Co-Written by: KJ Graziano & Aspen Boucher

If you’re anything like us, you have been long awaiting the release of Noah Kahan’s new album “The Great Divide”. It has been on repeat for us since the release, it’s just that good (read: depressing). We will be sharing our thoughts on every song on the album, including the four bonus tracks. So sit back, take your antidepressants, and prepare to listen to the album if you haven’t already. Regardless of your gender, it’s time for Sad Girl Summer. 

End Of August

KJ: I’m just gonna tell you right now, I don’t think that when September hits, you should go off your medicine, but really, I’m not a psychiatrist. This song takes me back to seeing my hometown friend the day before I moved into my freshman dorm. It feels like a transitional period of life, it feels like new beginnings, it feels like breathing again. It feels like the end of August 

Aspen: This is such a devastating way to begin the album, and I’m loving it! I think one of my favorite lyrics in the song is “everything you see out here will die / oh, it’s a matter of time,” because death doesn’t have to be the end of life; it can also be the beginning of something new. I’m biased because my birthday is at the end of August, but I think the shift from summer to fall brings so much more change than just the seasons, at least for me. For me, September feels like the real back half of the year, and this song feels like the end of something, as well as the beginning of something brand new. 

Doors

KJ: No, you have abandonment issues, I’d never have abandonment issues. I, too, am the trouble ahead. This song hurts my feelings, but not nearly as much as some others. 

Aspen: This song hurts so badly because sometimes it feels like I give opportunities to get to know me, even though it feels terrifying, and that I’m at risk of getting hurt. (Yes, I am in therapy, don’t you worry!) 

American Cars

KJ: This is one of those others that hurt my feelings. It feels like such a call out to me that I can’t help but be impressed at Noah Kahan’s ability to read my mind. If I had a nickel for every time I was working on a plan to disappear completely, then maybe I wouldn’t be so worried about what I’m going to do after graduation. 

Aspen: It does sometimes feel like if I keep myself busy enough, maybe my anxious thoughts won’t be able to penetrate the “productive” thoughts. I put productive in quotation marks because sometimes I’m able to keep myself occupied with things that others may not see as productive, such as time on Pinterest or time reading fictional stories that are nothing like my life. What does disappearing look like when I still want to be understood by a certain group of people, but I don’t want to interact with every human on the planet? 

Downfall

KJ: Window seats do make me feel like a poet, you’re so right. There are certain lyrics that feel so me, and yet this song has me angry at a person that doesn’t exist. I do, however, relate to never moving on. Mentally, I’m here forever (listening to this album).

Aspen: This song feels like loving to a fault, loving so damn much that the hurt the other person causes you doesn’t mean that you stop loving them. However, once they’re gone, there’s love that never goes away, although you might even be glad if you find out they’re not doing well for once. 

Lighthouse

KJ: This song has me grieving someone that I don’t even know. I feel grief, I feel crushed. Imagine being known so well that someone gets mad when they mess up your story. 

Aspen: This is the first of the four bonus tracks, and it hasn’t stopped devastating me since I listened to it the first time. I don’t know that I can articulate my thoughts in a better way than KJ already has regarding this song. 

Paid Time Off

KJ: Dare I say my favorite on the album… Definitely top three at the very least. When the happiest song has the lyrics “I’m a running car, you’re a closed garage,” you know the album is going to hurt you in the best of ways. 

Aspen: I wish I could ask Noah Kahan if the line “People grow up and then move away, but you don’t care, and I don’t mind at all,” relates to people not only getting older, but also getting more mature than the singer thinks they’ll ever get? How much deeper does this song go than feeling trapped in a town, in a life that they were brought into, and won’t escape? This isn’t my lived experience, but I know it’s not an uncommon one. 

Staying Still

KJ: The bridge to this masterpiece is one that needs to be screamed in a car while going 80 miles an hour down the highway. I have, in fact, said the phrase “I’ll be fine, I can laugh about it” more than I’d ever like to admit. 

Aspen: First off, this song simply kills me. It feels like arguing with someone you love, not out of hatred for them, but out of feeling trapped in the life you’re living in and where you currently are. I’ve definitely been annoyed or upset while talking with friends, and have had to say, “I’m annoyed/upset with the situation, and not with you.” 

The Great Divide

KJ: The singer really did read my mind. The singer is Noah Kahan. I can’t possibly think of a better title track or first release than this song. It really is all about the great divide. 

Aspen: Okay, yeah, what KJ said. This song stabs me with a different knife every time I listen to it. (And I’ve listened to it a lot) 

Haircut 

KJ: “At least I’ve got a soul still, even if I’m in a bad place.” I mean, who writes that?? “Help me if it helps you write, help me if it helps you leave” are possibly the lyrics that hit me the most in this song, which is saying a lot, considering this entire song feels like I’m being repeatedly punched in the face. 

Aspen: Absence, whether mental or physical, isn’t always purposefully meant to hurt others, regardless of how it ends up affecting others. However, that doesn’t mean that someone doing something, like leaving, to help themselves can hurt others. 

Willing and Able

KJ: This song makes me sick. If you want this song to absolutely tear you apart, just think of someone you want a better relationship with but can’t because of something that will never change. Just make sure you give yourself plenty of time to stare at the ceiling after. Trust me, you’re gonna need it. 

Aspen: You only get as much out of a relationship or experience as you’re willing to put into it, but if both/all parties don’t put in the same amount of effort, someone will end up getting hurt. If you’re the party that puts in more effort, it will continue to hurt until the wound is healed. (AKA go to therapy!!) 

Dashboard

KJ: This song really should just be called “Noah Kahan calling you out for leaving your hometown for three minutes and fifty-one seconds”. He told us to go far, and then he hates us for leaving. I can’t really say I blame him; I have complicated feelings, too. 

Aspen: You can change yourself as much as you want, but who you really are will come out in the end, no matter how much you try to fight it. 

23 

KJ: See, originally this song was just kind of there. I listened to it, and I overall enjoyed it. Until my most recent listen, when I realized I do in fact have a person that I want to stay gone. It really gets you thinking about the person you wish well, but you never want to see them again. Life just usually isn’t that kind.

Aspen: While I don’t drink, I can understand that mind-altering substances could definitely change your perception of others, as your way of thinking is literally changed for a period of time. Regardless, the lyric “‘Cause if I never see you again / You can be anything I want,” kills me every time I hear it. If someone is no longer in your life for any period of time, whether absence, death, or something else entirely, you get to pick how you remember them and how you think about who they could be. You can either take back control or give up all of your power regarding their existence. 

Porch Light

KJ: Remember that person I just mentioned? Yeah, this song almost makes me feel sorry for them. The complexity of emotions that this song makes me feel is more than a combination of antidepressants ever could. 

Aspen: The transition in the refrain after the first verse from “It’s cold” to “I don’t know” to “I’m alone” feels so much to me like when my anxiety and/or depression is trapping me in a thought spiral, and it just makes this song hurt so much worse. This song makes me wonder what it must be like for the people who love me, even with my mental health struggles that aren’t gonna go away, even with my being on medication and in therapy. 

Deny Deny Deny

KJ: It seems like many people have forgotten to like this song, which is a shame, because I become sucked in as soon as the opening chord plays. For me, it’s one of those songs that you start singing along to before your brain can catch up on what exactly is happening. 

Aspen: Oh, I love this song so dearly. As soon as it started playing the first time I listened to the album, I knew it was going to mean a lot to me. While I don’t have personal ties to this song, it’s just so satisfying to listen to and sing along to. 

Headed North

KJ: This song feels like you’re hanging out with a friend and playing music, and I think more songs should feel like that. I also adore the cybertruck hate. I will floor it if I have to see another one of those monstrosities. 

Aspen: What KJ said, 1000%. “It’s gone to shit without you / It was shit before, but at least I had you,” so succinctly communicates the pain of no longer having that person in your life. Whether a family member, a friend, or otherwise, no longer having your person to share updates with hurts. This song also reminds the listener that you can wish someone well while being sad and even angry that they’re gone. 

We Go Way Back

KJ: I invite you all to just look up the lyrics to this song because I don’t have the space to quote the entire song. But I will say “oh I love you, and I can’t fake that for a moment” has me feeling like a hopeless romantic even though we all know I’m a wretched hater. The chorus would bring tears to my eyes, but alas, the antidepressants.

Aspen: There’s something so beautiful and comforting about being known, as scary as it can feel sometimes. As KJ has said, please go look up the lyrics, and I’ll take the request a step further- listen to this song in the setting that brings you the most joy (via headphones, in your car, blasting in a room when you’re alone, surrounded by people you love, etc), and really listen to the words. 

Spoiled

KJ: Do you want kids so you can give them a better life than your parents gave you, or do you not want kids because you’re not convinced you could do better than your parents? Yes, I know this question was uncalled for, but quite frankly, so was the entirety of the song. 

Aspen: This song kills me. I have no more thoughts at the moment. 

All Them Horses

KJ: “Maybe I’m manic again, but this time I think I’m out for good.” Steal my thoughts, why don’t you, Noah? It’s for those of us leaving our small hometowns while knowing we’re never going back. You want to get better, but you don’t know if you can. 

Aspen: “Know I wanna beat it, I wanna beat it bad / Oh, everyone looks happy in a photograph,” has been used on social media in relation to physical and mental struggles, and it just kills me. You never know what people are going through, no matter how they present themselves. 

A Few Of Your Own

KJ: Once again, someone read my notes app, and we all know that’s where I keep the good stuff. Again, we all know I’m a wretched hater, but dare I say this is Noah’s most romantic song. You know the feeling when you have something good, that it won’t last because you’re not used to having good things? Me too, me too. The good thing is lasting; she’s still here, folks. That’s what Noah is saying, of course, not me. 

Aspen: This was the third new song on the deluxe edition of the album, and I don’t think I’ve gotten over how pretty it is to listen to. I don’t know if I’ve fully processed the lyrics and meaning yet. 

Orbiter

KJ: It was really rude of Noah to steal my notes app poetry and not credit me. I did, in fact, get a text from my best friend telling me the chorus is exactly like something that I’ve written before. I <3 the moon. 

Aspen: I am so incredibly unwell. I love the moon, and I love loving loudly, and I love making people feel like they’re not alone, especially if they’re in a similar situation to things I’ve experienced.

Dan

KJ: I do miss my best friend who moved away to be better. You know, as a kid I always thought the trope of your friend moving away was always so dramatic. I get it now. My best friend and I are depressed together. I miss my Dan. 

Aspen: I don’t have a Dan in the way that I have a best friend who moved away, but I do have a best friend who I’ve gone through a lot with, and that would be KJ, my co-author on this article! I feel like I can handle just about anything if I have KJ and the rest of my friends with me. 

If this very thorough review doesn’t convince you to listen to the album, I don’t think anything will. We wish you luck during this final stretch of assignments, but we know that The Great Divide will help you to #besouthwestern.