Not ready to let the success of his album Stick Season go, Noah Kahan has collaborated with four big names in his latest releases.
Stick Season is American singer/songwriter Noah Kahan’s third studio album, but it is the one that has generated the most success. Released initially on Oct. 14th, 2022, Stick Season is 14 tracks long and has a run time of 55 minutes and 21 seconds.
On June 9th, Kahan released an expanded edition of the album titled Stick Season (We’ll All Be Here Forever) which included seven additional tracks and boasted a new run time of 83 minutes and 35 seconds. However, Kahan didn’t stop there.
The artist went on to release four collaborations with artists such as Post Malone, Lizzy McAlpine and Kacy Musgraves, with the most recent being released on Nov. 10th featuring Hozier. These songs, while not new, are reimagining some of the album’s biggest hits.
Kahan started with his song “Dial Drunk” featuring Post Malone. Kahan’s vocals and tracks remain the same, which seems to be the norm for all of his collaborations. When Post Malone came into the studio, it’s possible Kahan and his producers simply removed his own original vocals from the mix and inserted Post Malone’s verse in its place.
As it appears they have changed nothing else on the track, these collaborations seem like a missed opportunity. Kahan could have taken the song in a whole new direction when working with his collaborators, staying true to the original vibe of the song while inserting new harmonies, lyrical callbacks or simply a cohesive vocal sound. Instead, the Post Malone version of “Dial Drunk” feels choppy, like the producers of the song simply dragged and dropped the new vocals onto the pre-made track and went home.
On top of that, Post Malone’s new verse seems out of touch with the rest of the song. Lyrics like “Turn another slow dance into a mosh pit / Tuck my head, then I heard the lock, and / Told them that my first car was a Crown Vic” are incohesive with the rest of the song. While Kahan plays the part of someone “young, drunk and alone,” Post Malone seems to miss the point. Instead, he focuses more on the experience of being in the cop car, rather than how he got himself there. Overall, this version of “Dial Drunk,” one of Kahan’s biggest hits, would have been better left alone.
“Call Your Mom,” featuring Lizzy McAlpine, might have been the biggest loss. Released on Sept. 15th, the song was greatly anticipated by fans. “Call Your Mom” is one of Kahan’s most emotional songs, delving into the heavy topic of what it is like being in a relationship with someone who is actively in crisis. This song is obviously special to the artist as he was recorded becoming quite emotional while playing it live for fans in Toronto. That is why the emotionless recording featuring McAlpine was so upsetting.
Kahan, whose original vocals still hold onto their original heavy sentiment, don’t mesh well with McAlpine and her empty take on the verse. Perhaps this emotion can only be achieved by someone who has been in a relationship with someone suffering from suicidal ideation. This is something McAlpine can’t be faulted for not understanding. Perhaps if the song had been re-recorded and Kahan and McAlpine had worked together to build their tracks, this could have been avoided.
“She Calls Me Back,” featuring Kacey Musgraves, is notably better than both prior re-recordings. While the song isn’t anything special, it maintains its original sound and Musgraves’s vocals certainly add to the original track instead of hindering it.
“Northern Attitude” featuring Hozier is by far the best of Kahan’s collaborations. Hozier and Kahan have worked together on a few occasions before this re-recording, showing up at one another’s concerts as a surprise guest. As a result of this, “Northern Attitude,” which still suffers from a lack of cohesive energy, is much better. Hozier brings his special energy to the verse and his larger-than-life vocals between verses solidify his excellence when it comes to Kahan’s collaborations.
Overall, Kahan’s re-recordings are missing something personal, causing the songs to feel disjointed and incohesive. Perhaps if the singer had taken this as an opportunity to try something new, the collaborations could have been great. Instead, it seems he and his producers took the easy way out, resulting in four songs that do a great disservice to the mastery of the originals.