Photo: Gilbert Flores/Billboard via Getty Images
Zach Bryan and Brianna “Chickenfry” LaPaglia have broken up after more than a year of dating, but it doesn’t seem as if she were ready for us to know that yet. On October 22, Bryan wrote in an Instagram Story that he has “had an incredibly hard year personally and struggled through some pretty severe things,” explaining that he “thought it would be beneficial for both of us to go our different ways.” In a YouTube video posted later that day, LaPaglia said the relationship had ended only just the day before and claimed that Bryan didn’t call or text her to give her a heads-up that he was going to make the news public. “I wanted to just, like, be hurt for a week and, like, lay in bed, you know?” she said, adding that she was feeling “blindsided.” Below, here’s what to know, including how this couple met, why people are bringing up Raya, and the ensuing diss track done by Chickenfry’s BFFs.
First of all, who are these people?
Bryan is a 28-year-old country singer-songwriter who released his fifth album, The Great American Bar Scene, in July. You might also recognize him from pissing off a bunch of Swifties last month by comparing her to Kanye West in what he said was a drunk tweet about their discography.
LaPaglia, known online as Brianna Chickenfry because of a viral Vine, is an influencer and Barstool Sports podcaster. The 25-year-old co-hosts the BFFs podcast with Barstool founder Dave Portnoy (who made his loyalties clear with a post dedicating Taylor Swift’s song “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived” to LaPaglia after the breakup went public).
When did this relationship start?
Bryan and LaPaglia met at the Academy of Country Music Awards in May 2023. She later attended one of his concerts and was invited onstage alongside her other BFFs co-host, Josh Richards. That June, LaPaglia’s Plan Bri Uncut podcast released an episode titled “Eat the Rich (Besides Zach Bryan).” Bryan slid into her DMs afterward and they started “chatting,” LaPaglia later recalled. She officially confirmed the relationship in July.
What has Bryan said about the breakup?
Bryan did not directly share a reason for the split in his October 22 Instagram Story. His statement expressed “love and respect” for LaPaglia and suggested that he is “not perfect,” adding that he is sorry to anyone he let down. “I failed people that love me and mostly myself,” he concluded.
Zach Bryan and Brianna LaPaglia have broken up. pic.twitter.com/t884MbEUDH
— 🏁 (@concertleaks) October 22, 2024
How has LaPaglia responded?
In an October 22 YouTube video titled “Love you guys, I’ll be back soon,” she noted that the breakup happened on October 21 (the same day she posted a cryptic note on Instagram about how “life goes on, even if you don’t want it to”). LaPaglia, who said she had been “crying for, like, five days,” questioned through tears how you can love someone “unconditionally, through stuff that you shouldn’t,” and then “be discarded of in a few days.” She added that she will share the details of what happened later; in an Instagram Story, she similarly said that she will “hop off social media for a while and attempt to heal privately,” then return once she’s “ready to talk.”
What about her friends, how have they responded?
Chickenfry’s BFFs co-hosts Dave Portnoy and Josh Richards released a diss track against Bryan at midnight on Election Day. As there wasn’t enough going on that night. The song, “Smallest Man,” was an attack on Bryan’s cheating, height, and hairline. But by November 6, the track had disappeared from YouTube and Spotify. Barstool Sports (the company founded by Portnoy) alleges that Bryan and Warner Music had the song taken down via DMCA Copyright claim. “I said trust me, caught your pants on fire / Tinder, Bumble, Raya, knew you was a liar,” they sing-rap.
Smallest Man, the Zach Bryan diss track
New episode of BFFs dropping Thursday at 8pm ET pic.twitter.com/nvSTiO1gSN
— BFFs (@BFFsPod) November 6, 2024
So what does this have to do with Raya?
The day before the split was confirmed, a Reddit user claimed that Bryan had popped up on the members-only dating app Raya. Given the timeline outlined by LaPaglia, the internet has been busy riffing off of the possibility that Bryan began swiping immediately after the breakup. Meanwhile, an unnamed source has claimed to Us Weekly that the singer was actually on dating apps during their relationship and that someone sent LaPaglia his Raya profile. According to the source, Bryan denied allegations of infidelity but agreed they should break up.
zach bryan liking girls on raya less than 24 hours after his breakup pic.twitter.com/LOFT8YvRNd
— hails (@hailsbethmcc) October 22, 2024
for zach bryan singing about being this old soul who feels the world is too fast paced he sure ran to that dating website with urgency
— s h e n n a 💛✨🦋 (@shenna_brook) October 22, 2024
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