Noah Kahan is gearing up for his first Grammy Awards as a nominee — and he came up with the perfect plan to pass the time.
“Grammys drinking game,” Kahan, 27, tweeted on Monday, January 29, listing out the rules he created. “One shot everytime they accidentally show me on camera. One shot every time I spill something on my shirt. One shot everytime I have to go to the bathroom and walk by every other artist trying to not make eye contact more than the normal amount.”
Kahan is up for Best New Artist at this year’s Grammy Awards, which are taking place on Sunday, February 4. He faces fierce competition from some of this year’s most promising acts, from Gracie Abrams and Ice Spice to Jelly Roll and The War and Treaty.
“What the f–k. thank you @Recording Academy,” Kahan captioned a TikTok video when nominations were announced in November 2023.
The clip showed the singer-songwriter standing up from the couch and shouting, “Yes! Let’s go!” He proceeded to laugh and collapse to the floor in disbelief.
While Kahan is a newcomer to the Grammys world, he’s been working his way up the charts for years. He hit the road for the first time at age 19, opening for Milky Chance, and signed with Republic Records in 2017. Two years later, Kahan dropped his debut record, Busyhead.
The album includes the fan-favorite tracks “Mess” and “Hurt Somebody,” the latter of which features Julia Michaels. “It was a very modern operation,” he said of the collaboration in a 2019 interview. “She sent me an email with her vocals on it, and then we had a duet. Sadly, there is no fairy tale story where we both sang into separate sides of the mic and looked into each other’s eyes. But I am very glad she was willing to offer her services on this track. Her contribution totally changed its trajectory.”
Kahan noted that it was meaningful to see how many listeners connected with “Mess,” adding, “It is a song I wrote at a time when I was struggling with really severe depression and was totally overwhelmed by the world around me. I wrote a song about escaping and in doing so was able to genuinely escape reality. It was wonderful. My fans seem to love it, I love it, and I am very proud of it.”
It was during the COVID pandemic that Kahan’s career reached new heights as he grew a significant following on TikTok. His singles “Stick Season” and “Northern Attitude” helped him reach mainstream success before releasing his third album, Stick Season, in 2022. Kahan went on to drop an extended version, Stick Season (We’ll All Be Here Forever), and has since teamed up with Hozier, Sam Fender, Lizzy McAlpine and more on some of the album’s biggest hits.
While fans weren’t surprised to see his name among the rising stars nominated for Best New Artist, Kahan was cautious about the topic before his nod was official. “For an entire year, I wouldn’t let anyone talk to me about it,” he said on CBS Mornings earlier this month. “I didn’t want to curse it or jinx it.”
When the list was announced, Kahan felt every emotion. “That day was the first day I let myself really want it and allowed myself to believe that maybe I had a chance,” he added. “It was [something I’ve dreamed of]. … I would practice my Grammys speech when I was a little kid.”
Kahan called his recent success “surreal” after years of grinding to make it big. “It’s also something I’m really proud of … I’ve been in the music industry for a long time and it’s been a lot of hard work from a lot of people,” he gushed. “It’s really exciting.”
