Noah Kahan’s Rocky Rise to Stardom Subject of New Doc

In the span of just a few recent years, Noah Kahan went from a moderately successful singer-songwriter from Vermont to chart-topping hitmaker and Grammy nominee with his 2022 album Stick Season and the single of the same name. Now, director Nick Sweeney and four companies have wrapped production on a documentary on Kahan’s journey. The film, which is yet to be named, is currently on the market for a distributor to bring it to general audiences. 

Per a press release, the film follows Kahan after a spate of touring, a headline show at Madison Square Garden, and two at Fenway Park. The latter were livestreamed to support his mental health initiative The Busyhead Project, which has reportedly raised more than $4 million dollars to expand access to mental healthcare and counter stigma. “As his tour wraps up, he returns to Vermont to grapple with the pressures of his success, the challenge of following it up, and the personal struggles he’s never shared before,” says the release. “In this intimate look, Kahan reconnects with the people and places that shaped him, while navigating through life’s challenges and changing relationships.”

The documentary comes from Live Nation Productions, Federal Films, Polygram Entertainment, and RadicalMedia. It’s being represented by CAA as the filmmakers seek a distributor. 

In 2023, Kahan told Rolling Stone that his hit “Stick Season” was partially borne from some social media anxiety; he felt behind on TikTok and wanted to write something he could share there. “We all do this — let’s not pretend we don’t do it,” Kahan said. “Looking to see if people comment on it, if people are watching it, just refreshing it like an absolute maniac. And no one was, and I was like, ‘Dude, I suck. … It stinks, I suck, I’m the worst!’ I was feeding into the worst thoughts of myself. And then I woke up the next morning, and it had done really well, and I was like, ‘I’m the best, yeah!’” Writing the final song was long and difficult under the pressure of that success, but worthwhile. 

“To see it succeed on TikTok and have what seems to be this universal relatability in terms of people making their own lyrics and creating their own storylines was incredible,” Kahan said. “And it was really gratifying to see that I could make something that was specific to my life that could relate to a lot of different people’s lives.”