Noah Kahan Says He's Working on Feeling 'Deserving' After Joking He Was 'Least Cool Guy' at Grammys

The "Stick Season" singer was nominated for best new artist at this year's Grammy Awards

Noah Kahan attends the 66th GRAMMY Awards at Crypto.com Arena on February 04, 2024
Noah Kahan at the Grammy Awards on Feb. 4, 2024. Photo:

Neilson Barnard/Getty

Noah Kahan is opening up about feeling a bit of imposter syndrome at the 2024 Grammy Awards.

The "Stick Season" singer, 27, was nominated at this year's show on Feb. 4 for best new artist, going up against stars like Ice Spice, Jelly Roll and Victoria Monét, who eventually took home the prize.

Though Kahan wrote on Instagram that he considered it the "privilege of a lifetime" to be a part of the Grammys, he opened up about his anxieties surrounding the day in a new interview with The Guardian.

“I was sitting by myself, like: ‘Whoa, I am the least cool guy at the party right now.’ My mom is killing it, everyone around me is killing it," said Kahan, who brought mom Lauri as his date. "It played into this idea that I have about myself — which isn’t healthy — that I don’t belong.”

The musician has long been open about his struggles with anxiety and mental health, and last year launched The Busyhead Project, which supports organizations that increase mental health awareness.

Noah Kahan and Lauri Berkenkamp
Noah Kahan and his mom Lauri Berkenkamp at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Feb. 4, 2024.

Kevin Mazur/Getty

Still, his anxieties weighed on him, and Kahan told the outlet that accepting his recent success is something he's still learning how to do.

"I could have gotten up and said hello to somebody — it's my own making," he said. "It's one of those things that I need to work on, finding out how to feel deserving and worthy."

Kahan released Stick Season, his third album, in October 2022 following the viral TikTok success of its title track. Since then, he's released two iterations of the album, most recently Stick Season (Forever), which includes duets of fan-favorite tracks with stars like Kacey Musgraves and Sam Fender.

He's currently on his We'll All Be Here Forever Tour, which is set to run through September, and has notched a number of accomplishments in recent months, like a performance on Saturday Night Live.

In another new interview with the New Yorker, Kahan explained the duality of his sudden rise to fame, and how it's weighed on him.

"It's hard to describe how lonely it is to have everybody think that you're succeeding, and to feel that you're barely managing," he said. "I'm so f---in' lucky and privileged to be in this position. But I still feel like every other human being: stress, anxiety. Recently, I've felt more of that than I've wanted to."

Kahan told PEOPLE in October that he feels "a lot of pressure" to follow Stick Season with his next album, but is making sure to take time to find a focus before releasing anything new.

Related Articles