"People Get This Wrong A Lot": Zach Bryan Says 'Heading South' Did Not Cause His Rise To Fame
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In his two-hour long interview with Matthew McConaughey, "Young Manhood & Other Donatable Organs - On The Porch," Zach Bryan says that his hit song 'Heading South' was not the song that caused his ultimate rise to fame.
During his sequence of questions, McConaughey mentions the iconic 'Heading South' video that was recorded on Bryan's phone, while he sat in the barracks in active duty as a Navy Sailor.
"Was that song your first hit?" McConaughey asks. "People always get this wrong," Bryan immediately responds, "Not in a rude way, but people get this wrong a lot."
Before even recording 'Heading South,' Bryan reveals that he was posting videos of himself singing and playing guitar to 'X,' formerly known as Twitter, for about two years before he went viral, and that in the early days of his rise to fame, Bryan posted a song called 'Man That's Never Known You.'
He revealed that he woke up the day after posting the song, and it had 50,000 retweets. "A few days go by, and now I'm like, I have to strike while the irons hot," Bryan said.
Upon the success of 'Man That's Never Known You,' Bryan responded by posting himself singing his original song 'Condemned,' which, of course, we now know to be a hit off of Bryan's 2019 debut album DeAnn. 'Letting Someone Go' was the third song Bryan had posted, following up with the success of the first two.
The 'Lodi When' vocalist reveals that it wasn't until a month later, after recording these initial three songs, that he actually recorded 'Heading South.' The song was also different in nature because he had posted the video to YouTube instead of Twitter, causing different circulation.
"'Heading South' was kind of an after-thought," said Bryan. "That's why it wasn't on my first album or anything."
He attributes his breakthrough to success in the country music industry to those three songs that went viral before 'Heading South,' even though many fans believe it was this hit that did it.
While the 2019 hit may not be the song that catapulted Bryan into serious momentum for his career, it is the song that circulated the most media attention, causing many to believe it was the first song of Bryan's that went viral. 'Heading South' has become a staple moment for many of Bryan's stadium shows, where fans have had the opportunity to play the song on stage with him. More recently, it even surpassed over 1 billion streams on Spotify - which is all a testament to the massive success the hit has seen since his career's takeoff.
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