Did we just get a clue that Noah Kahan does have a song on the Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping soundtrack? Fans are convinced the Vermont native dropped a subtle hint during his recent Arlington, Texas show that all the rumours are true.

Kahan's inclusion on the forthcoming Hunger Games prequel, which arrives in November, is a longstanding subject of debate among the ’Stick Season’ hitmaker's fanbase.

As a result, when Kahan name-checked the Hunger Games at his Globe Life Field show in Texas, it sent fans into a frenzy. While chatting to the crowd in-between songs, Kahan quipped, “I'm very, very excited to be playing in this Hunger Games-type arena, and I couldn't be more honoured to make you miserable tonight”.

This could have simply been an idle, off-the-cuff remark, but given how chronically online Kahan jokes about being, and how tuned into his fanbase he is, we're sure he's very aware of all the conjecture surrounding his Hunger Games involvement.

This makes us think that he might have mentioned the Hunger Games as a little easter egg for his die-hard fans - one that most of his more casual listeners wouldn't even notice.

And it's undoubtedly worked. Numerous Kahan and Hunger Games fan-pages have reshared the moment as they excitedly speculate about the deeper meaning of his comments.

The rumours stem from a supposed “insider” source that claimed last Spring that Kahan was in talks with Lionsgate to be featured on the Sunrise on the Reaping soundtrack.

After that, fans started wondering whether his long-teased ode, ‘Pain is Cold Water’, could be the song in question. Then, in the lead-up to the arrival of Kahan's new album, The Great Divide, the rumour was that ‘Staying Still’ could be the song on the soundtrack, before he surprise-dropped it on the deluxe version of the project.

So now, it seems ‘Pain is Cold Water’ - or perhaps another unreleased fan-favourite, ‘Shape of My Shadow’ - is back to being the front-runner. He's been performing ‘Pain is Cold Water’ at a number of his recent shows as the introduction to ’Maine’.

Kahan did state to Rolling Stone in April, though, that he just couldn't finish ‘Pain is Cold Water’, declaring that he felt like he was simply “finishing it just to finish it” and that he ultimately decided that “here wasn't any more story that needed to be told”.

There's no question that ‘Pain is Cold Water’ would sound perfect on a Hunger Games soundtrack, particularly given how the series has historically incorporated folk-leaning textures. This was epitomised with The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes soundtrack, which featured Sierra Ferrell, Molly Tuttle, Billy Strings and more.

The cornerstone of that project, of course, was Olivia Rodrigo's ‘Can't Catch Me Now’, which has since blossomed into a beloved gem in the the pop phenom's expansive catalogue of hits. It's no secret that Kahan is a huge fan of Rodrigo, with the duo covering one another during their respective BBC Radio 1 Live Lounges in 2023.

They even appeared on Saturday Night Live on back-to-back weeks earlier this year, with Rodrigo hosting and performing on May 2nd, before Kahan took the stage on May 9th.

So it would certainly appeal to Kahan to follow in Rodrigo's footsteps by being a part of the next Hunger Games soundtrack. Given Kahan's status as one of the most popular artists in folk, we'd imagine his contribution would be picked as the lead single.

It would also serve as a well-earned redemption arc for the ‘Dial Drunk’ singer-songwriter. Back in 2022, Kahan shared the now-infamous story of how he was asked to write a song for an unnamed movie sequel - which has since been alleged by fans to be To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You. After spending weeks without much inspiration, Kahan and his co-writers finally came up with the haunting ‘Remember Everything’. Despite initially saying they loved the song, Kahan revealed that the producers then effectively ghosted him, with ‘Remember Everything’ currently existing solely as a TikTok snippet that Kahan stans know and love.

Following this less-than-ideal experience with Hollywood, it would be a heartwarming full-circle moment for Kahan to have the lead single on one of the biggest films of the year.

Whether it's ‘Pain is Cold Water’, ‘Shape of My Shadow’ or a yet-to-be-heard song, the timing would work suspiciously well if Kahan is a part of the Sunrise on the Reaping soundtrack.

He's in London for his O2 Arena double-header on November 13th and 14th. The Sunrise on the Reaping London premiere is currently scheduled to take place on November 12th. The film will follow Haymitch Abernathy's quest to win the 50th Hunger Games, and is set 24 years before the original Hunger Games trilogy.

It's worth flagging that Olivia Rodrigo's ‘Can't Catch Me Now’ was only announced a matter of weeks before the film was released, so it's very possible that, if Kahan is a part of the Sunrise on the Reaping soundtrack, we won't know until the Fall. We'll be keeping our fingers tightly crossed this long-running rumour is true.