As we walk outside, we can see our neighbor’s red maple leaves turn brown and wilted. We can feel a crisp breeze and the air starting to smell like a nostalgic, beige fragrance that can only signify that winter is on its way.

Around that acute fall feeling artist Noah Kahan centered his breakout album “Stick Season,” released on Oct. 14, 2022, three years ago. October in Kahan’s home state of Vermont is when the trees turn bare, yet snow is still yet to fall.

But it wasn’t only that feeling that made him so popular. His themes of depression, addiction, and desperate hope in a gloomy world struck a chord. They struck millions of chords, in fact, as worldwide audiences brought him to 10x Platinum and 4x Gold in eight countries.

Kahan’s melodies and lyricism were incredibly touching and deep. He reached out to young audiences dealing with the same mental illness and addictions he delves into on “Orange Juice” and “Growing Sideways.” Songs like “Everywhere, Everything” and “All My Love” centered on the same pains of young love many of us experience daily.

In an interview with iHeartRadio, he said “Homesick” was his best written song, a tune that perfectly captures a balance between a reluctance and an urge to get out of the hometown you’ve known for years. What more can a high school senior relate to?

Listening to the album caused physical pain in our chests, but still healed our hearts.

“His messages are really personal, but at the same time, a lot of people can relate to them,” junior Elliott Szczytowski said. “It meant knowing that like there’s other people going through the same struggles that I do.”

But just like all successful albums, he can’t redo “Stick Season.” He extended its success by releasing bonus tracks on the “We’ll All Be Here Forever” version of the album in 2023. In their own right, those sequels were just as heartfelt. “No Complaints,” “Call Your Mom,” and “Your Needs, My Needs” are still hard-hitters, even now, two years later.

The “Forever” version consolidated the whole saga, including collaboration tracks with Post Malone, Lizzy McAlpine, Hozier, and more. That final version also came with one new track, “Forever,” a heartbreaking gem that captured loneliness, love and hope in one song as a grand finale to Kahan’s quintessential chapter.

At Dick Clark’s 2025 New Year’s Rock’n Eve, Kahan joked he’d be releasing “75 new versions of ‘Stick Season’” this year.

We know he’s kidding. He’s making new music right now. But we have to ask: could anything ever top the emotional impact “Stick Season” had on our generation?

For me personally, my answer is yes. He’s made incredible music beyond the bounds of his last project. “Maine,” a song from his 2020 EP “Cape Elizabeth” is one of the most gut-wrenching, beautiful songs he’s ever produced. His 2021 album “I Was/I Am” features masterpieces including “Godlight,” “Part of Me,” and “Caves.” Those are two projects that I couldn’t take off repeat for a while when I started listening.

You may think Noah Kahan mastered the art of relatable sadness when he made “Stick Season.” Truth is, he had it down five years beforehand.

Sczcytowski says that he has enough of a platform to build on success, not fall short.

“He built himself such a big, big, big fan base with ‘Stick Season,’” she said. “He sold out Fenway Park. He definitely has a good platform to build on.”

But for all of pop culture, can he top it? My answer is no. It’s so hard to create something that goes as viral as “Stick Season,” then do it twice in a row. Hozier, Billie Eilish, Tyler, The Creator: all examples of huge artists where their huge breakout albums (“Hozier,” “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go,” “IGOR”) outsold and outplaced their follow-ups.

Now, Kahan has a David v. Goliath battle against himself.

But for true fans and not TikTok listeners, Kahan’s next project will continue a legacy of emotional hits and true passion. Maybe he won’t make it as big. Maybe he won’t “top” his last album in the Billboard Hot 100 sense. But he will continue to do great things. He’s done them before. “Stick Season” was simply the great thing that happened to make the headlines and leaderboards.