Hailing from Omaha, Nebraska and based now in Nashville, Noah Floersch has been releasing smart and stirring pop music since his college years at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. When the single “Ghost of Chicago” from his second record Noah unexpectedly went viral, racking up millions of streams just about overnight, it allowed Floersch to quit his job at an ice prep factory and head out on his first major tours — including a support slot for Ricky Montgomery, and a headline tour at the end of last year.

Now, taking on board the lessons he’s learned about connecting in a live setting, he debuts a new era with the sad-boy singalong anthem, “Growing Everything Out”. Inspired by the rougher side of his new on-the-road lifestyle, it’s a track about looking in the mirror, realizing you look like shit, and not even caring. Beneath its playful “na-na-na”s and its earworm melodies is a genuinely poignant mix of sadness and exhaustion, relatable to anyone who’s found themselves the worse for wear in a bathroom stall a few too many times. “Growing Everything Out” and the new music still to come sees Floersch grappling with his least flattering emotional impulses, at the same time as crafting the most undeniably fun songs of his career. It’s a combination of vulnerability and charisma that builds on the meaningful connection he’s already built with fans, and completes his transformation into a bona fide pop star.