‘Hell At Night’ by BigXthaPlug & Ella Langley - Lyrics & Meaning

As the excitement surrounding BigXthaPlug's groundbreaking country crossover album, I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY, reached fever-pitch in early August, Ella Langley started teasing her long-awaited collaboration with the Texas rapper across socials.

‘Hell At Night’ is a vengeful earworm, with BigX and Langley trading verses across the stormy instrumental as they make it clear they don't believe in the old adage to “live and let live” or to “forgive and forget”. They want payback - and they want it now.

‘Hell At Night’ opens with Langley's playful vocals coasting across a light-hearted, twang-infused guitar. The joviality of the ‘you look like you love me’ hitmaker's tone calls to mind the way in which the Alabama native baited us on her recent single, ‘Never Met Anyone Like You’, before dramatically switching the mood in the outro.

Similarly, Langley's tongue-in-cheek introduction quickly makes way for the fiery hook, which sees the addition of a thunderous beat and some rattling hi-hats. BigXthaPlug's quickfire verses are as ferocious as ever, with the ‘Change Me’ rapper showcasing the charismatic flow we've come to know and love in recent years.

‘Hell At Night’ finds BigXthaPlug and Ella Langley taking stock in the aftermath of a bitter break-up. They outline how they've been told time and again that they should be trying to let go and move on peacefully. But at the end of the day, there is just too much unresolved anger and frustration for them to let sleeping dogs lie.

As a result, they double-down on their intentions to get back at their respective exes, with BigXthaPlug in particular listing off some almost amusingly specific misfortunes that he is wishing upon his old flame - for instance, he hopes their radiator stops working, as well as fantasising about their car getting stolen while shopping.

More than anything, though, the protagonists here want their exes to feel the most anguish during the night, tossing and turning as they lay awake. The implication throughout is that both of their old lovers must have acted poorly during their relationship, and BigX and Langley hope their guilty conscience gnaws away at them.

“Heartbreak's a funny thing, how it makes you think

What it makes you want

Why [...] getting revenge sounds better than moving on

Damn, I'd love to live and let live

Let it go, forgive and forget

Holding a grudge ain't what I want to do, but when it comes to you

-

I hope it's hell at night, straight through the mornin'

I hope you close your eyes and just can't ignore it

'Cause it's too damn loud, tossin' and turnin'

I hope it's hell at night, my memory's burnin', burnin'

-

(Aye) I hope you hear me every time you hear a song

I hope you meet the right person but y'all never get along

I hope you know that you ain't right and you so good at burning bridges

I hope you finally find some love and every day he hurt your feelings

-

I hope you, I hope you turn your heater on and it blow cold

I hope you leave your car runnin' at the store and it get stole

I hope you have a nightmare every single day of your life

I hope you have a bad mornin' and one hell of a night

-

I hope it's hell at night, straight through the mornin'

I hope you close your eyes and just can't ignore it

'Cause it's too damn loud, tossin' and turnin'

I hope it's hell at night, my memory's burnin', burnin'

-

(Aye) I hope you see me every time you close your eyes

And every time you think about me you hear thunder in the skies

I'm out the way, and by the way I hope you lived and what you learned?

Hope you go deep into the woods and you make the wrong turn

-

Hope it burns you up like a cigarette

Like a last call shot straight to the head

Hope you stare at the wall or an old [...]

Kinda hope I don't call, ‘cause you can't call me

-

I hope it's hell at night, straight through the mornin'

I hope you close your eyes and just can't ignore it

'Cause it's too damn loud, tossin' and turnin'

I hope it's hell at night, my memory's burnin', burnin'”

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