Noah Kahan's New Video Pokes Fun at an Old Rock Star Trope
The folk-pop singer-songwriter's latest video, "Mess," is an ode to man's best friend
Noah Kahan started gaining attention for his music when he began uploading songs to SoundCloud at eight years old.
Kahan, now 22, is realizing his lifelong dream of being a professional musician and singer-songwriter, and he has seen a great deal of success. Since signing with Republic Records in 2017, he has begun collaborating with producer Joel Little (known for his work with artists like Lorde and Khalid), has toured extensively, and has received a lot of recognition. His 2017 debut single, "Young Blood" has garnered over one million streams on the YouTube channel, IndieAir, and the follow-up, "Hurt Somebody," landed him a performance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
Noah Kahan - Messwww.youtube.com
Now, Noah Kahan is back with yet another single, "Mess." The video for the song is a tongue-in-cheek play on the old trope of the homesick musician on the road. Although the song is a familiar – though sincere enough – lamentation of the alienation and estrangement felt by the nonstop touring that often comes along with musical success, the video approaches the subject with a self-aware sense of irony. Kahan is not pining for his family or a lover as he forlornly separates M&Ms by color in his backstage dressing room before a show. Instead, Kahan is tormented by how much he misses his dog.
The viewer is offered a series of vignettes in the video, some of which present the standard rock-star-on-tour sadness that we're familiar with, while others show Kahan having intimate, love-at-first-sight moments with other people's dogs that are equal parts endearing and creepy at the same time – at least until it becomes clear that these dogs are meant to be stand-ins for his own. By the time Kahan finally does make it home from tour, however, we expect a big sappy reunion where the beloved pup runs to greet her human in slow-motion, but it turns out – in a comically sad twist – that the dog has more important business to attend to in the front lawn.
Fans of Mumford & Sons, Hozier, and Cat Stevens will want to give Noah Kahan a listen. He will be on tour – and presumably missing his dog more than she misses him – in Europe and the UK come April.
Dustin DiPaulo is a writer and musician from Rochester, New York. He received his MFA in Creative Writing from Florida Atlantic University and can most likely be found at a local concert, dive bar, or comedy club (if he's not getting lost somewhere in the woods).
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