Noah Kahan’s “Draw You Out” Connects Perfectly to “The Hunger Games”

Noah Kahan from his most recent music video where he sang “Draw You Out” while sitting around a camp fire. The photo is not perfectly in focus, instead it appears to have a filter over it, which mutes the natural colors and adds a cold, highlighted glow. Photo creds: Genius 

Carrie Bradbury, Senior Editor and Review Desk Lead

Coming off of his hit album, “The Great Divide: Last of the Bugs,” fans weren’t sure if Noah Kahan would be able to write another heartbreaking song so soon. From gravel roads to camp fires, Kahan’s music is known for its mountain feel and heartbreaking lyrics. But how could Kahan’s usual style fit into the world of “The Hunger Games”? 

On Oct. 2, Kahan released “Draw You Out” on all major platforms. Though some fans knew of the release from concert clips or the movie trailer, the song came as a surprise to many.

This is not the first time that the Hunger Games series has included songs from popular artists in their films. In the most recent movie, “Ballard of Song Birds and Snakes,” Olivia Rodrigo’s “Can’t Catch Me Now” was a massive hit. The song was popular from the second it was released and became the movie's theme song due to the catchy beat and uncanny connection to the plot.

Fans might expect Kahan’s track to do a similar thing. When listening to the song, it is easy to identify the connection between the lyrics and the book’s story. The Hunger Games franchise is built on themes of love vs. loss, war vs. peace, and freedom vs. order. These themes have replayed over and over again in the previous movies and are also common in Kahan’s song writing.

“I carry you on with me, I promised you

I would, and I do.

And I float around, show up unannounced

In the places that you knew.”

The chorus is sudden and sharp, and each time the chorus appears, a sudden and complete shift occurs within the song moving from a calm and rhythmic tone to a loud and abrasive one. The pain in Kahan’s voice while he sings the chorus is apparent, yet not usual for him. It will be interesting to see how these four lines connect to the movie outside from the emotions that they evoke.

The story of the main character, Haymitch Abernathy, is an incredibly heartbreaking one. Reaped for the Hunger Games, he is forced to fight to the death in an enclosed arena. While fans are already familiar with Abernathy as a character from his showing in the original trilogy, “Sunrise on the Reaping” will be focused on his back story and life before his first time in the games.

Abernathy is an alcoholic in the original trilogy. Throughout the first two books, readers rarely see him sober. Yet due to his past, no one challenges his addiction and cites his time spent in the arena as the source of his problems. Kahan points to Haymitch’s outward anger as well as his inner trauma in his lyrics.

“I was born with someone else's face

A coward's anger and a fighter's rage.”

The song is mostly slow and quiet, allowing for the listener to settle into a rhythm between each chorus. Kahan rarely does anything by accident, and this song is one of the key examples of why. His craft in song writing is remarkable, but in the case of this song, it is the emotion he evokes in the listener while weaving back and forth between each chorus and verse, that brings his skill full circle. 

“No one tells you just how long you'll last

Some go slowly and some far too fast

I've got time I never planned to have

I got years and years of it”

Just four lines woven into a song full of moving lyrics, but this section particularly stands out due to its connection to the movie. Not knowing how long you will last ties perfectly to the arena along with the constant fear each tribute has of getting killed. He then goes further to say that he, or Haymitch, has more time than he planned to have, which could mean that Haymitch never knew he would, or meant to, survive his time fighting in the Hunger Games.

If not anything else, “Draw You Out” has raised excitement for the movie and given Kahan and Hunger Games fans a mutual interest. The song alone is a masterpiece, but seeing it in the movie will be what truly defines the success of “Draw You Out”.