“Part of Me” by Noah Kahan

On the surface, “Part of Me” may read like your standard heartbreak lamentation being relayed to the singer’s ex, the addressee, whose absence is the source of his discontent. And even in that regard, this tale isn’t necessarily the easiest to decipher. That is to say that the vocalist makes the somewhat unorthodox proclamation that he doesn’t actually miss the addressee, but he does “miss the way” she “made (him) feel”. 

Jumping to a hasty conclusion, that sounds like something a person would say when for example they enjoyed having sex with a particular individual but at the same time were turned off by said individual’s personality. But apparently that is not the case at hand – indeed far from it.

Rather what is actually going down, based on Noah Kahan’s personal explanation of the narrative, is that the addressee is someone whom the singer has only dealt with in an ‘almost-romantic’ capacity for a brief moment in time. And upon initially parting ways, he didn’t think much of it. But as time progressed, he came to realize that there was something serious going on there. That is because at the time the narrator, even if he didn’t realize it, was in fact lonely. 

And all of this is ultimately meant to point to the idea that a seemingly-insignificant relationship can actually result in a hardened person becoming emotionally vulnerable yet again.

A Theme of Loss

And we felt a need to shed some light on the above explanation (outside of the confines of the lyrics) because it appears to be pretty much a longshot that a listener would actually be able to get all of that from the lyrics alone. 

The primary sentiment being relayed isn’t one of emotional evolution but rather of loss. Or put more simply, the singer is in his feelings due to no longer having the addressee in his life. And his sensation of remorse is exacerbated by certain factors. For instance, she’s now dating another dude. 

Also, even if we do now know, given Kahan’s explanation, that the narrator and addressee weren’t romantically involved, still the prospect for such existed. So as relayed in the second verse, the singer is also regretting that he didn’t take advantage of that opportunity.

But honestly, in terms of the wording of this piece, a notion like the singer and addressee never actually having dated doesn’t really get across. And conclusively, all lyrics considered what it does actually read like is as if he does and doesn’t miss being with her at the time.  But that noted, the part of him that does miss her is definitely more prominent than the part that doesn’t.

Noah Kahan

Noah Kahan is a singer from the farmlands of Vermont. He began engaging in songwriting very early in life but really started taking music more seriously in high school, where he managed to catch the attention of a couple of bigwigs. This resulted in Kahan putting his college career on hold, even though he was accepted into Tulane University, to rather pursue one in music. 

And he did go on to receive a contract from one of the biggest names in the game, Republic Records. This happened in 2016, when he would have been around 19 years old.

The year 2017 also witnessed the release of Noah Kahan’s first single, “Young Blood”, as well as his biggest leading up to the release of “Part of Me”, which was “Hurt Somebody”. The version of “Hurt Somebody” that blew up was one that he cut with a more-popular singer, Julia Michaels. 

Moreover, the track didn’t necessarily do outstandingly well in his homeland. But it did achieve quadruple-platinum status via Australia’s ARIA.

Also Noah Kahan has proven popular enough whereas his fandom has their own moniker, being known as “busyheads”. FYI, Busyhead is actually the name of his first full-length, which he release in 2019.

Release of “Part of Me”

Reportedly this track is to be featured on Kahan’s second full-length, which as at the release of the song is untitled.

As for the actual release date of “Part of Me”, that was on 14 May 2021, making it the first original song Noah released in 2020.

Credits

Noah wrote this song himself. However, he worked with two other songwriters to accomplish this task. The said writers are: Nick Atkinson and Edd Holloway. 

The producers of the track are Joel Little and Mark Rankin. The former of actually has quite a few big hits under his belt, including a number of them working with Taylor Swift.