot the birds who cannot sing
And I'm finally aware of how shitty and unfair
It was to stare ahead like everythin' was fine

-

(Ooh) You know I think about you all the time
(Ooh) And my deep misunderstandin' of your life
(Ooh) And how bad it must have been for you back then
(Ooh) And how hard it was to keep it all inside
(Ooh) I hope you settle down, I hope you marry rich (Ah-oh)
(Ooh) I hope you're scared of only ordinary shit (Ah-oh)
(Ooh) Like murderers and ghosts and cancer on your skin (Ah-oh)
(Ooh) And not your soul and what He might do with it

-

Ah-oh

-

Rage
In small ways
Did you wish that I could know
You'd fade
To some place
I wasn't brave enough to go?

-

I hope you settle down, I hope you marry rich
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

-

Ah, woah
Ah
Ah, Lord
Ah

-

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 losin' sleep about what's next
Or about your soul and what He might do with it”

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