There is a common saying in the music industry that it takes ten years to blow up overnight. Music artists Sabrina Carpenter, Lizzo and Kacey Musgraves all put out music and worked in the industry for years before they “blew up” and hit mainstream, and singer-songwriter Noah Kahan is no exception.

Kahan, who first released indie pop music in 2017, did not blow up until his 2022 song “Stick Season” went viral on TikTok. Part of Kahan’s success can likely be attributed to finding a successful niche. Unlike his previous indie pop sound, “Stick Season” leaned into the folk sound that has been steadily increasing in popularity among younger audiences. This has been seen with Taylor Swift’s 2020 albums “folklore” and “evermore,” Bo Burnham’s 2021 album “INSIDE” and Zach Bryan’s 2023 album “Zach Bryan.”

The success of “Stick Season” led to the release of the deluxe album, “Stick Season (We’ll All Be Here Forever),” in June 2023 that included seven new tracks in addition to the original fourteen: “Your Needs, My Needs,” “Dial Drunk,” “Paul Revere,” “No Complaints,” “Call Your Mom,” “You’re Gonna Go Far” and “The View Between Villages (Extended Version).”

In the months that followed, he released collaborations with high-profile artists, including Post Malone, Lizzy McAlpine, Kacey Musgraves, Hozier, Gracie Abrams and Sam Fender. It was after this point that Kahan seemed inescapable.

On Jan. 24, 2024, Kahan announced the third edition of his album “Stick Season,” “Stick Season (Forever),” to be released on Feb. 9 with new song “Forever” and two features: “You’re Gonna Go Far (with Brandi Carlile)” and “Paul Revere (with Gregory Alan Isakov).”

“Stick Season (Forever)” is the last edition of Kahan’s album, and it ties up all the songs from the original album, bonus tracks and features. Throughout the complete album, Kahan explores feelings of heartbreak, change, love, anger, longing, homesickness, nostalgia and depression.

Kahan’s lyrics are undeniably wordy and borderline clunky, as shown by the lyrics, “So I took my medication and I poured my trauma out / On some sad-eyed middle-aged man’s overpriced new leather couch” and “I filled the hole in my head with prescription medication / And I forgot how to cry, who am I to complain?”

It is in this wordiness that Kahan finds his authenticity and connection to his audience, which are arguably his greatest strengths. He does not shy away from the rawness of mental health, alcoholism, shame and guilt.

For example, “Dial Drunk,” one of the album’s more popular tracks, explores a character who drinks to push away heartbreak and ultimately ends up in the back of a police car. “Call Your Mom” is one of the more difficult songs to listen to on the album and it offers comfort to anyone contemplating suicide, as demonstrated by the lyric, “Don’t let this darkness fool you / All lights turned off can be turned on.”

Despite encompassing a wide range of topics and themes, “Stick Season (Forever)” is ultimately an album that revolves around the concept of hometowns and the powerful feeling of anger.

“Stick Season (Forever)” masterfully portrays Kahan’s, and the broader public’s, relationship with their hometown in almost a love/hate letter to it. Kahan’s lyric that he “loves Vermont, but…” in the title track, perhaps accurately sums up the album.

Kahan explains on “Northern Attitude” how his home shaped who he is with the lyric, “Forgive my northern attitude / Oh, I was raised out in the cold,” but shames it on “Homesick” with the lyric, “I would leave if only I could find a reason… / And I will die in the house that I grew up in.”

It makes sense, then, that “The View Between Villages” was the final track of the original album, as it mixes both of these feelings. The song begins soft and slow, and Kahan finds himself coming home and “not scared of death / I’ve got dreams again.” As the song’s tempo picks up and the beat kicks in, Kahan’s feelings of resentment toward his hometown shadow the song as he sings, “The things that I lost here, the people I knew / They got me surrounded for a mile or two.”

Anger shadows the entire album, following Kahan from songs clearly about anger (“The View Between Villages”) to softer songs about longing (“Orange Juice” and “Halloween”). “Stick Season (Forever)” continues with this quiet anger in a way that truly represents the feelings of so many around the world.

It is clear that “Stick Season” is just the beginning for Kahan, who was nominated for “Best New Artist” at the 2024 Grammys. Kahan has more stories to come, and the world should eagerly await his future projects.