Plastic Cigarette

"Plastic Cigarette" is Zach Bryan's bittersweet recollection of a summer romance that didn't last long enough to turn into a lifetime but lasted just long enough to leave a mark.

It's likely the song is about Bryan's brief relationship with Australian model Hannah Duncan, which followed his very public breakup with Brianna "Chickenfry" LaPaglia in October 2024. Bryan and Duncan spent time together in Australia during the summer of 2025. Did you ever make it back to Byron Bay? Duncan is from Newrybar, a historic village near Byron Bay in New South Wales, Australia. Her social media frequently shows her on beaches and in the coastal hinterland around Byron Bay.

The chorus delivers the image that gives the song its name. So let it go, I saw you on the river's edge Draggin' on a plastic cigarette With your swim top still wet This vivid, sensory imagery connects thematically to an earlier Bryan song, "River Washed Hair," both capturing moments frozen by water and impermanence.