When a song becomes so big that even the co-writer doesn’t know what to do with it, you know something historic is happening. That’s exactly where Miranda Lambert finds herself with “Choosin’ Texas,” and her advice to Ella Langley about handling it might be the most honest thing anyone in country music has said all year.
“Choosin’ Texas” isn’t just a hit. It has topped the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 for 10 weeks and counting, making it the longest-reigning No. 1 for a woman country artist in the chart’s 68-year history. For context, that puts Langley in territory most country artists never get close to, and the song shows no signs of slowing down.
The song was written by Langley alongside Luke Dick, Miranda Lambert, and Joybeth Taylor, and produced by Langley, Lambert, and Ben West. It’s a classic country heartbreak story: twangy steel guitar, a line dance-ready groove, and Langley’s raw vocal selling every word of losing someone to a woman from the Lone Star State.
Lambert wasn’t just a collaborator on paper, either. She has been with Langley every step of the way, co-producing and executive producing the album, dueting with her on the “Butterfly Season” track, and even appearing in the “Choosin’ Texas” music video.
Miranda Lambert Tells Ella Langley to Call Taylor Swift After “Choosin’ Texas” Success
So when Langley started calling Lambert to ask what on earth was happening, Lambert had one answer: she’s the wrong person to ask.
“It was not on my bingo card for ‘Choosin’ Texas’ to take over the world,” Lambert recalled in a new interview with Billboard. “I love that song, and it so feels like such a part of me. I’m from Texas, and it was one of those things where we just wrote this song we really loved, and all of a sudden…I’ve never seen anything like it.
“So when Ella calls and is like, ‘What does this mean?’ I’m like, ‘I don’t know. You might need to call Taylor Swift right now [and ask her], because this is, like, that kind of big.’ ”
It’s a funny and genuinely telling moment. Lambert is one of the most decorated artists in country music history, but even she is pointing to Swift as the only real blueprint for what “Choosin’ Texas” is doing right now. Langley herself has described the experience as waking up every day to something more surreal than the last.
The song’s reach is almost hard to wrap your head around. Lambert’s cowriter Luke Dick was in San Francisco at a dumpling house, and the man making the dumplings was wearing a “Choosin’ Texas” ball cap. That’s not chart data. That’s cultural penetration.
The song also took home Song of the Year at the 61st ACM Awards in May, where Lambert and Dick joined Langley onstage to accept the award. It served as the lead single from Langley’s second studio album, Dandelion, which Lambert executive-produced alongside Langley and Ben West, released April 10, 2026.
“Choosin’ Texas” currently sits at No. 5 on the Hot 100, the only song in the top 10 not by Drake on the May 30 chart. Ten weeks at No. 1, a history-making run, and it’s still in the top five. Lambert’s instinct to call Taylor Swift? Honestly, it tracks.
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