Get the latest gossip

With Her No-Filter Songs, Ella Langley Is Making Country Music With No ‘Damn Rulebook’

Ella Langley, Billboard's 2025 Country Power Players Rising Star, on breakout hit 'You Look Like You Love Me', new songs and making music her way.

At this year’s Academy of Country Music (ACM) Awards, Ella Langley was the biggest winner of the night — but she can still recall fighting to perform in sweaty, hole-in-the-wall clubs in her home state of Alabama. Growing up in a musically inclined family, Langley says she learned to read by singing from a hymnal and became a disciple of classic artists such as Ronstadt and Stevie Nicks, but also modern ones including Miranda Lambert. She wrote songs recorded by Elle King and collaborated with Koe Wetzel and Kameron Marlowe, but broke through in her own right with “you look like you love me,” which she began to work on with songwriter Aaron Raitiere while on tour opening for fellow Alabama native Green in early 2024.

Get the Android app