On Jan. 9, Zach Bryan’s long awaited new album, With Heaven on Top, came out, much to fans’ delight. The album will be Bryan’s sixth, with his previous albums receiving many positive reviews from top critics, and a Grammy Award nomination for Best Country Album for his album Zach Bryan.
With Heaven on Top contains 25 tracks, taking about 1 hour and 18 minutes to listen to consecutively. It was produced by Warner Records, whom Bryan has worked with on all his albums following his 2021 signing. Previously, his albums DeAnn and Elizabeth were independently released in 2019 and 2020 respectively, and recorded while Bryan was serving in the US Navy. The cover art of With Heaven on Top features Bryan with his labrador retriever Bud Heavy Bryan, sharing a moment by a stream in the woods. Many have theorized that the setting of the album cover reflects on his rural Oklahoma roots and familial values, as he has stated that those are important factors in his life.
The release of the album comes right after Bryan’s marriage to Samantha Leonard, on New Year’s Eve in Spain. The couple met in the summer of 2025, soon after Bryan’s highly publicized breakup with Brianna “Chickenfry” LaPaglia, a well known Boston podcaster. Songs on the new album like “Plastic Cigarette” and “Skin” deal with his breakup with LaPaglia, taking jabs at their relationship dynamic. In the song “Skin” Bryan sings “I’m taking a blade to my old tattoos / draining the blood between me and you,” describing the couple’s tumultuous, widely publicized breakup. To contrast, “Aeroplane” is a touching ballad about his love for his new wife Samantha Leonard. Lyrics like “I made a woman fall in love and made a rich man cry / And I’m on an aeroplane bound for Spain tonight,” reference his Dec. 31 wedding in Basílica de Santa María del Coro, a church in San Sebastián, Spain.
Other songs like “Bad News” offer political commentary, mentioning ICE raids in the first verse, tackling America’s deep divisions and criticizing the current administration’s harsh methods of handling the immigration crisis. To convey a sense of hope, the song expresses Bryan’s love and patriotism for his country, and highlights the need for unity, not division. The song sparked outrage from Bryan’s conservative audience who support ICE, but he has stated that the song is expressing the need for repairing division in a country that he loves, not an anti-American sentiment. The last song on the album, the eponymous “With Heaven on Top,” highlights how the struggles of life can beat you down, but going through life “with heaven on top” can help you find hope in dark times. The lyrics “spend a night in jail after pissin’ off a cop /o through hell with heaven on top” refer to Bryan’s 2023 arrest in Oklahoma for confronting an officer, and reflect on bad decisions, stating what helped him get through “hell.” Other lyrics like “You won’t find no answers safe at home / You can’t learn heartbreak from a poem” and “Gonna fight, gonna cry, gonna fall in love / Scrap and claw for what we’re dreamin’ of” show that perseverance through life pays off, which closes the album off on a positive note. Many fans have enjoyed the album so far, resonating with songs and praising their lyricism.
“I’m not usually into the country music genre, but this album surprised me, there are really great lyrics and catchy melodies. Not a single boring song, and “Appetite” might be my favorite,” said sophomore Elina Kamensky.
Bryan’s last album, The Great American Bar Scene (2024) was extremely successful, topping multiple Billboard Top 100 charts, but Bryan chose not to submit it or its songs to the Grammy Awards to align with his beliefs of “avoiding industry machinery.”
“The Great American Bar Scene is one of my favorite albums; I really like the song “Bass Boat” because its lyrics are relatable,” said sophomore Emma Banks.
The decision to not submit music to the awards was a contribution to the protest against making the music industry competitive.
According to UC Berkeley’s The Daily Californian, Bryan stated “I do not feel comfortable with awards shows making music competitive”.
Because of previous decisions to withhold albums from awards shows, fans can expect that With Heaven on Top will not be winning any major awards or getting substantial recognition other than reviews from critics.
“I respect Zach Bryan’s decision to protest against the music industry, but it’s sad to see as a fan that his amazing music isn’t getting the recognition it deserves,” said sophomore Maia Lucas.
The album has received great reviews from students and fans since it came out, and has been predicted to gain even more positive feedback from critics as the year goes on. Although Bryan chose to withhold his last album from major music awards, he may come back to submitting his music and gaining the recognition his audience believes he deserves. For now, fans can enjoy Zach Bryan’s With Heaven On Top, even if it does not win any major awards.