Zach Bryan just released his latest album “Heaven on Top” and it is quickly becoming popular. On January 24, the collection reached number one on the Billboard 200 chart. It features 25 songs and the album’s total run time reaches an hour and 18 minutes. The compilation includes songs like “Slick back,” “Santa Fe,” “Say Why” and many other beautiful, soul-wrenching tracks.
“Slick Back” is Zach Bryan’s 13th song on the album and also one of my favorites. The song gives a sense of love and nostalgia. In the lyrics, Bryan recalls the moments with his lover that are full of adoration. This is shown in the lyrics “And when you talk trash with your hair slicked back.” He pairs these far-away memories with words about the war happening in his mind after losing her.
It seems as though he is trying to remember the good times when he sings “I’m gonna start a riot from the edge of my bed / ‘Cause I still see you in that pool hall in New York in my head.”
Overall, the raw emotion in his voice when he sings of love and loss is why I favor this song the most out of any on the album.
“Santa Fe” is the seventh track of this album. Through the lyrics, Zach Bryan retells his desires to escape a bad home life. His pain is felt through his words; “Home is broken, drunk and dirty on a desert road.”
He fantasizes about going far away when he sings, “Call up your mother, tell her that you’re all alone / With some sky out by Santa Fe, New Mexico.”
Santa Fe is seen as a fantasy, a place where everything is perfect and not broken. The contrast of these lyrics and the seemingly upbeat drums and guitar are why this song is a close second favorite.
The fifth track is “Say Why.” I interpret the song as Bryan’s plea to God about why bad things happen to him. I see his repetition of 40 as a biblical reference to Moses waiting 40 days and 40 nights for God’s sign. Zach Bryan uses 40 as a way of conveying his “dark time.”
He feels depressed while singing and his sadness is evident in the lyrics. His relationship ended badly, he is going broke, and does not understand why after everything, it was not enough to make his girlfriend stay. The chorus repeats “why” over and over, showing Bryan’s confusion of the events occurring to him.
I love the biblical interpretation of this song and I feel heard when listening to it. It is amazing how this song puts emotions into words. Sometimes people, including myself, cannot communicate our feelings clearly but the way this song does exactly that is why it is one of the best songs.
This album, “With Heaven On Top” is a tribute to what a great music artist Zach Bryan is and how his music is soulful and filled with raw emotion. It is a testament to his life and how he turns his pain into something beautiful for others to enjoy as well. It is easy to see why this album has reached so high on the billboard charts and also why this album, in such a short time, has become one of my favorites that he has written.