Zach Bryan’s got another one. The prolific country-rock megastar puts out a whole lot of music. His most recent album The Great American Bar Scene is just a few months old, and he recently teased another new song while announcing to the world that he’d broken up with his girlfriend. Bryan loves posting videos of himself playing early acoustic versions of his songs online, then releasing those songs later. Today, he’s done it again — not with the song that he just teased, but with one that he debuted in an acoustic snippet last July. That song is called “This World’s A Giant,” and he released it as a single today.
Last summer Bryan posted a video of himself playing “This World’s A Giant” outside somewhere. Today, the song gets a proper single release, and it’s his first proper new release since that album came out. Heaven Schmitt, leader of the New York indie band Grumpy, sings backup harmonies. “This World’s A Giant” is a luminous, reflective number about being overwhelmed by the outside world. Bryan wrote and produced the track himself, as he usually does, and it’s got vaguely jazz-inspired horns floating through the mix. More than most Bryan songs, I think this one reflects the influence of Bon Iver, a huge Bryan fave and past collaborator.
“Zach has shown us, over and over, how he lifts up small artists he believes in. He is a true artist who takes chances in the name of a great song,” Scmidtt says of the collab. “We became acquainted through a mutual musician friend, Jack Van Cleaf, where I got a chance to show off my vocal chops. We’ve been working together regularly since. He’s become a true friend in music and I’m grateful to work alongside this special artist.”
“Last week I was a barista,” they added on TikTok. “Now I sing harmonies for Zach Bryan.” Schmitt’s vocals were apparently just recorded yesterday afternoon.
Below, check out the song and the early acoustic preview.
@zachbryanarchive Zach Bryan – This Worlds a Giant [Unreleased] #ZachBryan original sound – Zach Bryan Archive
@grumpyismyleastfavband Crazy. I sang vocals on this song at about 1pm yesterday and now its out. Thanks Zach for taking a chance on me. #zachbryan #transrights #transmusician ♬ This World’s A Giant – Zach Bryan
Zach Bryan is in the news these days for other reasons, as well. A few weeks ago, he announced that he and his girlfriend Brianna LaPaglia, better known as Barstool Sports podcaster Brianna Chickenfry, had broken up. For her part, LaPaglia said that she was blindsided by Bryan’s announcement, and she understandably seemed pretty upset about it.
In response, Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy is going after Bryan. Portnoy and LaPaglia’s podcast co-host Josh Richards released a Zach Bryan diss track called “Smallest Man” yesterday. Portnoy then claimed that Bryan’s label Warner Music Nashville issued a DMCA complaint and had the song removed from streaming services at Bryan’s request, Barstool reported.
On TikTok, Portnoy said the takedown was related to its melodic similarity to Bryan’s “28.” He adjusted the audio and announced a “Smallest Man” rerelease, saying he wants to get the song charting and to beat Bryan at his own game.
@bffspod Smallest Man video back up NOW, music back on streaming tonight at midnight ET. Link in b i o
In a follow-up video, Portnoy then noted that “Smallest Man” is still muted on various platforms, but that he’d determined the reason for the takedown is apparently not the outro after all. Instead, Portnoy says that he found out that his rapping partner Richards apparently signed a music deal with Warner a few years ago and that “they own his ass.” He continues:
Guess what? You know who else Warner Music Group reps? Zack fuckin’ little man thin-skin psycho Bryan. So that’s what they’re doing. They’re like, “Nope, we own all of Josh’s music.” You own it, you own me. All right, fine. You think that’s just it? You think all right, we’re just gonna put “Smallest Man” away? I will write 10,000 diss tracks. I will go die in the booth. I will put the headsets on. I will come back spittin’ bar twice as hot.
@bffspod Dave has an update on the latest twist in the smallest man diss track saga #davesversion original sound – BFFs Pod
“This World’s A Giant” is out now on Belting Bronco/Warner. Hopefully, these gentleman can keep it on wax. Nobody needs another King Von situation.
