Some spur-of-the-moment decisions — and some industry champions — have led singer-songwriter Ella Langley to her breakthrough song, and her newly released debut album.
“It’s not even my birthday, but it feels like the best birthday I’ve ever had,” Langley told Billboard on Aug. 2, the release day for her 14-song debut album Hungover, out on SAWGOD/Columbia Records.
Langley’s Alabama twang has been all over social media lately, thanks to “You Look Like You Love Me,” a pedal steel-soaked, flirty song about a woman making the first move. The Hope Hull, Alabama native teamed with fellow country hitmaker Riley Green for the largely spoken, retro-sounding collaboration, which sits at No. 15 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart. The track previously reached No. 5 on Billboard’s TikTok Top 50 chart, and peaked at No. 36 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100.
“You Look Like You Love Me” was gaining steam even before the song became a duet. In May, Langley posted a clip to TikTok of singing the song’s verse and hook solo; that clip earned 10.5 million views. Langley was opening shows on Green’s Ain’t My Last Rodeo Tour earlier this year, when the two performed the song together in a spontaneous moment during the final show of the tour.
“We had no idea we were going to do the song that night onstage, but we did,” Langley says. “He’s from Alabama too, and I remember a long time ago playing for a line of people waiting to get into a Riley Green show. I didn’t have a ticket, I just watched his show through the gate. So getting on his tour was good. I really just sent it to him so we could sing it together on tour. We had been doing another song together, but then we just ripped into this song and it’s been a whirlwind ever since,” Langley says.
In June, a video was posted to TikTok of Langley and Green performing the song together during a soundcheck at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. Their voices wrapped around the song’s amorous verses resonated; that 30-second TikTok clip now has over 12 million views.
”It kind of blew up that way,” Langley says.
With the song riding high, she follows with Hungover, an album that seems poised to showcase Langley as an intrepid artist with a fully developed perspective and a fine-tuned sound, thanks to songs like the sashaying “Cowboy Friends,” the tender “People Change” and honky-tonk heater “Better Be Tough.”
In addition to potent songs, Langley has been a road warrior. She will launch her 14-date headlining North American tour later this month, interspersing those dates between opening for Morgan Wallen’s One Night a Time Tour, as well as opening shows for Luke Bryan and Dierks Bentley. She just opened for Wallen at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, marking her first stadium shows.
“It was insane,” she recalls of playing the stadium. “I was talking to Lainey [Wilson] the other day about when I used to watch concerts as a kid and how I just had the toughest time going to watch concerts. I wanted to be up there so bad — just like, I could throw up. So, getting up in that stadium yesterday felt like that little girl’s dream just came true, and just letting her enjoy the hard work that’s been put into this.”
Below, Billboard’s Country Rookie of the Month for August opens up about her new album, country music’s current communal spirit, and the journey of “You Look Like You Love Me” from creation to hit song.
How did “You Look Like You Love Me” come about?
“You Look Like You Love Me” was written two years ago, inspired by a conversation with one of the song’s co-writers, Aaron Raitiere. His ideas are nuts and I love writing with him. We were in a write and he was like, “So how’s your relationship life going?” and I said, “Honestly, I’m at the point where if they look like they love me, I just got to get out of there.” And he was like, “That’s a great song title.”
Six months later, we had another writing session. I wanted a funny song that I could play around a bonfire. We literally just hit record and wrote probably 16 verses and then picked our favorite ones and put it together. Then Riley added a verse, and it’s just this sweet love song.
You never meant for this song to be released as a single. How did that happen?
Mya Hansen, who was my publisher at the time but is now on my label side, always loved the song. I was like, “Mya, this song is just a joke.” She tried to get me to put it on the EP [2023’s Excuse the Mess] and I didn’t let her. So, she put it in the Dropbox link on her own for this album, and that’s how the label heard it — it was the last one of all of the demos. Everyone loved it, and I was like, “If y’all believe in this song, then let’s cut it.” It was right after we cut it that Riley asked us on tour.
How did you first get interested in music?
My whole family is musically inclined. I was three years old the first time I got up to sing in church. My mom tells a story where my grandpa sits down at the piano and we’re going to do “Amazing Grace,” and my mom’s trying to help me with the microphone and I’m three years old, and I’m like, “I got it. I know how to do it,” and everyone in church is laughing. So this is what I’ve always wanted to do. When I was a teenager, I picked up guitar.
Did you play in a band in high school?
I played a lot of wedding ceremonies. Then I played bars and restaurants and everywhere that would let me play. I went to Auburn for two years and that got me into the cover gigs, the bar scene and the [Southeastern Conference] schools. That was a massive education, because you learn so much playing covers for four hours, multiple nights a week, trying to make people give a s–t. But I reached the point where I was like, “Nothing’s going to happen if I stay here,” so I moved to Nashville and I’m glad I did.
There are some very personal songs on Hungover, like “Closest to Heaven,” which is based on the story of your grandparents. What does that song mean to you?
My grandma had a stroke when I was 10 or 11. My grandpa lived with us and she was in a nursing home. We’d bring her home to stay the night. My grandpa passed away and a lot of times when someone is at the end of their life, they bring a pastor into kind of talk with and it’s kind of like a quiet moment. He came over and my grandmother was there and they wheeled her into my grandpa’s room and shut the door. I’ll never know what was said in that room, so this is my song about what I think was said.
You have this collaboration with Riley. Who else is on your bucket list of collaborators?
Eric Church, Chris Stapleton, Miranda Lambert. Miley Cyrus has also been at the top of my list—I would love to even just sit in a room and ask her questions. And Ashley McBryde’s songwriting is so incredible and just very real-life and honest. I think me and Megan Moroney could come up with something awesome.
There have been several artists, such as Megan, who have brought your name up as an artist to watch. How do you react to that?
It’s hard to comprehend because you spend so much time wishing for something to happen and when it does start to happen, it’s nuts. Just to hear people you respect say that. [Megan and I’ve] known each other since before we moved to Nashville. I was at Auburn and she was at Georgia and my manager Bradley Jordan is part of a sunglasses company that’s partnered with Luke Combs, Blue Otter Polarized. Megan was doing a lot of influencer stuff back in the day and Bradley connected us. We wrote together once right when she moved to Nashville. It’s just awesome to see how many women are crushing it right now and we’re all just friends. It’s fun, it’s supportive and everyone has worked so hard to get here, so it’s great to be excited for everyone.
What was the first concert you saw?
The only concerts I saw growing up were at the Montgomery County Fair. The first person I remember seeing was Justin Moore. I remember Luke Combs came through right when “When It Rains It Pours” blew up, and I got sick that night and couldn’t go. I had the worst FOMO ever, not going to that concert.
What’s the best advice you have heard along the way?
I heard Chris Stapleton on a podcast when I moved to town, and this has been stuck in my brain ever since I heard it. Joe Rogan asked him about advice for young artists, and he said, “When you’re putting out songs, you never know the song that’s going to change your life — and then you could be stuck singing that song for the rest of your life, so really pay attention to the songs you release.”
