Zach Bryan's Song "Skin" Might Actually Be About One of His Famous Exes

Move over, Taylor Swift — there's another chart-topping singer ready to make money from singing about exes and relationships gone wrong. To be fair, that's par for the course with plenty of musicians, but after Zach Bryan's album "With Heaven on Top" was released, people are speculating big time on who the song "Skin" is about.

It's not unlike fan speculation from Swifties, who often wonder who certain Taylor songs are about on any given album. Call it another layer to enjoying songs from a favorite artist. In Zach's case, some fans think they know exactly who "Skin" is about, and many believe the lyrics were inspired by a breakup with another public figure.

After Zach's album came out on Jan. 9, 2026, fans were quick to listen on repeat and dissect the lyrics for any hidden meanings or references to old relationships. Sure enough, "Skin" is on the list of songs that fans believe is about one of Zach's exes. Fans speculated on a Reddit thread that the song is about his ex, Brianna "Chickenfry" LaPaglia. The pair had a public relationship and breakup, and the lyrics to "Skin" seemingly reference her multiple times.

Some of the lyrics of the song say, "I'm taking a blade to my old tattoos. I'm draining the blood between me and you. I'm taking a blade to my own skin. And I ain't never touching yours again. Yeah, I ain't never touching yours again."

On the Reddit thread about the song, fans took this to be in reference to the tattoo that Zach once got to match one Brianna already had when they were together.

A fan also pointed out in the thread that the line about Tribeca in the song is also a reference to Brianna because, after they split up, she moved there into an apartment of her own. Zach did not confirm who "Skin" is about or if it is indeed an ode to his ex Brianna, but as soon as his fans heard the song in its entirety, the overall agreement appeared to be that it is about her.

Zach announced the breakup in October 2024 through a post in his Instagram Stories that was later shared across social media. He wrote that he had a difficult year and thought it was best for both him and Brianna if they went their separate ways. She later alluded to emotional abuse from an ex without naming Bryan specifically on her BFFs podcast.

In November 2024, Brianna mentioned "dealing with the abuse from this dude" over the last year of her life at the time.

"He made me believe everything was my fault," she said. "He isolated me from my whole entire life. He wouldn't let me be who I wanted to be. He made me hate everything that I loved about myself."

However, Brianna did not specifically name Bryan as the ex she referred to. According to him and his social media post about the split, it was amicable and necessary. With theories about "Skin" being about Brianna, though, Bryan may have had more on his mind about the breakup than he originally let on at the time.