Link copied
While chatting to fans on social media, Ella Langley opens up about her close friendship with Lainey Wilson. The ‘Choosin’ Texas’ hitmaker expresses how heartening it's been having someone like Wilson to lean on while adjusting to the spotlight.
Langley has been open throughout the past year about how she struggled with her mental health as her popularity exploded, with the Alabama native taking time away from tour last year as a result. Langley has repeatedly cited fellow female artists like Wilson and Miranda Lambert as being pivotal for her as she worked through this.
Via TikTok, Langley answers a fan's question about Wilson, “Do I like Lainey Wilson? I love Lainey Wilson. Of course. That's my girl. She's just so herself. She's so fun and weird, and I really love weird women. She just is. And she, similar to me, has just always pursued this job and really has just dreamt about it her whole life”.
The ‘Be Her’ singer-songwriter touches on how she connected with Wilson straight away due to their shared approach to their music careers, “That's been a really cool thing to get to experience, relating to someone on that. Because it's kind of overwhelming when something you thought about every day is happening, you know?”
Langley underlines how much she appreciates Wilson's friendship, “In like the strangest way, because it is real exciting and so cool, but it's also overwhelming, because you're kind of scared. Like, I'm experiencing this and now I know what it feels like - what if it goes away? So she's been a really special person for...us to be able to talk about that, and just what goes into the life of being an artist”. Langley then amusingly concludes by reminding fans, “And she's hilarious!”
With the 2026 CMA Awards nominations now unveiled, Langley leads the way with nine nods, while Wilson follows closely behind with three. It's a refreshingly female-driven list of nominees, with Langley's good friend and ‘Butterfly Season’ collaborator, Miranda Lambert, receiving seven nods, while Kacey Musgraves has five.
It's a sign of how, in a modern country landscape that can often feel more fractured, competitive and divisive than ever, the leading women in the genre are lifting one another up, rather than succumbing to media attempts to pit them against each other.
Langley's comments about Wilson epitomise this, and it's evident that the respect is mutual, with Wilson emphasising her love for Langley at April's Billboard Women in Music event. The ‘Heart Like a Truck’ crooner warmly gushed, “She is my dear friend, we've been friends for a few years now, and just to see what is happening with her, I mean, she is a powerhouse. There's no doubt about it”.
Wilson went on, “What is happening with her, I'm just so proud to be in the same genre as her. She is kicking down barn-doors, and I just couldn't be more proud of my friend”.
Wilson then reflected on how women are currently crushing it, “I feel like we're just getting started, to be honest. I've been telling the boys for a long time, like ‘Y'all ain't seen nothing’, and that's exactly what's happening right now...These girls are making history. They are doing things that we didn't even know could happen, and I'm proud to be alongside them and hold hands and run across the finish line together”.
There were undoubtedly some eyebrow-raising choices in the 2026 CMA Awards nominations, with Morgan Wallen being surprisingly absent from some key categories.
But one thing that the CMA got absolutely right was the decision to make Langley the leading nominee, and to ensure women were centre-stage after a fantastic year. With Langley now on the cusp of overtaking Mariah Carey's longstanding Billboard Hot 100 chart record, she's certainly the one to beat at the 2026 ceremony. But rather than plotting her demise, you can rest assured her fellow female trailblazers, like Wilson and Lambert, will be cheering her on louder than anyone.
