Noah Levine beautifully expresses the anxieties around early-stage dating in "Regretter"

Noah Levine (Noah Kahan’s lead guitarist) has released a music video for song “Regretter,” part of his newly-released debut album Leaver. Since he released his first single in 2025, Noah Levine has been recognized for his profound ability to paint full emotional worlds with his lyrics, and that is exactly what he showcases in “Regretter.”

The song expresses the anxieties of early-stage dating, when desperation and hunger get in the way of real, slow-building intimacy. The genius of Levine’s lyricism lies in his imagery, because it communicates so much in just a couple of words. Lines like “I’m a redressing regretter” communicate concisely the narrator’s tendency to make the same mistakes repeatedly, despite regretting them after.

Another strength of the song is its unique structure, with the chorus appearing only after the two verses. When the chorus finally comes, there is a huge release in tension, as the melody becomes more up-beat and vocals become higher.

Lyrically, the song builds in the same way. The verses are an honest reflection of the the narrator’s behaviour, whereas the chorus is more expressive of his desires: the first lines of the chorus, “I don’t want to be needed / I need to be wanted,” feel more like a cry than the verses, and that is what makes the transition from verses to chorus so powerful.