It's the season of the sticks
I’ve loved pop music as long as I can remember. When I was 4 years old, I heard the Beatles’ “I Want to Hold Your Hand” on the radio and thought it was the BEST SONG EVER. Interestingly, with streaming music, it’s harder for me to discover new music. We’ve made our own playlists and keep listening to our favorites. But occasionally I’ll listen to one of the “curated” playlists on Amazon Music and The Man will feed me a new artist. Sometime in 2022 I found folk-pop singer songwriter Noah Kahan and added “False Confidence” to one of our family playlists and thought nothing more besides “cool song”.
And then a few weeks ago he was a guest on my favorite music podcast, Switched on Pop. I love this podcast because one of the hosts literally has a PhD in musicology and the others are also huge music and culture nerds. Someone online said they felt like the hosts were “too smart” and that made it hard to listen to, but that’s why I absolutely adore them. I am ALWAYS learning new things from this show.
Trillian and I usually listen to 1-2 episodes a week on the drive to school, so after Noah Kahan’s episode ended, we figured we should check out his music. And OMG. This man can WRITE. Like my other favey fave Taylor Swift, he squeezes a LOT of words into his songs but they are pure poetry.
I got dreams, but I can't make myself believe them
Spend the rest of my life with what could have been
And I will die in the house that I grew up in
What I love is that all of his songs are suffused with a sense of place - in his case, New England. I’ve only been there twice in my life as a tourist, but those lyrics also remind me of other “Northern places” I’ve lived - Pittsburgh and Seattle. His music has winter vibes and I’m here for it, especially when I need a break from Christmas music and Taylor Swift!
Anyway, I’m obsessed, and with all the driving I’m doing back and forth from Trillian’s school, I’m listening to his whole catalog and it’s delightful. If you want to check him out, I recommend these songs:
She Calls Me Back (ft Kacey Musgraves because this version is GORGEOUS)
Bonus: The View Between Villages
You can thank me later ;)
I am stuck in the 80s I think. Your comment about it being hard to find new music is spot on. And, if I'm being honest, I'm not a huge fan of the music of the world today. I don't like Hip Hop and I feel like that's what a lot of it is today. So thanks for the referral, I'm gonna check him out.