Ella Langley Reveals the Unexpected Inspiration for Choosin Texas | Billboard Women In Music 2026

Billboard Woman In Music Powerhouse Award recipient Ella Langley talks about the incredible moment her music started reaching new heights and why she believes women are about to take over the music industry. After seeing the success of her song “Choosin’ Texas,” which is spending its sixth week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, Ella reflects on how surreal the milestone feels and why it means so much to be part of a new wave of talented female artists, her new album Dandelion, and the creative process behind it, working with Miranda Lambert and more!

Ella Langley:

You know, when we wrote that song, I wrote it with Miranda Lambert, Luke Dick, and Joy Beth Taylor. When we wrote it, I knew it was going on the record. I honestly knew it was gonna be the lead single. And we love that song, but I don’t think I could have ever imagined what’s happening with it right now. Like I said, every day I wake up and it’s doing something that I didn’t even know was a goal that I could have had. And it’s just, it’s nuts. It’s crazy to see the ownership that the fans have taken over it, and the different demographics of people listening to the song is so cool. Just nuts to see everything happen. So I was on a writer’s retreat with Miranda. This was our first time that we had written together, and obviously we were there with two others. We had written one song and she was telling me this story. I learned at a young age she had a pet kangaroo, and I wanted to ask her about it, so I was like, “Tell me about this kangaroo that you had. I need to know.” And she did. She had a pet kangaroo, and she was telling me this story about how she got pulled over once. She had the kangaroo in the passenger seat, dog in the back, and she said she got pulled over and the kangaroo ended up getting her out of a ticket, but she’s like, “Of course, I had Texas plates on too.” And I went, “Well, she’s from Texas. I can tell.” And just from that phrase, it kinda all hit us and the melody fell right out of me and I went: “She’s from Texas, I can tell by the way he’s two-stepping ’round the room.” Just like that. And Miranda was like, “Like the one he went with, the girl he went with.” And 45 minutes later we had that song written. And it was just, it was such a cool experience. While she’s actually working with me, she’s executive producing this next record of mine. And so this whole process with her has been just, I’ve learned so much.

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