Album Review: Zach Bryan

PHOTO: The cover for Zach Bryan’s newest self-titled album

By Ava Giovannettone

BlueDevilHUB.com Staff–

On Aug. 25 of this year, country music artist Zach Bryan released his new self-named album. This album consists of 16 tracks, one of them even being a poem. 

Bryan collaborated with a handful of artists on the album, including The War and Treaty, Sierra Ferrell, Kacey Musgraves and The Lumineers. With all the anticipation that came with the release of the album, it’s safe to say that it did not disappoint. 

Bryan has been releasing music since 2016, when he released his first song “Sunday Flannel.” It wasn’t until three years later on Aug. 24, 2019, that he released his debut album “DeAnn.”

Bryan grew up in Oologah, Oklahoma, which is why you can find a handful of his songs written about Oklahoma, including his newest hometown ballad “Oklahoma Son” which he released on his this (his latest or smth like that) album. 

This self titled album broke an impressive amount of records for the short amount of time it’s been released. For two consecutive weeks it remained the number one album on Billboard’s top 200 chart, along with all sixteen of his new songs landing on the HOT 100. 

I listened to the album for the first time with one of my friends, and every time a song would finish, we would talk about how much we loved it and what we thought it was about.

That’s one of the great things about this album — there are so many songs and lyrics to pick apart, and none of them are about exactly the same thing.

There’s a lot that stands out about this album, one being that Bryan wrote and produced the entire album himself. He wrote on Instagram that he was “really proud to call the writing and production on somethin’ all mine.”

This album is extremely special to Bryan, and to everyone who takes the time to listen and appreciate each track. It’s clear that he poured his heart and soul into each song. 

One song that stood out was “Overtime,” which Bryan wrote about how others told him he would never be successful and how he has worked his whole life to prove them wrong. Bryan sings “your songs sound the same, you’ll never make a name for yourself” explaining the things that people had said to him about his music. 

He follows these words of discouragement from others with advice from his grandfather, saying “never let this world’s earthly pride get you down, no matter who you know, no matter what you do, I’ll become what I deserve when it’s all through.”

An especially unique aspect about this album is that one of Bryan’s most popular songs, “Smaller Acts”, was recorded on a voice memo in the middle of a field, which just encapsulates the rawness of the song even more. 

Overall, I would give this album an 8.5/10. Bryan’s album deserves the hype. The songs, the lyrics, the deeper meanings behind each track and the way that they were made, it’s safe to say that this album was a great success.