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Ella Langley opens up about what it was like growing up in a small town as a Southern Baptist.
During an interview on the “This Last Weekend w/ Theo Von” podcast, the 26-year-old country music star talked about growing up in a small town in Alabama, recalling being scared of church “judgment houses.”
“It’s like what they do on Halloween,” she said. “It’s like a Christian home, I think. It’s very scary. I remember our youth group took us. You go in there, and it’s like this car crash, and it’s like convincing you … that you can die the second you walk out of here, so you’re better settled. You better be saved.”
He explained that senior housing “hit me so bad” that when they asked his youth group if anyone wanted to talk, he raised his hand “and survived.”
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Country star Ella Langley details growing up in a small town as a Southern Baptist. (John Shearer/Getty Images for CMA)
The “Excuse the Mess” singer recalls her father telling her, “Well, you’re a dumbass–, because that’s what salvation is all about.”
Langley explained that she was homeschooled for many years, and her life involved going to church, noting, “most of what we did was go to church.”
He noted that “it’s a really small church. It started in a barn. The house I grew up in, my dad grew up in, and there was an old barn across the street, and it started with hay bales in that barn, and then they moved it to the church, and even every Sunday and Wednesday until I was 18 years old.”
He compared growing up in a small town to his experience of fame, explaining, “You know all these people your whole life,” and growing up in that area, “I always heard s—– about me all the time,” adding, “you just get used to it.”
Langley compared growing up in a small town to being famous. (John Shearer/Getty Images for ACM)
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Langley began her career on social media, gaining a following by posting covers on TikTok and Instagram, leading to the release of her EP “Excuse the Mess” in 2023.
The EP helped solidify his following and featured many of his first hits, including “If You Gotta Do It” and “Country Boy’s Dream Girl.” He found major success when he collaborated with Riley Green on his hit song, “You Look Like You Love Me,” which went viral on TikTok, received millions of streams on Spotify and Apple Music, and expanded his audience.
Her debut album, “Hungover,” was released in August 2024, and in April 2025, Langley was honored with the ACM New Female Artist of the Year award by country icon Miranda Lambert, who has become a close friend of the rising star.
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“I was always singing as a kid. Like I said, I knew my whole life what I wanted to do, so I always did it,” he told Grammy.com in August 2024, adding that he became a stronger songwriter during the COVID-19 pandemic, saying, “all I did was write, write, write.”
Lambert and Langley are best friends. Lambert even appeared in the country star’s new music video for “Choosin’ Texas.” (John Shearer/Getty Images for ACM)
The “Choosin’ Texas” singer told the outlet that storytelling is in her blood, noting, “her dad is an incredible storyteller” and so is her grandfather. “Story telling is something my family does,” she said.
While speaking with Theo Von on the podcast, he credited his paternal grandparents for raising his love of music, saying “his grandfather could play anything by ear.”
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(LR) Taylor Swift, Ella Langley, and Lainey Wilson attend the 2026 iHeartRadio Music Awards at the Dolby Theater on March 26, 2026, in Los Angeles, California. (Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images for iHeartRadio)
“I was the first girl in the family, and I started to match the pitch [my grandma] when I was a kid, so he saw that I could sing, and singing was his thing, and my grandfather could, like I said, play any instrument by ear, and in their house, that’s all we did,” he said.
“I used to sing a lot in church. I learned to read by singing church songs,” he added. “Me, all the time, like, my whole family, we were all like, ‘this is what he’s going to do.’
Langley said her whole family knew she was going to be a musician. (Getty Images)
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