Zach Bryan has released a new song, “High Road,” amid his highly-publicized break-up with podcast host Brianna LaPaglia.
On Thursday, November 7, the 28-year-old country released the new track alongside “The World’s a Giant” paired with a lengthy Instagram caption reflecting on a long, complicated chapter in his life.
Reflecting on his journey home after a year and a half away, Bryan shared the experience of visiting his mother Annette’s grave in Oklahoma. She passed in August 2016.
“Told her I quit touring because I got accepted to get my masters in Paris next year, I told her I was back in Oklahoma, told her about all my best friends in New York and all the nights we howled with the moon, told her about the immeasurable laughter my band and me have shared these last five years, all the calluses on my fingertips, every tear shed, told her about making it on the Rolling Stone [sic] and most importantly told her about porch swinging with my beautiful sister,” he wrote.
“I wrote the chorus for this song a month or two back and finished it when I realized I was blessed with all these things.”
“I figured it was about time I released it,” he continued. “Thank you guys for listening to ‘This Worlds a Giant’ last night and thank you to all the people who love me; who have truly carried the weight with me. Seems that all these Quiet Dreams have gotten much too heavy but I’m home now and I’ll hold you through the pain. ‘High Road’ is out today and I appreciate all of you.”
The releases came just as his ex LaPaglia, 25, made allegations of emotional abuse against the country star on her BFFs podcast with co-hosts Dave Portnoy and Josh Richards. It was the first time LaPaglia opened up about her relationship with the country singer since he announced their breakup on October 22.
Describing the last year as “the hardest year of my life dealing with the abuse from this dude,” LaPaglia claimed she had been “scared” to speak up before. She alleged Bryan would “build you up, beat you down, apologize over and over.”
“There was always another excuse as to why he was treating me so poorly and why I’m crying myself to sleep every night,” she said. “Why he’s screaming at me and then you wake up, it’s the apology, it’s the ‘I’m going to be better like I need you in my life,’ but if you’ve been through this — I don’t expect people to understand emotional abuse if you haven’t been through it. I hope you never have to go through it but if you’ve been there you know what I’m talking about.”
LaPaglia also alleged that women who were previously in relationships with Bryan were made to sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) to keep them from publicly discussing their experiences with him. She claimed she was offered $12m to “not talk about the relationship.”
Bryan’s representatives did not immediately respond to The Independent’s request for comment.
“You get to go skip off and sing your little f***ing songs on stage like you’re a good dude. You get to treat people around you like s***. Sorry, I’m not them,” she said. “I don’t want your money; I don’t want in two years to buy a f***ing house and think, ‘Oh, this is the money from the dude that literally f***ing destroyed me and broke me for a year.’”
The two began dating officially in July 2023, with Bryan announcing their breakup on Instagram on October 22 of this year.
At the time, LaPaglia took to her Instagram story to reveal that she was “blindsided” by his announcement, writing that she would take a social media hiatus to continue processing the split.
