He wants so bad to be a Springsteen or an Isbell, and he sometimes tiptoes right up to the edge with a song or with something he says at a show, but then he gets petrified of alienating the Republicans in his audience and backtracks.
that seems more calculating than i’m willing to give him credit. he just seems like a dumb guy who occasionally accidentally does or says cool shit and immediately counters it by putting his foot in his mouth with weirdo both sidesisms because he’s too brain smooth to know better
I’m inclined to give him some leeway until I hear the song. Bruce didn’t write Born in the USA until 34. Zach’s 29 and on a rollercoaster several orders of magnitude crazier than Bruce was on at this same point. It’s hard to be a saint in the city.
If he's reading/quoting/sharing Wendell Berry, there's definitely a bit more nuance than he usually gives off.
My expectations for Zach are low enough that I'd still call it a win even with the "both sides" statement
I'm the opposite. He typically shows himself to be well read and thoughtful when it comes to complex situations like this. That's why he made the anti-ICE song to begin with. I think he's being cowardly by walking it back, though. He did the same stuff when he spoke out against the anti-Bud Light protests. Came out swinging, and then walked it back as "we could all have a discussion about this over a beer".
Guessing it's a product of him blowing up as quickly as he did and not necessarily being ready for scrutiny it's led to. I'm hoping he develops more of a idgaf mentality about this type of backlash.
Yea I heard the snippet. It’s an Anti-ICE song. Don’t need more context. he’s afraid of alienating a chunk of his audience. Needs to grow a spine. I’m sure he has plenty of money at this point if he’s been smart with it. Put it in an index fund and then say whatever the fuck you want the rest of your career.
Money is definitely a part of it, but I do think he is naive enough to believe that both sides can work it out over a beer lol. He thinks going too hard on one side would alienate people and cause them to not listen...he doesn't get how many people are already lost.
It’s so strange because like…..he clearly posted a very specific snippet. He’s not fooling anyone here. and I agree, I work with plenty of people that think you can work it out over a beer. Total nonsense.
I'm sure also getting targeted by the government spooked him, too, when plenty of people have shown you don't acquiesce
I like this guy's music a lot, but I have to say that if someone cut me a check for $350 million at 29 years old I would not be working another day in my life
I say the same thing about football players. I’d play through exactly one contract. Put it all in an index fund and live off the 4 percent rule for the rest of my life. Goodbye.
All the song clips he has posted over the past few months have sounded leaps and bounds better than anything off of TGABS (outside of Oak Island, of course). Pretty excited for this.
hold up is the claim here that ZB now is a bigger deal than brooce was in the mid-80s? that seems wildly wrong. springsteen was already a household name by the time BITU happened.
I would say ZB is about as close to a household name as a non popstar can be in 2025 but I agree that’s a little overblown
(Keeping in mind that I wrote the quoted comment a month ago.) No, I was definitely not saying he’s currently bigger than Bruce Springsteen was in the 80s. His trajectory is much more vertical than Bruce’s was at the time and the communication/media environment that Zach has to deal with is much more complex. The reason for the Born in the USA reference is because that’s Bruce’s first overtly political song.
Dumb thing to be mad at, but it does piss me off that Zach Bryan has a number 1 hit and Bruce Springsteen (probably) never will.