I don't know - there are plenty of songs and albums that I grew to love when I initially didn't care for them for days, weeks or even months. I've never rearranged an album or cut tracks. If anything, I'll skip a song I'm not feeling, but who knows when it eventually may find me in a different mood or mental state and it all of a sudden lands. Love that feeling.
@Craig Manning I have no qualms with making playlists like you do in general, I just don't understand how you can make a playlist after the album has only been out a few days.
That's basically how I feel too. But I also understand everyone enjoys music a little differently. There's people who listen to an album once or twice through, they like it enough to listen to it here and there if they feel like it, but they only want to listen to the songs that grabbed them on first listen because they don't have the patience or feel the need to give it much more than that. And there's people who listen to an album, love it enough on first listen to stick with it and make it their soundtrack to that moment in their life, listening to it daily, and experience how favorite songs may go up or down the list depending on the day, mood, or whatever. And usually for those people, cutting any song seems crazy because maybe one day your least fav song will finally click and it will rise up your list of favorites. I've been on both sides of the fence many times. You do you.
I've listened to little but this album since Friday, so I feel like I have a pretty good sense of the stuff I love, the stuff I like, and the stuff I don't really like.
I understand what you guys are saying, but if I don't have a manageable listening experience, I can't even fall in love with what's here and give myself time to dig deeper. I feel the same way about Zach Bryan.
I wonder how it would be if there was a longer album like this, cut it in half, and then sit with that first half for a couple months, get to really know it super well. And then go to the second half and do the same thing with it. I wonder if that would make the album as a whole feel more digestable or if it would feel like you're listening to two unfinished albums. Even though this album is like 21 songs or whatever, it really goes by fast for me. Except in the car, you realize how long it is when you see what track you're on when you get to your destination, and realize you're not even halfway through it haha.
That’s why I cut it down into something that resonates with me and then expand from there! Literally just did this with Ella Langley and now I love 90% of the album instead of 65%
I'd say anything above a 5 is shockingly high for how pitchfork would historically treat this kind of music
this album is really great. he is such a good writer. so many devastating lines. it is probably a few tracks too long, but at the same time, there aren't very many weak tracks. (for me personally, there's only one bad song here, but it's one that I have heard mentioned many times as a favorite for a lot of people)
For me, he's similar to Zach Bryan in that it's less that he has a bunch of bad songs and more than he has a bunch of similar-sounding songs, and the length of his albums can eventually force the "OK, that's enough" response from me.
I am genuinely curious - what is the big benefit to releasing surprise deluxe versions so quickly as opposed to say releasing a "normal" length album and then fairly quickly down the road releasing another normal length album...?
After a few days with this I pretty solidly love the first two-thirds but it’s long enough that I basically never make it beyond that before needing to do something else if I start from the beginning
what is the big benefit to not releasing say an 11-track The Great Divide and then sometime within the next few months to a year releasing a 10-track The Last of the Bugs...? I think I am struggling with the rationale behind the "surprise deluxe" format / release... and if it's all going to come out on the same day anyway, why didn't he just release a 21-track album to begin with?? I'm not picking on just Noah Kahan here, I know this is the trend right now with a lot of big artists, I just don't really understand the rationale
I think it's especially interesting with him, given what drove Stick Season to such stratospheric heights. The obvious benefit of releasing everything on day one is that it boosts streaming numbers and leads to a bigger first week for the album. But Stick Season became one of the biggest albums of the decade in large part because of how the (multiple) deluxe versions were apportioned out over time. That album wasn't an immediate blockbuster, but it just built steam consistently for like 2-3 years, and the new editions kept people coming back and bringing new fans into the fold. Kind of surprised they didn't go for that playbook. (Though, I guess there could be even more songs coming down the pike in the future.)
I already answered this up thread! There’s a very big push to get this to chart high first week. Also y'all are out of your minds if you don’t think there are collab songs coming.
But wait, there's more! Noah Kahan - The Greater Divide (May 1, 2026) Noah Kahan - More Bugs (May 2, 2026) Noah Kahan - The Greatest Division of Bugs You've Ever Seen (May 2, 2026)
Listening on vinyl while doing shit around the house is a much better listen than a car listen or intentional listen. Wild Staying Still isn’t on the album proper. Theres about a 3 I’d drop and then add that one. I’d be happy with that.