Ella Langley Spills on Backstage Country the One Song She Has to Sing Every Time

Some songs are just too good to leave off the setlist, and Ella Langley knows it. From July 7–11, the rising country star joins Elaina Smith as co-host of Backstage Country. This week, she’s spilling on the one song that she has to sing every single time. 

Smith admitted that “Girl You're Taking Home” is one of her favorites. She asked if she was surprised to see fans gravitate towards the song. Langley replied, “No, I wasn't surprised because it's so raw and real. If one thing I've learned about my fans, is they really like that, they really liked that for me, and they appreciate the honesty.” 

She added, “And this song is so annoyingly honest that I have to sing it all the time. And at a point, I felt that way, the way I work through the things in my life is I write songs about it, and share all my deepest, darkest secrets with the world. It's really fun. There's a couple things I keep hittin' in there.” 

Langley revealed that they wrote “Girl You're Taking Home” and “Nicotine” on the same retreat with Joybeth Taylor, Zachary Kale, and Jon Nite: “We were somewhere on the beach. I can't remember, I just remember they were saying an ocean, and it made me really happy. I think we're in Destin. But I was heartbroken before I went on this retreat, and I was like that kind of heartbroken where I don't even wanna go.” She chuckled, “Like sick heartbroken. Yeah, like ‘gotta call your mom and cry about it so somebody feels bad for you.’ You put yourself in this position, you know? So your friends are like, ‘You're an idiot.’ But I'm like, ‘Mom, can you please cry with me?’ Been there.”  

She continued, “So I was in my bed the night before. We got there, flew in, and we kind of got in late. And I was having some snackies. I remember I was eating a whole bunch of Starbursts, and they're all over my chest. And she came in the room, and she's like, ‘I'm tired of this.’ And I'm was like, ‘Me too.’ And she's, ‘We're going to write a song and get you over this guy.’ And I'll was like ‘Okay. Can I go back to eating my starburst now?’ She's like, ‘Yes, but in the morning, I'm gonna come in here and wake you up with a title.’”  

Langley said how much she appreciates Taylor who she calls her “soul sister.” She said, “I love her. She's my songwriting sister. She is an extension of my brain. She will probably be a writer on almost every song on this next record. She's from Alabama. We've been there through a lot, a lot of hard stuff for each other and moving to this town and what it is like to be in a relationship in this job.  

She continued, “The next morning, she came in there and she's at 7 a.m., dude. She always comes to my room so early. She's just immediately up and loud. It's so, so annoyingly early. After a night of Starburst, how dare she? She came in and slung the door open and she was like, ‘I've got the title!’ I rolled back over out of my Starburst bed and asked, ‘What?’ And she's like, it's called ‘Girl You're Takin' Home.’ I was like ‘Oh, I know exactly how this is gonna go.’ It's a great song. I didn't want anyone to know about the guy who it was about. So, it was fun trying to write that without slipping anyone's name in it.” 

Langley’s music may already live rent-free in your head, but after this week, you’ll have the full backstory to go with every lyric. So don’t miss it!