One of Noah Kahan‘s biggest dreams happens to involve one of the world’s tiniest music venues — and on Tuesday (April 21), the singer-songwriter finally saw it become a reality with the premiere of his Tiny Desk episode on YouTube.
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As the latest musician to stop by NPR’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., the folk-rocker played four songs total for the crowd gathered in the office space, two of which were unreleased tracks from upcoming new album The Great Divide. One of them, “American Cars,” kicked off the setlist, with Kahan singing as his rootsy band jammed out behind him, “Headlights, your plates, 4CB3A/ Didn’t know you drove American cars/ Ray-Bans on your face, you’ve been drivin’ all day/ But you’re here and we’re so grateful you are.”
He went on to play his new album’s lead single and title track, “The Great Divide” — which reached No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 in February — and “Orange Juice” from his 2022 breakout album, Stick Season. “Um, obviously I’m stressed,” he told the crowd candidly at one point. “I’m sweating deeply. I have makeup on. It’s getting in my eyes. It’s awful, but we’re so honored to be here.”
Kahan closed out with another unreleased track titled “Paid Time Off.” “And your love is like an open flame/ But you’re a running car and I’m a closed garagе,” he sang. “Someone once told us thеre’s a world out there/ But we don’t care enough to drive that far.”
He also told viewers, “The songs are really sad … so thank you guys for keeping your smiles on your faces.”
“The little item I’m leaving is my Lexapro for you guys — I figured we can treat it like a take one, leave one penny system,” Kahan joked, continuing the tradition of Tiny Desk performers marking their appearance by adding a personal knickknack to NPR’s overflowing shelves. “Ten milligrams. Severe side effects.”
The performance comes three days ahead of the release of The Great Divide on Friday (April 24). Leading up to the album, Kahan also announced a stadium tour and dropped a documentary that partly focused on his journey with mental health.
But despite everything he’s got going on, Tiny Desk might take the cake for him. “I’ve wanted to do tiny desk since I knew it existed,” he wrote on his Instagram Story after the episode dropped. “For some reason I just thought I never would. But here we are … this immediately becomes a life highlight.”
Watch Kahan’s performance on Tiny Desk above.
