\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div> \n\tAaron Raitiere, who co-wrote the song with Langley, describes her as a \u201cmagical\u201d songwriter. \u201cShe is a vehicle for new, timeless country music,\u201d Raitiere says. \u201cIt isn\u2019t uncomfortable or forced. It\u2019s always calm, cool, and easy.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tIndeed, Langley exudes chill in conversation. When talking about her parents, she laughs at their polar-opposites love story \u2014 Dad\u2019s from Deep South Alabama, Mom\u2019s from Michigan \u2014 and says the dreamy imagery of Dandelion<\/em> was born in part from her penchant for weed. \u201cYou want to know why this record is so colorful? My brain moves so fast that I just function well that way,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \n\tWhatever inspires Langley\u2019s easygoing brand of country music, it\u2019s working. Ear\u00adlier this year, she made history when \u201cChoosin\u2019 Texas\u201d hit Number One on Billboard\u2019<\/em>s Hot 100, Hot Country Songs, and Country Airplay charts at the same time. Morgan Wallen, Post Malone, and Shaboozey are the only other artists to ever achieve the feat; Langley is the first woman. To date, \u201cChoosin\u2019 Texas\u201d has spent five nonconsecutive weeks atop the Hot 100. When she conceived the song, with country star Miranda Lambert<\/a> and the songwriters Luke Dick and Joybeth Taylor, Langley says she was thinking about a tall tale she had heard involving Lambert, a kangaroo, and a traffic stop.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWe were at this writers retreat, and I just asked her,\u201d Langley says, laughing. \u201cShe had a dog in the back and a kangaroo in the passenger seat, and got pulled over. I said randomly, \u2018I\u2019m sure [the police officer] was like, She\u2019s from Texas, I can tell.<\/em>\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n \n\tThat line ended up becoming the hook of \u201cChoosin\u2019 Texas,\u201d the song that knocked Harry Styles\u2019 \u201cAperture\u201d out of the top spot and catapulted Langley into the mainstream. She says its theme of unrequited love \u2014 a cowboy returns to his cherished Lone Star State, leaving Langley alone at a bar sipping Jack Daniel\u2019s \u2014 is universal. \u201cEveryone can relate to wanting something that doesn\u2019t want you back, whether it be a relationship or a job,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m giving my heart to people a lot. And that\u2019s scary to constantly do, because no one wants their heart broken.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tLangley reunited with Lambert when it came time to record Dandelion.<\/em> They sing together on \u201cButterfly Season,\u201d and Lambert co-produced the album with Langley and Ben West. The women have a bond forged before they ever met at that writers camp. When Langley was only a teenager, her family suffered a serious financial crisis, and she took solace in \u201cThe House That Built Me,\u201d Lambert\u2019s hit ballad about returning to where you were raised many years later. \u201cWe lost our house to the bank the day after my 14th birthday,\u201d Langley recalls. \u201cI heard that song for the first time around then. I was like, \u2018Whoa, she\u2019s singing about my life.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cElla has a fiery spirit,\u201d Lambert says. \u201cShe lives life in a big way and on her own terms. With this record, I wanted to honor her vision every step of the way.\u2026 It felt important to help her make choices that stayed true to who she is as an artist.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \n\tDandelion<\/em> also includes a nod to another strong-willed woman from country music\u2019s past: a faithful cover of Kitty Wells\u2019 1952 track \u201cIt Wasn\u2019t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels,\u201d<\/a> the first song by a solo woman to ever top the country charts. Langley loves the song and its message of empowerment so much that she uses it as the alarm on her smart speaker at home. \u201cShe had some balls on her, you know?\u201d Langley says.<\/p>\n\n
\n\t\t\u2018She lives life in a big way\u2019\t<\/h2>\n
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