Noah Kahan repays Olivia Rodrigo with Live Lounge cover

By Riyah CollinsBBC Newsbeat

BBC Radio 1

Noah Kahan performed Stick Season after Olivia Rodrigo's cover of his song blew up

Singer Noah Kahan has covered Olivia Rodrigo in Radio 1's Live Lounge - a month after she performed one of his songs on the station.

He says he was "honoured" when Olivia played her version of his track Stick Season last month, causing it to blow up with fans.

In return, Noah chose her song Lacy for his own Live Lounge session - but he kept it secret from Olivia.

"I was hoping she wouldn't see it in case it was bad," he says.

"She's going to find out eventually. I hope she likes it, I was so honoured by her and so inspired by her."

Noah, 26, took a break from his UK tour for the performance, which also included Stick Season.

Even though it's his own song, he says Olivia's version made the experience "nerve-wracking".

"Olivia covered it and honestly I was just willing to give her Stick Season as a song after that," he says.

"Now I've got to try and match up to it."

Allow Google YouTube content?

This article contains content provided by Google YouTube. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read

Google’s cookie policy

and

before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.

Noah says he chose to cover Lacy because "the song is so beautiful and it highlights what I love so much about Olivia's lyricism, it's very dynamic and it just makes you feel an emotion we've all experienced before".

"I would be happy for the rest of my life to cover Olivia, she's an amazing person, an amazing artist."

But ideally they'd collaborate, he says.

"I would love to work with Olivia, I'd love to write a song with her."

Olivia's version of Stick Season has racked up more than 3 million views on Radio 1's YouTube - three times as many hits as her performance of her song Vampire.

Noah says Stick Season was inspired by his hometown of Strafford, Vermont.

"I'm constantly thinking about my hometown and how it's affected my adult life and how it's played into my personality," he says.

"This album was an exploration of that."

Noah, a Chelsea fan, records the volume of his audience at every gig and says his Glasgow fans were some of the loudest ever, reaching the volume of a jet engine.