Zach Bryan returns with With Heaven on Top, a 25-track album exploring fame, burnout, love, and identity. Here are five major takeaways from his most introspective release to date.
Country music’s most talked-about songwriter is back. Zach Bryan has released With Heaven on Top, his first album since mid-2024, and it’s already sparking intense conversation among fans and critics alike.
The record opens with a vivid spoken-word scene set in a wintery Manhattan apartment, where fire, water, and the New York Fire Department blur into a metaphor for fame, survival, and emotional overflow. From there, Bryan spends 25 tracks unpacking what it cost to reach the top — and what it takes to stay human once you’re there.
Here are five major takeaways shaping the early reaction to With Heaven on Top.
1. Zach Bryan Lived It — Then Wrote It All Down
After three relentless years at the center of country music’s universe, Bryan stepped back in 2025. Aside from a handful of stadium shows and major weekends in Dublin and London, his schedule was noticeably lighter than during 2024’s Quittin’ Time Tour.
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That time away shows up everywhere on this album. Songs like “Anyways” openly wrestle with burnout, isolation, and the pressure to keep going. Bryan sings about hiding from the world, questioning his path, and ultimately choosing to reengage with life. The album feels less like a concept and more like a journal — one written during a rare pause in his rise.
2. The Album Version of Bryan Matches the Public One
With Heaven on Top doesn’t attempt to soften or reinvent Zach Bryan. Instead, it leans fully into the person listeners have watched in real time.
There’s no grand moral arc or polished redemption story here. When Bryan sings about drinking less, feeling bored, or bouncing between cities like New York, it’s clear he’s not playing a character. The self-awareness is sharp, sometimes uncomfortable, and likely to deepen existing opinions — whether positive or negative — about him.
This has always been Bryan’s songwriting style, but here it’s more direct than ever.
3. It’s Not a Breakup Album — and Not a Love Letter Either
Given Bryan’s very public relationship with Brianna LaPaglia and their equally public breakup, many expected With Heaven on Top to center on heartbreak. It doesn’t.
There are pointed moments, especially on “Skin,” where Bryan references matching tattoos and the act of erasing the past. But the album doesn’t dwell there. At the same time, his new marriage to Samantha Leonard is acknowledged without turning the record into a romance narrative.
Instead, love exists here as one part of a much larger emotional landscape.
4. “Bad News” Is Political — Even If Bryan Isn’t
“Bad News” was controversial before it was fully released, thanks to lyrics referencing ICE and federal crackdowns. Now that the full track is out, there’s no avoiding it: the song is political.
That said, Bryan doesn’t position himself as an activist. As a Navy veteran, he frames the song through frustration, contradiction, and lived experience rather than ideology. The lyric “right’s turned red, and the left’s all woke” reinforces that he’s observing the chaos more than choosing sides.
The result is a song that sparks debate without offering easy answers.
5. This Is Zach Bryan at His Most Country
Musically, With Heaven on Top doubles down on what made Bryan successful. The stripped-down, lyrics-first approach remains front and center, but there’s a noticeable influence from Bruce Springsteen.
Harmonica, horns, and subtle string arrangements give the album a bigger emotional frame without overpowering its acoustic core. Lyrically, Bryan keeps circling back to home — Oklahoma, Rogers County, the Red River, and his late mother in “DeAnn’s Denim.”
He even nods to the Turnpike Troubadours, reinforcing that no matter how far he travels, his songwriting roots remain firmly planted.
Final Thoughts
With Heaven on Top isn’t designed to win over skeptics. It’s raw, unfiltered, and deeply personal — a snapshot of Zach Bryan at a moment when success, exhaustion, gratitude, and frustration all collide.
For fans, it feels like an honest continuation of his story. For critics, it may confirm everything they already believe. Either way, the album makes one thing clear: Zach Bryan isn’t interested in smoothing the edges. He’s still writing exactly where he stands — and inviting listeners to decide what that means for themselves.