Noah Kahanis heading across the pond for his latest collaboration.
Over the past few months, the “Stick Season” singer has been reworking his hits with some of music’s biggest stars — and he called onBritish star Sam Fenderfor a new version of “Homesick.”
Kahan, 27, and Fender, 29, released their version of “Homesick” on Friday, with Fender adding a new verse that reflects on his own upbringing in Newcastle.
In a statement, Kahan explained that he became hooked on Fender’s music after hearing his 2018 track “Dead Boys,” a song about the epidemic of young male suicides in the U.K.
“I come from a very different place than Sam did, that much was clear in the lyrics, but it felt like I had grown up the same,” Kahan said. “The nostalgia, pride, bitterness, confusion, and anger that Sam wrote about feeling was so similar to what I was feeling about my childhood and my hometown at the time.”
Kahan said that when he sat down in his native Vermontto recordStick Season, Fender’s “Seventeen Going Under” was the first song he and his crew listened to — and the feelings it stirred in him about his complicated relationship with his hometown directly inspired “Homesick” (Fender’s songs of hometown heartache and working-class struggle on his first two albums have catapulted him to fame in his native England).
Sam Fender and Noah Kahan.Courtesy Universal Music Group
Courtesy Universal Music Group
When Kahan toured the U.K., he met with Fender in Newcastle, and the two spent the day together.
“I loved the idea of the song being a transatlantic call-and-response between two young kids desperate to escape their hometowns,” Fender said. “Chatting with him about things in both of our pasts made me realize how universal ‘Homesick’ is. We’ve all been that kid.”
Fender has been enjoying a wave of success on the back of his 2021 albumSeventeen Going Under, while Kahan has rocketed to fame since his song “Stick Season” went viral in 2022.
Noah Kahan performing in Boston in May 2023.Astrida Valigorsky/Getty
Astrida Valigorsky/Getty
Kahan, who is currently up for best new artist at the 2024 Grammy Awards, has teamed up with other stars including Hozier,Kacey Musgraves,Gracie Abrams, Lizzy McAlpine andPost Malonefor new versions of hisStick Seasonsongs.
He also made hisSaturday Night Livedebutin December, and will kick off hisWe’ll All Be Here Forever World Tour in March.
“I did a lot of shows for not a lot of people for a long time,” Kahan told PEOPLE in 2022 of his first tour after the success of “Stick Season.” “I never played for nobody, but I’ve played for almost nobody, and it’s not a lot of fun. To have this tour sell out and to have the response I’ve got… it’s been really surreal and I’m trying my best not to let it feel normal to me because it’s not.”
source: people.com
