{"id":390423,"date":"2026-07-29T10:26:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T10:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/390423\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T10:26:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T10:26:13","slug":"it-sounds-good-next-to-almost-anything-how-choosin-texas-became-the-biggest-song-of-the-year-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/390423\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It sounds good next to almost anything\u2019: how Choosin\u2019 Texas became the biggest song of the year | Country"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week, Ella Langley beat a chart record held by Whitney Houston<\/a> and Mariah Carey<\/a>. The country singer\u2019s Choosin\u2019 Texas<\/a> has now spent 15 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100, making it the longest-running US No 1 by a female solo artist for a non-holiday single. The previous record holders, Houston\u2019s I Will Always Love You and Carey\u2019s We Belong Together, were bombastic pop events, the sort of unassailable hits that make sense as Hot 100 chartbusters. Choosin\u2019 Texas, meanwhile, is a midtempo two-step with a relaxed vocal delivery and decidedly retro sound.<\/p>\n

For Victoria Banks, a Nashville-based songwriter and instructor at Belmont University, the song\u2019s breeziness is key to its success. \u201cIt\u2019s a sleeper hit \u2013 it\u2019s understated and unassuming,\u201d she says. \u201cEverything about the song throws back to a simpler time in country music that people are really craving.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lyrics to Choosin\u2019 Texas tell the story of a Tennessee woman who accompanies her lover on a trip back to his home state of Texas \u2013 and discovers in real time that \u201chis heart still belongs to the lone star state\u201d. It\u2019s heartbreak on a classic-country scale, which Langley expresses with lyrical homages to decades-old hits by Jerry Reed, Ronnie Millsap and George Strait. The danceable, guitar- and pedal steel-forward production evokes country hits from the late 70s and early 80s, albeit with a contemporary gloss.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of throwback elements to the song, but it was obviously recorded in a very modern way,\u201d Banks says. \u201cIt\u2019s not so throwback that we don\u2019t relate to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a sign of country music\u2019s continued dominance in the pop sphere, Choosin\u2019 Texas is one of five country songs currently in the US top t10 on the all-genre Hot 100. Given country\u2019s abysmal track record<\/a> when it comes to playing women, it\u2019s not for nothing that each of these songs \u2013 including Taylor Swift<\/a>\u2019s I Knew It, I Knew You, Stella Lefty\u2019s Boston and Langley\u2019s own Be Her and her Morgan Wallen duet I Can\u2019t Love You Anymore \u2013 features a woman as the lead artist.<\/p>\n

Historically, during moments when country crosses over into the mainstream, tensions arise over just how far the music has strayed from its roots. \u201cSomeone killed country music, cut out its heart and soul,\u201d George Strait famously declared on Murder on Music Row<\/a>, a 2000 duet with Alan Jackson lamenting the state of the Nashville industry in the late \u201890s \u2013 when artists like Faith Hill and Lonestar ruled the airwaves with ultrasmooth, country-pop confections. In more recent history, Beyonc\u00e9<\/a>\u2019s Cowboy Carter provoked endless discourse<\/a> about what constitutes country music and who gets to participate.<\/p>\n

Choosin\u2019 Texas has largely dodged criticism of being \u201ctoo pop\u201d, in part due to the cleverness of the songwriting. Co-written with Miranda Lambert, Joybeth Taylor and Luke Dick, the song folds country signifiers \u2013 two-stepping, Texas and Tennessee, the interstate \u2013 into the emotional story of the song in a way that feels organic. Even the requisite Jack Daniels mention serves a narrative purpose; it matters that it\u2019s Tennessee whiskey she\u2019s drinking all by herself.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of these writers have been working in the Nashville market for years,\u201d Banks explains. \u201cSo even though this is a song that they said they spat out in 30 minutes or whatever, it was coming through their instincts that have been developed for a long time about what is hooky and what pulls people in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyonc\u00e9 accepting the best country album award for Cowboy Carter at the 2025 Grammy awards. Photograph: Kevin Mazur\/Getty Images for The Recording Academy<\/p>\n

Brian Mansfield, managing editor of the trade publication Country Insider<\/a>, says that the song\u2019s twangy-but-smooth sound makes it appealing to program directors \u2013 whether in country, pop or adult contemporary \u2013 who tend to avoid songs that would sound jarringly rootsy next to fluffier pop fare. \u201cIt\u2019s a song that sounds good next to almost anything you can play, and that is an underrated part of creating the music mix for any format,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

The song\u2019s versatility also makes it well-suited to streaming playlists. According to Luminate<\/a>, Choosin\u2019 Texas racked up over half a billion streams in the first half of the year alone, making it the most-streamed song in the country by a wide margin.<\/p>\n

As well as co-signs from veteran singers like Swift<\/a> and Shania Twain<\/a>, the song has also \u2013 as is now often a prerequisite for streaming success \u2013 been boosted by various viral social media moments. In October, shortly after Choosin\u2019 Texas was released, TikTok user Lane Gorrell posted a video<\/a> of himself performing an interpretive dance to the song in front of some nonplussed-looking cows. The clip racked up millions of views, and Gorrell eventually took his dance all the way to the Grand Ole Opry<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Then came the misheard lyric videos. Around January, in an echo of Taylor Swift\u2019s famous \u201cStarbucks lovers\u201d saga<\/a> from 2014, users started posting videos claiming they misheard the title phrase as \u201cJews in Texas\u201d or even \u201cJews and Taxes\u201d. Some also reported hearing the words \u201cdrinking Jack all by myself\u201d as \u201cdrink and jack off by myself\u201d. Langley laughed off the misheard lyrics in an interview<\/a> with podcaster Theo Von in April \u2013 which of course only drew more attention to the trend. A clip from the same interview of a clearly smitten Von butchering<\/a> the word \u201ctzatziki\u201d in front of his crush also went viral.<\/p>\n

Langley photographed for her album Dandelion. Photograph: Courtesy Sony Music<\/p>\n

Enter the Ella Fellas. Langley\u2019s male fanbase has made itself known with all manner of viral content, from uncomfortably earnest<\/a> lip-syncing videos<\/a> to clips of themselves looking enraptured<\/a> at her concerts; there have even been Ella Fella birthday parties<\/a>. Langley\u2019s team has nurtured this following, reposting popular videos and sending Ella Fellas T-shirts to some of her most ardent supporters. In comparison with many pop fandoms, whose obsessions can skew antisocial<\/a>, the Ella Fellas seem like a remarkably sane and joyous bunch.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one of those things that brings people together,\u201d says Hunter Massey, a student at Georgia Southern University and TikToker whose videos of himself going buck wild<\/a> to country songs have earned him an audience of his own. \u201cThere can be people from different walks of life, different parts of the country, but we all seem to have this love for her music, and that\u2019s what makes us Ella Fellas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Massey is among the growing ranks of creators who get paid to post videos using artists\u2019 songs on TikTok \u2013 including Langley\u2019s. He says he sometimes turns down requests for songs that don\u2019t speak to him, but he\u2019s never had a problem promoting her music.<\/p>\n

For him and other Ella Fellas, the appeal is in how down-to-earth she seems. She\u2019s bolstered this perception with songs like Dandelion<\/a>, where she sings that she \u201cwasn\u2019t made for a fancy crystal vase\u201d and Somethin\u2019 Simple, which finds her musing about giving up stardom in exchange for \u201ca house on a hill, horse in the yard\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s not flashy, Hollywood, whatever,\u201d Massey says. \u201cIt\u2019s what we like about her.\u201d<\/p>\n