Noah Kahan’s most unhinged writing spot revealed

Publish date: Tuesday, 28 Apr 2026, 12:44PM

Noah Kahan has revealed some of his best songwriting ideas don’t come in a studio… they happen on the toilet.

The Stick Season singer says the bathroom has become an unlikely creative hub thanks to its great acoustics and the fact he finds the whole thing hilarious.

Speaking to the BBC, he admitted: “The bathroom has really good acoustics, and I always think it's funny to be sitting on the toilet playing music.

“My fans seem to like it when I talk about poop and stuff, so it's a good way to mix music and bathroom humour.”

But behind the jokes, Kahan says he’s been dealing with a much heavier reality.

The singer opened up about struggling with OCD, admitting that performing started to feel overwhelming and isolating.

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“I was always on stage thinking, ‘When is this going to end? How am I going to do this again?’ instead of focusing on the thousands of people there,” he said.

Even songwriting usually his emotional outlet became stressful.

“Every time I sat down to write, I’d think, ‘What’s this going to sound like when it’s released? Are people going to like this?’”

Despite his breakout success with Stick Season, the pressure only made things worse. He said the song came together so quickly that when future songs didn’t, it felt like failure.

Kahan even tried a reset trip to Joshua Tree, hoping the change of scenery would spark inspiration but it had the opposite effect.

“I thought, ‘The desert will help me understand myself.’ Then I got out there and felt even worse.”

After being diagnosed with OCD, he stepped away from writing for a month something he described as “horrifying” as his identity became tied to creating music.

The turning point came when he decided to go back on medication, including Lexapro.

“It helped me realise I don’t need to be in pain to make music,” he said.

With a clearer head, Kahan returned to his demos and discovered he hadn’t been blocked at all he’d actually written nearly 40 songs.

And fittingly, some of those ideas were finished in the same place they started…

On the toilet.

First published by Bangshowbiz, republished with permission and edits.