Zach Bryan has faced a few public controversies since blowing up with the release of his album American Heartbreak. Bryan gained a following after he began releasing his own music online in 2017. He released two albums before 2022's American Heartbreak, his first record with a major label, skyrocketed him to the top of the charts. Despite his nearly overnight success, Bryan has attempted to set himself apart from the country music genre. "I don't want to be a country musician. Everyone calls me it. I want to be a songwriter, and you're quintessentially a songwriter," he said in a conversation with Bruce Springsteen published by Rolling Stone in October 2024. "No one calls Bruce Springsteen - hate to use your name in front of you - but no one calls Bruce Springsteen a freaking rock musician, which you are one, but you're also an indie musician, you're also a country musician. You're all these things encapsulated in one man. And that's what songwriting is." Along with winning over listeners with his music - Bryan dropped six albums and three EPs from 2019 to 2024 - the songwriter has fans invested in his personal life. In October 2024, he announced his split from Brianna "Chickenfry" LaPaglia after more than one year of dating - and LaPaglia later claimed that she was "blindsided." Singer Zach Bryan's Dating History "I've been crying for, like, five days straight," she said in a YouTube video after news broke of their split. "I'm at the point where it's, like, how can you give someone everything and, like, love them so unconditionally through stuff that you shouldn't." In his own statement, Bryan acknowledged, "I've had an incredibly hard year personally and struggled through some pretty severe things. I thought it would be beneficial for both of us to go out different ways. I am not perfect and never will be." Scroll down for a look back at Bryan's highs and lows in the spotlight: Early Music and Viral Success Bryan got his start on YouTube in 2017, uploading videos of himself singing. Among the first songs he shared were "God Speed," a tune that made its way onto his debut album, and "Heading South," which soon went viral. Bryan's first album, DeAnn, was released in August 2019 and named after his late mother, who died three years prior. He performed his first live show in the fall of 2019 in Oregon before dropping his second album, Elisabeth, in May 2020. The record features some of Bryan's biggest hits, including "Heading South" and "Revival." His first two albums were followed by the 2020 EP Quiet, Heavy Dreams. Bryan went on to make his debut at the Grand Ole Opry in April 2021, later signing with Warner Records. Keith Griner/Getty Images Military Discharge and Divorce Following in the footsteps of many of his family members, Bryan enlisted in the U.S. Navy when he was 17 years old, and he used his downtime while serving to write music. Bryan announced in October 2021 that he was honorably discharged from the Navy shortly before kicking off his Ain't for Tamin' Tour. "If it was my decision, I would never get out of the world's greatest Navy, but here I am and they kindly honorably discharged me to go play some music," he wrote via social media at the time. His departure from the military coincided with his divorce from Rose Madden. The former couple tied the knot in July 2020 and dissolved their marriage one year later. (His album Elisabeth was named after Madden.) 'American Heartbreak' Breaks Through Bryan's third album and first release through a major label, American Heartbreak, dropped in May 2022, one month after his single "Something in the Orange" became a viral hit. The song peaked at No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and remains one of his most successful to date with more than 1 billion streams on Spotify. With 34 tracks, American Heartbreak highlighted Bryan's ability to tell stories through his songwriting. The record features fan favorites including "Heavy Eyes," "From Austin," "The Good I'll Do" and "Open the Gate." Bryan continued to release music throughout 2022, dropping the EP Summertime Blues and scoring another hit with the song "Oklahoma Smokeshow." His single "Burn, Burn, Burn" was released in September 2022, followed by the album All My Homies Hate Ticketmaster, a live recording of his November 2022 concert at Colorado's iconic Red Rocks Amphitheatre. (Bryan refused to sell tickets to his 2023 tour on Ticketmaster, emphasizing in a statement that "working class people should still be able to afford tickets to shows." His 2024 tour was sold via Ticketmaster, with Bryan acknowledging that "one guy can't change the whole system.") Courtesy of Zach Bryan/Instagram Deb Peifer Relationship and Split Following his divorce, Bryan moved on with Peifer. The twosome marked their one-year anniversary in January 2023 but called it quits four months later. "For transparency and with respect I am letting everyone know Debra and me went our separate ways about a week and a half ago," Bryan tweeted