Hi it's the Noah Kahan anon. So the second single on his upcoming album came out almost a month ago but school's been busy so I am here now. IMO it's applicable in a different way to KPDH because it's actually written from the perspective of his mother, about the worries of a parent watching their kid become famous.
NOW, ONTO THE LYRICS! The first line of the chorus is "poison spreading to my lungs" (Hi Rumi patterns spreading voice loss), but the lead-in is different both times: the first time is "You're a ghost, you're a ghost, you're a ghost, you're a ghost, and you're—", the second time is "You're a ghost, you're a ghost, you're a ghost, you're a ghost, you're a ghost/And I choke, and I choke, and I choke, and I choke on the—" To me, honestly it's giving Rumi and Mi-Yeong: Rumi trying to live up to her dead mother, to the legacy of the hunters before her, trying to be good enough, and the shame of thinking she's a mistake is choking her.
There's also a part in the second verse, "That whatеver made you famous made you sick/That you can only do what pain allows/It ain't up to you to make it out/And there ain't no shame in callin' this thing quits," which kind of makes me think of Rumi with Jinu. "you can only do what pain allows" and how Gwi-Ma controls him, "that whatever made you famous made you sick" and both his original deal with Gwi-Ma and how he became famous with the Saja Boys, her (trying to) convince him to sabotage the Saja Boys into "calling it quits"
Back to the chorus: it ends with "I'll leave the porch light on/Heartbroken, each morning when it's me that turns it off" - the first bit, just "I'll leave the porch light on," reminds me of the scene where Rumi gets back to Mira and Zoey waiting for her after she ran from the live show. The whole thing (to take this to angstville), makes me think about a potential Celine post-movie, waiting for Rumi to come back and talk to her about, like, everything that happened from her showing up at the tree to suddenly new Honmoon and how HUNTR/X managed to get to announcing the Comeback tour after the Idol Awards disaster. I feel like there is definitely space post-movie for Rumi and Celine to be in this unspoken awkward place where they're both waiting for the other to reach out (shout out to Inside Out More Colourful by CoatWrites [https://archiveofourown.org/works/71022891/chapters/184717186] for introducing this idea to me: see ch. 2 which is the extended author's notes).
Also, second song rec: Godlight (yes, by Noah Kahan), which I CANNOT BELIEVE I haven't recced before because it's him talking to his younger self about performance, success, the experience of being on stage with an audience that's there for you. The chorus is just. So Rumi:
"To know me is to hate me
Is to hate what I've become
It's to watch me as I'm fallin'
From that ladder's last rung
It's to feel it like a secret
You can't keep in, I'm not the way I was
But to feel it, to see it
The look in all their eyes
Is to breathe in, to be in
The good grace of that Godlight
It's to have it in your hands
The one thing you wanted all your life
It also has the line "honey now you got a look that I don't recognize", which in context is look as in facial expression but consider: look as in general appearance + Mira and Zoey seeing Rumi's patterns for the first time at the Idol Awards.
Okay this got long. I don't know how, because I didn't think I had that much for Porch Light lmao. The first verse and outro for Godlight also feel very applicable to me but I will let you look those up on your own >:D (partially for, y'know, length reasons). Hope you enjoyed!!
One, I am. SO sorry at how long this response has taken me, I've not been on tumblr much at all lately and just completely fell behind on asks 😭
AUGH, your analyses are always so so crazy good, for real - I love them SO much
This bit in particular has me losing it:
"makes me think about a potential Celine post-movie, waiting for Rumi to come back and talk to her about, like, everything that happened"
AGH, PAIN, WAILING - SUCH a good image combo with those lyrics
Fantastic song recs and lyrics analyses as always, for real
(And for those who want to check it out, here's the fic referenced! Inside Out More Colorful by CoatWrites)
A million apologies for the, uh, two months it took me to answer this ^^; and a massive thank you as always for sharing your thoughts and being so completely delightful <3
