Zach Bryan gives fans glimpses into his life with his songs. While not every song in his catalog is wholly autobiographical, there’s no denying that he writes what he knows. So, he threads pieces of his life and experiences into his music. The same is true for the tracks on his most recent album, The Great American Bar Scene.
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Bryan’s latest album was a massive chart success. It went to No. 1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart for two weeks. It peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 all-genre albums chart. The 19-track collection housed several fan favorites and hit songs. However, “28” is one of the most popular songs on the album. It peaked at No. 5 on the Hot Country Songs chart and No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100. It has also garnered more than 150 million streams on Spotify. That’s nearly three times as many streams as the second most popular track on the album, “Better Days.” The John Mayer collaboration currently sits at 53 million streams.
[RELATED: The Story Behind “28” by Zach Bryan and How His Courageous Dog Named Boston Inspired It]
The song is a great example of how Bryan can bridge the gap between the deeply personal and the widely relatable in his songwriting. It pulls from his experiences while being something that many listeners can feel deep in their bones. However, some may not realize that his ex-girlfriend Brianna “Chickenfry” LaPaglia greatly influenced the song.
How Zach Bryan’s Ex Inspired a “28”
Zach Bryan seems to be talking about his then-happy relationship with LaPaglia in the song’s opening verse. The lines hint at someone showing him a kind of love that he had never experienced before. However, that’s not his ex’s biggest contribution to the song. Instead, it’s the recurring line How lucky are we?
Bryan explained the song in a tweet. “Boston, our puppy was going into surgery, and I told Brianna, ‘How lucky are we?’ to have had a puppy so beautiful, and she came out of it just fine,” he tweeted. “I wrote it the next day because I felt like the luckiest man on the planet.”
However, LaPaglia has a tattoo that reads “How lucky are we?” that she got with a group of her friends, including an ex-boyfriend, before she met the singer/songwriter.
So, due to the popularity of “28,” both Bryan and LaPaglia will have permanent reminders of their relationship.
Featured Image by Keith Griner/Getty Images
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