Zach Bryan Is Already ‘About Half Done’ With His 5th Album

Zach Bryan’s new music might be arriving sooner than fans think.

“I’m so excited for everyone to hear the next album,” Bryan, 27, wrote via X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday, December 26. His message came mere months after the musician released his massive self-titled fourth album, which was a critical and commercial success. The album has appeared on many “Best of 2023” lists, including Us Weekly’s. The album’s lead single, “I Remember Everything” (a collab with Kacey Musgraves), debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in September, marking the first time Bryan and Musgraves, 35, topped the chart.

Bryan’s fans were just as excited to hear about this hypothetical new album as the singer was to share it. When one of Bryan’s fans asked when it would come out, he responded that the project is “about half done, so depending on the writing side, who knows. God willing, as soon as possible.”

Another fan asked whether Bryan had a “favorite song title” on the new album. He responded by saying it was “The Great American Bar Scene.”

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Bryan dropping new music out of the blue isn’t unusual. He debuted Boys of Faith, an EP featuring Bon Iver and Noah Kahan, shortly after the release of Zach Bryan. “Locked myself in a studio all week, wrote myself through a notebook, walked around with people I love in the city, then went campin’, felt restful and hopeful, thankful for breathing no matter the day,” Bryan wrote when first previewing the music.

Zach Bryan is one of the many reasons why 2023 was a great year for country music. The album was “both heavy and hopeful,” wrote Us earlier this month when naming it one of the best releases of the year. The album is full of Bryan’s “never-twee brand of heartland heartbreak,” exemplified by “East Side of Sorrow,” “a bittersweet reminder to ‘let it be, then let it go’ even after a life-changing loss.”

Despite his mega-successful year, Bryan had a slightly embarrassing moment in September when he was taken into custody in Vinta, Oklahoma, on an obstruction of investigation charge. He released a lengthy video explaining his arrest, saying he was “an idiot today and my decisions did not reflect who I was as a person and I just wanna make that clear and I should’ve been smarter about it.”

He claimed he was headed to Boston with his security guard traveling in a separate car behind him. When his guard got pulled over, Bryan claimed he got out of his car to smoke a cigarette. The officer told Bryan to get back into his vehicle or he would take him to jail. Bryan said he got “too lippy” with the officer and was “being disrespectful.” The officer ultimately handcuffed Bryan and followed through on his threat, booking him on the obstruction charge.

Spotify later used his mugshot as the cover art for its “Outlaw” playlist. Bryan’s girlfriend, Brianna LaPaglia, also poked fun at the incident, sharing Britney Spears’ song “Criminal” via her Instagram Story.