Noah Kahan opens up to Billboard's Lyndsey Havens about how his life has changed since the release of his album 'Stick Season,' working with Post Malone, his mental health initiative The BusyHead Project and more!
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00:00 Holding a pencil for five minutes makes me tired.
00:02 She did three hours of dancing and singing and--
00:04 - Intense cardio.
00:05 - Like that and all that kind of stuff.
00:07 - Thank you for the preview of your own choreography there.
00:09 - Yeah, that's like-- - That was a sneak peek.
00:11 - That's something I'm working on.
00:12 Cut that out, I don't want people seeing that.
00:14 I want it to be a surprise. - It's not ready yet.
00:15 - Yeah, it's not ready yet, I'm ready yet.
00:17 Hi, I'm Noah Kahn and this is Billboard News.
00:19 (upbeat music)
00:28 - Hey, I'm Lindsay Havens for Billboard News
00:30 and we are here with the incredible singer-songwriter,
00:32 Noah Kahn.
00:34 ♪ Hurt for more, but it's the season of the sticks ♪
00:37 ♪ 'Cause it hurts when you hurt somebody ♪
00:41 ♪ Ready for you to come home ♪
00:44 - Did I get that last name right?
00:47 I hear it a lot of different ways.
00:48 - You are one of the first.
00:49 There is only one way to say it, by the way, it's Kahn.
00:51 You did a great job, thank you very much.
00:52 - People overcomplicate it.
00:54 I'm hearing Kahn. - People, well, it's like,
00:55 there's two A's.
00:56 I say one of the A's is silent and you get to pick which one.
00:59 - If you could describe your last 12 months,
01:01 I think it's nuts because obviously you've been
01:03 making music for a really long time and you had success,
01:07 but then suddenly everything changed
01:09 and it hit a next level.
01:10 - It's been an unbelievable few months,
01:13 like a year and a half basically now
01:15 of just like whirlwind of attention
01:18 and this wonderful outpouring of love from fans,
01:22 a lot of like, a lot more commitments that I'm in,
01:25 which has been like the big challenge for me
01:27 as it's been balancing like trying to have my life,
01:31 trying to write music.
01:31 ♪ I ain't proud of all the punches that I've thrown ♪
01:35 ♪ Birds still sing, vultures still bite ♪
01:38 ♪ Yes, I'm young and living dreams ♪
01:40 ♪ In love with being noticed ♪
01:42 It can be creative and be inspired by the world,
01:44 but also being really busy, being on the road all the time.
01:47 - Yeah.
01:48 - I mean, kind of navigating it has been really challenging,
01:49 but really cool and it's an opportunity
01:51 and an experience that not all artists get
01:54 and so I'm very aware of the privilege of this year for me.
01:57 - So as you're getting ready to release this album,
01:59 did you expect all of this would happen?
02:02 Did you kind of know that this was about
02:04 to change everything?
02:04 - I think like there was a feeling in the studio
02:06 of like, whoa, this is something special.
02:08 Like it definitely, I couldn't tell if it was something
02:10 that felt so special to me
02:11 or if it was just gonna be special to everybody.
02:14 ♪ I'm home, shit ♪
02:16 ♪ I'm home, shit ♪
02:19 I was almost okay with it being this amazing experience
02:21 for myself, like selfishly I was like, this is so cool,
02:23 I'm so happy.
02:25 I feel so fulfilled making this music.
02:27 I felt so creatively in control.
02:30 Like everything I did felt right.
02:33 Like there was no second guessing lyrics
02:35 or second guessing production choices.
02:36 It all felt like it was leading to this greater sense
02:39 of justice in my creativity.
02:42 - Yeah.
02:42 - And I think at the time I couldn't see that
02:45 as an indication of success or like relatability
02:48 or something that would connect to a lot of people,
02:50 but it just felt so right for me
02:51 that I was so fine with whatever happened
02:53 and I think listening to the masters in my car,
02:55 I was like, this is actually pretty good, I think.
02:57 - Yeah.
02:58 - And like listening to it, I was like,
02:59 people are gonna connect to this music
03:00 and there was a feeling that people would like it,
03:02 but I guess I didn't care as much
03:03 and I think that actually contributed to its success
03:06 like this feeling of relinquishing the end product
03:09 or the end result and being happy with the process.
03:11 ♪ So I thought that if I had something good ♪
03:14 ♪ In all my bad that I could cancel out the darkness ♪
03:18 - You keep giving us gifts, you got the deluxe
03:20 and then you hit us with this post-molode collaboration.
03:23 ♪ I don't like it when they threw me in the car ♪
03:27 ♪ I gave your name as my emergency phone call ♪
03:31 - I love that man very much.
03:32 - Oh my God, he is so cool.
03:33 - He's one of the best.
03:35 Did you guys get to play beer pong?
03:37 - I gotta watch him play beer pong.
03:39 He was playing beer pong with so many different people,
03:41 I was like a big line and I was like, I don't know,
03:43 he was so cool, I was a little starstruck
03:45 and so I didn't wanna be like, I got a table, dude,
03:47 like get the fuck out of here, call our daddy podcast,
03:49 it's my turn.
03:50 (laughing)
03:52 But I got to hang out with him,
03:54 it was exactly what I wanted an experience
03:57 with Post Malone to be, I got in the room
03:58 and he was sitting cross-legged, drinking Bud Lights
04:02 and smoking cigarettes and I got to sit down
04:03 and smoke a cigarette, drink a Bud Light or two with him
04:06 and we talked about underpants, we talked about Walk Hard,
04:11 which is one of our favorite comedies ever.
04:14 We got a jam on some music and it was just perfect,
04:17 he is so kind, exactly the way that I imagined him to be.
04:22 - When you guys were hanging out, did it come up,
04:23 the idea of maybe just writing something
04:25 from scratch together at some point?
04:27 - Yeah, definitely, he's so busy,
04:29 I'm weirdly so busy right now too,
04:31 but we've definitely, I feel like the hang is not over
04:34 and I would love to get in the room and write music with him
04:36 and what I love about Post Malone is how unchained he is,
04:40 untethered by genre or by, he just does whatever he likes
04:45 and I've always felt the same way
04:47 and I would love to get in and just make some weird shit
04:49 with Post Malone, I think it would be so cool.
04:51 - At some point, not too long ago,
04:52 you said that your two career goals, verified on Instagram
04:56 and to have a Wikipedia page, done.
04:58 - Those are done, there is nothing left.
05:01 There's just nothing left for me, I don't know.
05:03 Maybe I'll get unverified and then try to get it again
05:06 or something like that.
05:07 - Just to give yourself something.
05:08 - Just to give myself another goal.
05:10 - So obviously one of the best things
05:11 that has come with your success
05:12 is you're also using that for good,
05:14 you have the Busy Head Project,
05:16 tell us a little bit about what that means to you
05:18 and why it's so important to give back.
05:20 - Yeah, I was fortunate to grow up in a family
05:23 where mental health was a conversation at the dinner table
05:27 and I had access to therapy and I had access
05:30 to a lot of resources that helped me get through
05:32 a lot of challenges with my mental health,
05:35 which I've struggled with my whole life.
05:37 And when I was a kid and I would hear an artist
05:40 that spoke about their mental health openly,
05:43 it was like religion for me,
05:45 that was the thing that saved my life as a kid.
05:48 As I've gotten older, I've always tried to kind of
05:51 keep mental health as a part of a backbone
05:53 of my songwriting, but I just have a real platform now
05:57 and a lot of opportunity to do good
05:59 in a more meaningful way than writing about it.
06:01 And so my managers and I started the Busy Head Project,
06:05 which is basically an endeavor to raise a million dollars
06:09 for mental health organizations around the country
06:12 and in Canada to provide resources for people
06:15 to get through their challenges.
06:17 - That sounds amazing.
06:18 That's a goal right there.
06:19 - That is, yeah, that is definitely a goal, yeah.
06:21 - Yeah, and a pretty good one.
06:22 Well, Noah, thank you so much and seriously,
06:24 congratulations on all of the success and the amazing music
06:27 and can't wait to hear more of it.
06:28 - Thank you so much, thanks for the questions,
06:30 I appreciate it.
06:31 (upbeat music)