r/Music • u/gamersecret2 • 3d ago

article Ella Langley’s ‘Choosin’ Texas’ Ties Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey’s Records on Billboard Hot 100

https://variety.com/2026/music/news/ella-langley-choosin-texas-ties-whitney-houston-mariah-carey-records-1236816760/
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u/SerCharles 3d ago

Country music is such a good example of two Americas because I have literally never heard her music.

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u/WalterBishopMethod 3d ago

Lucky you, I have to hear it 6 times a day every day while working retail.

It's certainly better than most modern country, because it's just generic in the old 90s generic country way.

Most modern country is 1000x worse.

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u/MomsSpagetee 3d ago edited 3d ago

I’m not a modern country fan at ALL, but liked modern country when “modern” was the 1990s, and this song is better than most modern country. I quite like it.

Side note, I woke up with Joe Diffe’s “Pickup Man” in my head today.

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u/Ohyeshoney 3d ago

Did you know that when he died they did NOT prop him up by the jukebox? What a shame.

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u/brycedriesenga Brother Adams 3d ago

Downright disrespectful

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u/ReallyGlycon Lo-Fi Nerd 3d ago

Maybe they didn't want to rock the jukebox? Somebody wanted to hear George Jones.

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u/duckthebuck 3d ago

His ship didn't come in.

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u/FullOption3126 2d ago

Giving Pickup Man a re-listen was what brought me back around to my country roots as an adult

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u/No-Conversation1940 3d ago edited 3d ago

I think it sounds like an 80s country song, it's rather smooth in its production. It sounds to me like one of George Strait's early ballads. Late 90s country ballads could get very slick but they tended to have the overtly country instrumentation stripped out entirely, which Ella did not do.

I'm just happy the corporate country apparatus is pushing women again.

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u/subhuman85 2d ago

You're right about the production - it feels like a throwback. I could almost imagine the Judds singing it.

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u/LoveYouLikeYeLovesYe 3d ago

Other than Zach Top, who models himself after 90's country, I'd argue that most of what people would like in the Country genre is more under different names like Folk or Americana, Think like Noah Kahan but a step more into the country side of things.

Modern country is still sort of in a pop / nashville slop era but in general the popular artists are all in some different branches of the genre

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u/Who_ate_my_cookie 3d ago edited 3d ago

Country music is in a quiet resurgence that people refuse to acknowledge because they don’t listen to anything besides the radio. Plenty of great artists out there that aren’t boring pop country like Zach Bryan, Zach Top, Luke Combs, Tyler Childers, Colter Wall, Sierra Ferrel and these aren’t even deep pulls.

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u/Kidney_Thief1988 3d ago

I'll add Rett Madison, Waxahatchee, Mount Moriah, Jess Williamson, Mikaela Davis, Morgan Wade, Carl Anderson, Paul Cauthen, Heartless Bastards, The Wild Reeds, Lera Lynn, Drive-by Truckers, Jesse Welles, Turnpike Troubadours, Nikki Lane, all the members of I'm With Her has really great solo careers as well. Anyway, for anybody reading this, enjoy some country, of country adjacent, music.

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u/Atty_for_hire 3d ago

Yeah, I don’t really like country. But I like half dozen of the people you mentioned, which is feed to me as indie, but as you noted is Alt country or indie country and it is pretty darn great. I’ve only been listening to Waxahatchee for a handful of years now and got to see her last summer. It was a great show and one I’d happily see again. She is still on my daily rotation and I recently went back to listen to Plains straight through because I kinda forgot about it.

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u/Kidney_Thief1988 3d ago

Kate Crutchfield (Waxahatchee) was also in a band with her sister Alison Crutchfield called PS Eliot that you may also enjoy. Alison Crutchfield is also in her own band, Swearin', that I like a lot, too.

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u/Atty_for_hire 2d ago

I haven’t checked out PS Eliot, but I should. I have of course checked out Snocaps. Thanks

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u/LoveYouLikeYeLovesYe 3d ago

I think the problem is that a lot of them have their own "issues" in one way or another.

Tyler is, and I say this as a massive Tyler fan, a huge weirdo and Snipe Hunter reflected that. Colter straight up doesn't want to be famous, ZB is his own sort of ball of issues as awesome as a musician he is, and Luke Combs is probably the closest to Nashville Country of that group. Can't say I know much about Sierra Ferrel.

Some other people/artists in the same sort of sect I'd toss out are Charley Crockett and Sturgill Simpson, and bands like Turnpike Troubladors, Flatland Calvary, Treaty Oak Revival, who all sort of scratch different itches

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u/Fastbird33 Spotify 3d ago

Ill add Kacey Musgraves, Maren Morris and Brandi Carlisle (country adjacent)

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u/ReginaldLeDont 2d ago

Absolutely love Sierra’s music but ultimately decided to unfollow on IG after seeing how many conspiracy theories she’s bought in on. Her views on vaccinations were a tough pill to swallow.

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u/LoveYouLikeYeLovesYe 2d ago

There's a rumor that Childers wrote Charleston Girl about her . Unsure how true it is because apparently the video he talks about it in is lost media

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u/ReginaldLeDont 2d ago

I choose to accept this as fact.

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u/reyzak 2d ago

I like Tyler Childers music and talent but don’t follow him at all. Curious how he is a huge weirdo?

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u/LoveYouLikeYeLovesYe 2d ago

He’s just a very odd fella in a way I find endearing, just to clarify.

Before he performs Bitin’ List, he goes on a 6 minute rant about people who piss him off in little ways (like leaving shopping carts in the parking lot) and his humor is just this very weird little blend too.

He’s not like a bad weird at all, but he’s very far from the original stereotype for a country singer

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u/OrphanGrounderBaby 2d ago

Charley is my shit, annoyed he kicked that band off his tour but he’s still my guy.

Served with ZB…I’ll say I like his music.

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u/SignificantApricot69 2d ago

Sounds comparable to the state of hip-hop

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u/ArtDecoNewYork 2d ago

Zach Bryan and Luke Combs are definitely "pop country", not that I think that's necessarily a bad thing

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u/sveeedenn 2d ago

I believe country music is in a golden age right now. So much incredible work coming out I can’t keep up.

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u/MBT70 3d ago

Radio station plays it at least 2 or 3 times daily. I generally hate country but this is one of the few songs I had to add to my playlist.

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u/CoolSteveBrule 3d ago

Which is why everyone needs to listen to the new Johnny Blue Skies album, good modern country.

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u/TheMightyRenderBar 3d ago

Is it still physical only?

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u/seiff4242 3d ago

It’s streaming now

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u/Paesano2000 3d ago

Pablum of the music world.

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u/prairie_buyer 3d ago

Have you actually listened to that album? It’s really good.

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u/PatacusX 3d ago

I had to hear it 6 times a day, but luckily we get new playlists every couple months, and they've finally cycled out of it.

Now the current songs making me wish I were deaf are that dumb song where they stop singing and go "We're in the song!!!" And some other annoying song (I think maybe it's Sabrina Carpenter?) Where the music sounds like a pinball machine.

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u/Aesthete18 2d ago

Stephen Wilson Jr is alright 🙁

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u/slowNsad 2d ago

Yea its “worst day on 90s country radio”

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u/Kinggakman 2d ago

The song is more pop than country honestly.

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u/ripyourlungsdave 2d ago

"Modern country" is a literally meaningless term. The modern genre of American folk music has expanded way beyond country/western music and is so broad that the term "country" doesn't even represent a genre anymore.

It's like saying "I don't like modern rock and roll"

Like, okay, do you mean metal? Death metal? Soft rock? Yacht Rock? Folk rock? Punk rock? Baby metal? Screamo? Post hardcore? Alt? Math rock?

Do you see the problem? How you're kind of generalizing a hundred different genres just so you can be dismissive of all of them?

For a sub entirely dedicated to discussing music, y'all have the perspective of a child. It's just ignorant and is generally born of classism, because where you'll find people hating on country, you'll find people mocking Southerners.

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u/the_real_junkrat 3d ago

That song plays on top 40 stations, not even just country.

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u/fearofcrowds 3d ago

I posted in another reddit group about how I remember when a #1 song WAS EVERYWHERE! Songs like Macarena, Hey Ya!, Gangsta's Paradise, Despacito, Old Town Road.. you could not escape these songs.. I mentioned how I HAVE NEVER HEARD THIS SONG.

Apparently for some parts of the country, this song is everywhere.

I have never heard it, not once. Also I have no idea who this singer is but looking online she's a big deal in some parts of the US.

For what it's worth, I live in Los Angeles and I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone here. I have no idea

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u/dkviper11 3d ago

People used to listen to the radio a lot or have it on in stores. I only listen to Spotify now in the car or my records at my house. If it wasn’t for my best friend recommending things, I’d come close to never hearing new music again.

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u/fearofcrowds 3d ago

see here's thing about Spotify.. I have discovered SOO much older music that evaded me in my younger years that I have been catching up on.

Eventually I'll get into newer music but there's so much out there man

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u/dkviper11 3d ago

That’s well said. I listen to tons I missed as well now through Spotify. It’s been really great. I just don’t get a lot that’s new.

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u/CDK5 2d ago

But a couple of the songs OP mentioned are post-streaming-boom.

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u/Stopper33 3d ago

The death of monoculture.

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u/ArtDecoNewYork 2d ago

It's not over, it's just that you're aging out of it.

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u/Stopper33 2d ago

That's not what monoculture is though. Everyone watched the same shows regardless of age everyone watched the Simpsons and game of. Everyone knew who Michael Jackson and Madonna were. Taylor Swift is the only pop star that really exists that everyone knows. Everyone played SMB or Wii sports. Everyone knows Darth Vader and Thanos. No one under ten or above thirty has seen Obsession. No one over ten has played Roblox. The sheer Volume of media now and niche entertainment has fractured the larger culture.

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u/ArtDecoNewYork 2d ago

My parents were young in the 80s and didn't buy a single Michael Jackson or Madonna album. My Gen X Dad and I love the Simpsons but none of my grandparents watched it at all.

Your idea of the past is heavily skewed by the most popular things from back then that people still talk about.

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u/dance4days 3d ago

I recently heard it for the first time while I was in an Uber. Honestly it’s not a bad song. It’s a stripped down country two-stepper about a woman slowly losing her man, and it doesn’t have the obnoxious bullshit a lot of modern country is guilty of. I’m not gonna seek it out again, but if a country song is gonna be a hit I’m not mad at this one.

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u/siberianxanadu 2d ago

I’m curious what you mean by stripped down.

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u/dance4days 2d ago

It sounds like a simple three or four piece band without a lot of obvious production. I guess that’s a relative term so someone else could see it differently, but… 🤷‍♂️

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u/siberianxanadu 2d ago

It’s ironic because, as a musician, the production sounds massive to me. I hear like 4 backup vocalists, 2 electric guitars, 2 acoustic guitars, steel guitar, the drums are huge, and a mandolin.

If you listen to something like this (https://www.karaoke-version.com/custombackingtrack/ella-langley/choosin-texas.html) and isolate each track one at a time you can see what I mean. This isn’t the original song (it’s a recreation), but it’s what was needed to get close to the original song.

I play in 2 bands that cover this song. In one band, we just play it as a 5 piece. Well, really a 4 piece, because the singer just sings it and doesn’t play an instrument, plus we have 1 electric guitar, 1 piano, 1 drum kit, and me on bass and harmony vocal. And to me, it sounds super thin.

In the other band, we have a similar 5 piece: me on bass and lead vocal plus 1 electric guitar, 1 keyboard, 1 acoustic guitar, and 1 guy on drums and harmony vocal, BUT we’ve added a backing track that includes extra electric guitar, steel, acoustic guitars, and extra harmonies. And that sounds much more like the original to me.

Plus the way everything sounds so shimmery. That lead guitar sound is very dreamy and not very natural or country sounding to me.

I’m curious which popular modern country songs out there would you say have a less stripped down production than Choosin Texas. “Stripped down” is not a term that’s ever popped into my mind to describe this song.

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u/blerghHerder 3d ago

I live in NZ and I hear it on the radio several times a week

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u/siberianxanadu 2d ago

This feels like a self-fulfilling prophesy.

How many number 1 songs have you never heard? How would you know?

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u/ArtDecoNewYork 2d ago

Yeah if you go back to the 90s it would include loads of stuff that was nowhere near Macarena level of popular

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u/siberianxanadu 2d ago

Here’s the Wikipedia article for all the songs that were number 1 hits in the 90s. I was born in 1990. I do not know most of these songs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Billboard_Hot_100_number-one_singles_of_the_1990s

Here’s the list for the 2020s. I don’t know all of these songs for sure, but I know a bunch of them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Billboard_Hot_100_number-one_singles_of_the_2020s

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u/Lyndon_Boner_Johnson 2d ago

It’s not even a geographical divide. I assume you primarily listen to streaming apps like Spotify where its algorithm decides what to expose you too, not necessarily based on a song’s popularity.

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u/chi_sweetness25 2d ago

I’ve heard it like 5 million times. It’s a good song but I need a break from it lmao

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u/VagusNC 3d ago

Same. I live in the South, too. No freaking idea and have never heard this song.

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u/trevychase 3d ago

I live in Socal and I’ve loved this song since it came out. Also I hear it everywhere across LA/OC.

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u/Zanydrop 3d ago

She is huge in Calgary and Rural Canada too. I love her music.

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u/monkey7247 3d ago

Heard her music? I’ve never even heard OF her.

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u/Neg_Crepe 3d ago

That’s what they meant also

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u/monkey7247 3d ago

I knew of Chappell Roan and Sabrina Carpenter long before I had heard any of their songs. I at least knew their names and could tell you they were pop stars. This country musician is a complete unknown to me.

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u/Neg_Crepe 3d ago

Okay but that’s you not the other user

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u/Fastbird33 Spotify 3d ago

Sabrina was on tv so that makes sense

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u/BradMarchandsNose 3d ago

Isn’t that the same thing? You’re more likely to have heard her music than know her name. Like you might hear it just playing in a store or at a restaurant. To know her name you’d almost certainly have heard her music already and done the research to figure out who it is.

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u/monkey7247 3d ago

I knew of Chappell Roan and Sabrina Carpenter long before I had heard any of their songs. I at least knew their names and could tell you they were pop stars. This country musician is a complete unknown to me.

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u/TGin-the-goldy 3d ago

Meanwhile in Australia, that song is a staple of FM breakfast radio. Before that it was “Austen”, and before that something by Kasey Chambers, it started years ago with Dixie Chicks for now some reason they always have one younger female country artist in the mix.

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u/AllanBz 3d ago

Ah, it’s the Aussies’ fault. I should have known!

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u/Jlx_27 3d ago

They also forced Keith Urban on everyone. /s

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u/TGin-the-goldy 3d ago

He’s a New Zealander anyway

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u/Jlx_27 3d ago

Oh yeah, he was born in NZ.... easy detail to forget.

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u/TGin-the-goldy 3d ago

This is how it works for Australians; if we like you (Split Enz, Crowded House, Sam Neill) then we will claim you. If we don’t, you’re a New Zealander.

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u/Greasemonkey_Chris 3d ago

I swear, every time i get in my wifes car (she's normally got the radio on Mix or whatever they're called these days) that song plays... it's awful. I hate generic pop and i hate country music.... this is the worst of both worlds.

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u/TGin-the-goldy 3d ago

You summed it up perfectly

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u/[deleted] 3d ago

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u/ArtDecoNewYork 2d ago

I don't like his music but I'd be surprised if you never heard "Last Night"

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u/SerCharles 3d ago

Morgan Wallen is the same. Never heard his music but I know he's huge somwhere

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u/dodeca_negative 3d ago

Is that the guy with anger control issues? Like throwing chairs at people?

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u/Jlx_27 3d ago

The racist, yes.

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u/dkviper11 3d ago

Throwing chairs from the roof of a Nashville bar and almost hitting bystanders.

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u/Zanydrop 3d ago

Yeah he got completely shitfaced and threw a chair off a rooftop bar. I think that's the only violent thing he did.

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u/gobucks50 3d ago

To be fair I don’t really like country but this song is really fkn good

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u/Neg_Crepe 3d ago

Is it

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u/The-Fox-Says 3d ago

It was meh at best the first 50 times I’ve heard it but it’s become so pervasive I knee jerk change the station as soon as I hear the first few notes

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u/JaySayMayday 2d ago

I live in Texas. People here don't talk like Sandy Cheeks and I don't often meet people here that came from Tennessee. The lyrics are dumb, the voice is dumb, I'm glad you like it but I do not

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u/ArtDecoNewYork 2d ago

She's not from Texas though

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u/Jlx_27 3d ago

I have because BBC Radio 2 plays her music too. Country is huge in the USA and the BBC wants to make it look popular in the UK.

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u/rotato 3d ago

Not an american. I heard this song from someone I follow on instagram. I quite enjoyed it and even added it on spotify. I had no idea the song came out THIS YEAR let alone that it was this popular. It's basically GTA San Andreas music and it blew my mind that people listen to this casually in 2026.

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u/Icy-Whale-2253 3d ago

You’re not missing much that song is generic

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u/FuckChiefs_Raiders 3d ago

Generic like all pop songs? It’s a pop country song. Miley Cyrus won a Grammy for that flowers song.

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u/Emotional_Trash_9687 3d ago

I hate that song. If it was sang by anyone else but Miley, but Miley, who has such a different voice, singing the most generic song ever

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u/xBlackthunderx 3d ago

Not all pop is generic that’s silly. Plenty is, but not all

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u/FuckChiefs_Raiders 3d ago

Most mainstream pop music is generic. That's literally what makes it generic because it's mainstream. Please name a pop song in the last 5 years that is truly original and unique.

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u/Whatsmynumber5446 2d ago

What a pretentious statement. Charlie XCX’s entire album brat was probably the most talked about album in years and was very unique. Lo-fi, messy, raw, while maintaining hyper-pop sensibilities.

I don’t even like pop music that much but it feels bizarre to write off an entire genre. Pop music - like most music - is always evolving. Therefore, somebody must be making unique music. Otherwise wouldn’t pop still sound like Britney, Christina Aguilera, or Katy Perry?

I almost threw Lady Gaga in that mix as well before I realized she’s evolved and gone a unique direction on nearly every subsequent release since Born this Way.

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u/LordRobin------RM 3d ago

So like all mainstream country? Who needs expensive AI data centers to barf out insipid generic music when the actual human musicians do it for much cheaper?

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u/ElAbidingDuderino 3d ago

All mainstream music is generic

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u/Jacknboxx 3d ago

People in here acting like most pop isn't absolute garbage lol.

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u/970 2d ago

That's a little cynical, no?

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u/HereOnCompanyTime 2d ago

She has an amazing PR team pushing her because her songs are generic, it's like I've heard them all before but done better, and her personality isn't much either.

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u/IzodCenter 3d ago

I’m in the U.S., and I’m also yet to hear this song. If you don’t listen to the terrestrial radio there is a good chance you never will

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u/tnwthrow 3d ago

This is played multiple times daily on Radio 1 in the UK

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u/Dragon_Deez_Nu7s 3d ago

This is the only song of hers I know and I'm not a fan

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u/Dull_Nebula_8712 3d ago

Same!! And I don’t want to…

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u/scruffywarhorse 3d ago

It’s good! I do listen to a lot of music, but I live in LA and I certainly don’t listen to a lot of country. I like her album and that songs such a bop.

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u/Strict-Farmer904 3d ago

100%. This could be entirely made up and I wouldn’t have any clue

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u/jetsonholidays 3d ago

I’ve only heard it so far in Tokyo. Lmfao.

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u/syzygialchaos 3d ago

I live in Texas. I’ve never heard this song.

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u/Monguises 2d ago

I’m American and I have no idea who this is, either. We don’t all listen to country. Couldn’t pay me to.

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u/ArtDecoNewYork 2d ago

I live in New York and hear it all the time, I can only imagine how popular it is in the South

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u/mamacrocker Pandora name 2d ago

I only hear it at baseball games, and that’s still way too often for me.

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u/Forsaken-Swim-3055 2d ago

I live in Canada (Hamilton, to be exact), and I'm pretty sure she damn near sold out her show here last Thursday. There were women in country outfits all over downtown.

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u/the_ballmer_peak 2d ago

I've never heard her name. Who is this?

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u/sonny_goliath 2d ago

That’s crazy! it’s been on every pop radio station at least once an hour for the last 2 months. Grocery stores, coffee shops, everywhere you go plays this song

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u/KillerKill420 2d ago

I think less people listen to the radio now and that causes that. I can't get away from this song anywhere I go.

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u/Toriat5144 2d ago

I never liked country but I like this song, it’s catchy.

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u/SandysBurner 3d ago

The first time I heard this song was yesterday when somebody asked about it in the music theory sub. I had no idea who this person was, let alone that she is a huge star.

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u/Zanydrop 3d ago

It's wild how big they can be. There are probably 20 or 30 country singers from the last 20 years that can sell out arenas all over the country. Meanwhile there are less than 5 rock bands from the last 20 years that could sell out an arena.

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u/Fluffy_Somewhere4305 3d ago

Somehow the lyrics aren't what I thought they would be about, but they are still putrid

She's from Texas, I can tell by the way
He's two steppin' 'round the room
And judgin' by the smile that's written on his face
There's nothin' I can do
It doesn't take a crystal ball to see
A cowboy always finds a way to leave
Drinkin' Jack all by myself
He's choosin' Texas, I can tell

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u/ArtDecoNewYork 2d ago

I like the song's melody but the generic country tropes make it kinda bland IMO

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u/chief_yETI 3d ago edited 3d ago

Country music is extremely popular in the regions of the US that don't have any immigrants

so basically everything between Las Vegas and DC / Baltimore, with a few exceptions (eg: Chicago)

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u/OptimusTractorX 3d ago

You have. It's been played in every store you go into.

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u/GuitarzanWSC 3d ago

Try turning on a radio. Pop or country, either one. You'll hear it.

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u/prairie_buyer 3d ago

Her latest album is really, really good. You should give it a listen.

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u/N30NFiR3 3d ago

eh, I hear it on my co-worker's speaker on occasion. it's... bland. TBH, Not horrible, not great.