Walker Hayes Responds to “Fancy Like” Catching Strays in Zach Bryan’s Tyler Childers Rant

Since breaking into the music industry in 2017, Zach Bryan has wasted no time leaving his mark. Thanks to his album American Heartbreak, the singer received Top Rock Album at the 2023 Billboard Music Awards. That same year, he won the New Male Artist of the Year at the Academy of Country Music Awards. Also the recipient of numerous Grammy Award nominations, Bryan recently shared his thoughts on other singers like Tyler Childers and how it took him a decade to end up on country radio while the hit song “Fancy Like” went viral. 

Sharing his thoughts on X, Bryan didn’t hold back when it came to his opinion about country music. He tweeted, “Imagine being radio (whoever the hell that is), hearing Shake the Frost and being like ‘no no let’s go with the Applebees song.’” While “Shake the Frost” was released in 2013, Walker Hayes shared his “Fancy Like” song in 2021. The song quickly gained support as it became a hit song on social media platforms like TikTok. And it does include an Applebee’s reference. 

While letting his tweet circulate, Bryan eventually received a message from Hayes himself. Not seeing the tweet as a jab to himself or his song, the singer wrote, “Big shout to radio for playing dat Applebees song. Zach and Tyler praying y’alls continued success.”

Fans also commented on Bryan’s tweet, with one saying, “You’re not wrong but don’t do Walker dirty like that. Another great songwriter.” Others agreed with Bryan, like the one who wrote, “Childers wrote shake the frost at 17 and that’s just mind blowing to me. I couldn’t hardly chew gum and walk at the same f–kin time and dude was just creating masterclass after masterclass.” 

[RELATED: Zach Bryan Puts Country Radio on Blast After It Took 10 Years for Tyler Childers to Chart]

Clearing The Air

With his comments causing such a debate, Bryan wrote another tweet, clarifying he didn’t mean for his words to be any sort of an attack. “Not insulting anyone! Meant it with humor not malice, different strokes different folks was just bent about the first ever on mainstream radio thing my bad.”

While fans debate over what Bryan wrote about “Fancy Like,” the song became so popular that Applebee’s not only used the song in their commercials but even brought back the Oreo Cookie Shake because of it. 

Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images