Zach Bryan Longs to Rekindle an Old Flame on New Unreleased Song, ‘They Ain't You’

Zach Bryan may be taking a year off from ‘touring’ (although he still has a slew of performances lined up in London, Dublin, New Jersey and more), but the Oklahoma singer-songwriter doesn't appear to be slowing down when it comes to working on new music.

The ‘Something in the Orange’ hitmaker has taken to Instagram to tease an unreleased track, ‘They Ain't You’, which finds Zach Bryan yearning to fall back into the arms of an ex.

Zach Bryan begins by lamenting how she still haunts him when he sleeps, before seemingly outlining how he's met a host of wonderful women since he parted ways with his old flame, yet somehow they still can't compare to her (“Beautiful and kind and patient too / They walk on water if you ask them too / But they ain't you”).

Zach Bryan has been busy in recent weeks sharing unreleased song snippets, with the folk-leaning artist testing fans’ responses to his new material. Unfortunately, despite the ‘They Ain't You’ reaction looking strong so far, it's always a possibility with Bryan that he'll share a clip of an exciting new offering that followers fall in love with, before discarding it on his sizeable heap of never-released songs.

Of course, given the media storm that continues to swirl around Zach Bryan and Brianna LaPaglia following their break-up in November 2024, some listeners might assume ‘They Ain't You’ is a heartfelt ode that Bryan has penned about LaPaglia.

However, Zach Bryan has blossomed into a revered songsmith in recent years because of his ability to step into the shoes of various protagonists, and regale fans with tales that aren't actually about him, as is highlighted on ‘Open the Gate’, ’Billy Stay’ and more.

As a result, we simply can't know whether he did indeed pen ‘They Ain't You’ about Brianna LaPaglia, and we most likely won't ever know for sure - especially given Zach Bryan's penchant for adjusting the stories behind his songs at recent shows.

Either way, ’They Ain't You’ is a moving reflection on heartbreak that will delight Zach Bryan's loyal fanbase, and will again stoke the flames of anticipation ahead of the ’I Remember Everything’ chart-topper's The Great American Bar Scene follow-up.

There's no release date yet, but Zach Bryan confirmed in an October Rolling Stone interview with Bruce Springsteen that he'd already written 14 songs for the project, before dropping two singles, ’This World's a Giant’ and ‘High Road’ - both featuring New York artist, Grumpy - in November. As a result, it appears the rollout for Zach Bryan's next album is picking up pace, with new music tantalisingly on the horizon.

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