Noah Levine

This week’s Under 1M Spotlight is dedicated to Noah Levine. For the past couple of years, Levine has been playing alongside Noah Kahan as lead guitar and has even contributed to the production of the recent album The Great Divide as well as Dial Drunk off Stick Season: We’ll All Be Here Forever. Levine was interning with Gabe Simon when he was noticed by Kahan and eagerly accepted his offer to tour with him very quickly. Ever since, he has been a crucial part of writing and touring for Kahan.

Even with this huge accomplishment of getting to join Kahan on tour and creatively, Levine makes his own music and just put out a new single last Friday called “What A Shame.” The track is a very somber comparison to the music he produces with Kahan. It has a very simplistic and depressing instrumental alongside slow and clear lyrics.

The lyrics seem to portray the ins and outs of a brain. Someone has hurt him and he really wants to move on, but the person tried to confine him and hold him back. He says “somewhere between your heart and your head, that’s where I’ll be,” revealing how much this relationship takes up his time and thoughts. The chorus is a high pitched message giving us a touch of what this could be about. He says “I won’t know your place but I’ll call it home, cause I know you’re better now,” which tells us that he will miss this person and the company they kept for him, but knows they are better off if he stays away. And it is a shame that this distance improved their mental health.

The second verse lets us into the shame of his anger issues, where he “loses control” and his “tone’s not a choice.” He can never forget this person though. He will watch them from afar and “talk to their friends” to make sure they are okay without intruding. It becomes clear in the outro when he says “what a shame you’re better now” that this person is no longer with us, and all he is left with is a memory.