The Moment That Could’ve Taken The Spark Away Didn’t, What Are You Going To Do Now?

A lesson I learned listening to Noah Kahan’s “Stick Season”

I haven’t written a Medium post that’s inspired by a song in a really long time. It used to be one of my best sources of inspiration, I’d pick a song, play it on loop, and write a reflection on the lyrics. (It’s a wonderful writing prompt for days that you don’t know what to write.)

My ear worm lately has been “Stick Season,” but I’m moved by the artist’s journey more than the song’s and I wanted to hold space for why.

I first heard Noah Kahan’s song thanks to TikTok. I say that genuinely too, thank goodness for TikTok putting it on my for you page when it only had 800 videos to its name.

The first words I ever heard of the song were, “It’s half my fault, but I just like to play the victim,” a few verses into the viral sound. It was the vulnerability after the catchiness of “And I love Vermont, but it’s the season of the sticks…” that kept my attention and turned me into a fan.

The song was “viral” with its core audience, people who probably also listen to Maisie Peters, read books about personal growth, like fall, and drink their coffee in a cozy corner daydreaming about that one time they saw Ireland, on their feed or in person.

It was niche and then it wasn’t. The magic of Noah Kahan felt like a well kept secret for me, until he didn’t.

And as a fan of artistry and creativity, I don’t mind it. I applaud it even.

I know not everyone feels the same way. Prime example, on a recent video someone felt compelled to let Noah know that while they loved the song, they were getting annoyed by how much the algorithm was feeding it to them. Kahan responded with kindness and a deference to the machine aspect of creativity we all exist under if we choose to do this professionally. He said he gets the exhaustion, for both the audience and for him as a creative having to constantly promote this single piece of work.

I see it a lot with creatives. The cycle of virality for a piece of creativity you love is almost always a precursor to a cycle of complete exhaustion for a “trend” that also happens to…