What is the song of the summer 2026?- Ella Langley - "Choosin' Texas"

0:03 Kalaroga Shark Media. I'm Garrett Fisher and this is the Hit Maker Chronicles. Welcome to a new series we're launching here at Calaroga Shark Media. Over the next six weeks. We're gonna look at the biggest question in music right now, what will be the song of the summer twenty twenty six. We're not talking about what should win, We're not talking about personal favorites. We're talking about what actually has the best shot at becoming the song that defines this summer, the song you'll hear everywhere, the song that will bring you back to June and July and August twenty twenty six for the rest of your life. And we're starting with the obvious front runner, the song that is dominated twenty twenty six more than any other choos in Texas by Ella Langley. If you've been paying any attention to the charts this year, you know this song that opening Ella's voice and a guitar singing about wide open spaces and a love that didn't work out the way it builds slowly, adding pedal steel and drums until you're right there with her, standing in the middle of Texas, trying to figure out what went wrong. Choosing Texas has spent ten non consecutive weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot one hundred this year. Ten weeks. That's more than any other song in twenty twenty six. And here's what makes that remarkable. It keeps getting knocked off the top spot by Taylor Swift, by Bad Bunny, by Bruno Mars

1:34 by Bts, by Olivia Rodrigo, and then it climbs right back up. That's not just a hit, that's staying power. That's a song people keep coming back to even when something shiny and new arrives. But here's the question we're asking today. Can Choose in Texas actually become the song of the summer or has it already peaked too early. Let's start with Ella Langley her because her story is part of why this song connects. Ella grew up in Hope Haul, Alabama, just south of Montgomery. She's twenty seven years old. She played college softball at the University of South Alabama before deciding music was what she really wanted to do. She moved to Nashville in twenty twenty, right as the pandemic hit, and spent the next few years grinding writing songs, playing writers' rounds, trying to get noticed in a city full of people trying to get noticed.

2:28 Her breakthrough came in twenty twenty three when she released You Look Like You Love Me, a duet with Chase Matthew that became a country radio hit, but it was her collaboration with Morgan Wallen in late twenty twenty four a song called Lie to Me that really put her on the map. That song went to number twelve on the Hot one hundred, introduced her to a mainstream audience beyond country radio, and proved she could hold her own next to one of the biggest stars in music. And then in late twenty twenty five, she released Choosing Texas. The song is about a relationship that ended because she chose her career over staying put. The Texas in the title is both literal and metaphorical. It's about choosing the wide open possibility of chasing your dreams over the comfort of staying in one place with one person. It's about regret and ambition existing in the same space. It's about looking back and wondering if you made the right call.

3:26 Ella Coo wrote it with Cameron Jamies and Joy Beth Taylor. The production is restrained. This isn't a big, bombastic country pop crossover. It's a ballad, a real one, the kind where the vocal and the lyric do most of the work and the production just supports them. And that restraint is part of why it works in a pop landscape that's increasingly maximalist, layers of production, constant hooks, everything fighting for your attention. Choosing Texas asks you to slow down and listen. It trusts that you'll pay attention if the song is good enough. The song was released in November twenty twenty five. It entered the Hot one hundred in December, and on February fourteenth, twenty twenty six, Valentine's Day, it hit number one for the first time. That first run at number one lasted one week before Taylor Swift knocked it off, then it came back, then Bad Bunny knocked it off, then it came back again, then Bruno Mars took the top spot, then it came back, then Bts, then back, then Olivia Rodrigo with Drop Dead, and as of last week, it's back at number one again. Ten non consecutive weeks. That pattern losing the top spot and then reclaiming it tells you something important about how people are consuming this song. It's not just initial excitement. It's not just a viral moment that fades. People keep returning to it, They keep streaming it, requesting it on radio, adding it to playlists, making it part of their lives.

4:56 And that's exactly the kind of pattern you see with Songs of the Summer. Now, there's a legitimate concern about choosing Texas peaking too early. The song hit number one in February. We're now in mid June. That's four months of dominance. Can it sustain that energy through July and August when the official Songs of the Summer chart is being calculated? History suggests it can. Let's look at twenty twenty three. Morgan Wallen's Last Night first hit number one in mid March of that year. People worried it had peaked too early, but Last Night went on to become the song of the Summer twenty twenty three. It dominated the entire year, not just the spring. And Morgan Wallen happens to be Ella Langley's duet partner and mentor. She's seen this playbook before. The parallel is almost too perfect.

5:47 Both songs are country ballads that crossed over to mainstream success. Both hit number one early in the year and maintained momentum. Both are about heartbreak and regret, and both were dismissed by some industry observers as too sad, too slow, too country to become summer anthems. But here's what those observers miss. Summer isn't just about party songs anymore. It hasn't been for years. Yes, you have your uptempo bangers, your songs that soundtrack pool parties and beach days. But you also have your emotional songs, your songs for late night drives with the windows down, your songs for sitting on a porch after everyone else has gone to bed and thinking about your life. Choose in Texas is that kind of song, And in a summer when people are still processing everything that's happened over the past few years politically, culturally, personally, a song about making hard choices and living with regret might be exactly what people need. Let's talk about the competition, because Choose in Texas isn't running unopposed. The song of the Summer race is crowded this year. Pink Pantherists and Zara Larson have Stateside, which got a huge boost from the Winter Olympics, and has that in Infectious Boots. That's my ego boost hook. That's all over TikTok. Harry Styles just released Aperture, and anything Harry does becomes a cultural moment.

7:11 Noah Kahan has multiple tracks from The Great Divide that are building momentum. Bruno Mars has I Just Might, which is pure feel good summer energy, and Olivia Rodrigo's Drop Dead just knocked Ella off the top of the Hot one hundred. Any one of those songs could make a run at Song of the Summer. They're all strong, they all have passionate fan bases. They all have the kind of hooks and moments that make song stick. But Choosing Texas has something they don't. It's already proven. It can last ten weeks at number one, non consecutive means the song has survived multiple challenges. It's been tested every time a new hit comes along and knocks it off the top spot. Choose in Texas climbs back. That's resilience. That's the kind of staying power that wins Song of the Summer.

8:01 There's also the Megan Moroni connection. When Choosing Texas was number one on the Hot one hundred in early March, Megan Morony's album Cloud nine was number one on the Billboard two hundred. That was the first time in history that two female country artists simultaneously top the song and album charts. We'll be right back. That moment mattered. It showed that country music, and specifically female country artists, we're having a genuine mainstream moment, not a crossover attempt, not trying to sound like pop. Just great country songs connecting with massive audiences, and Choosing Texas is at the center of that. Ella Langley isn't trying to be the next Taylor Swift or Casey Musgraves in terms of crossing over to pure pop. She's making country music that happens to be connecting with people people who don't necessarily listen to country radio. That's a different kind of crossover. That's the song finding the audience, not the artist chasing a different audience.

9:10 Let's talk about the song itself in more detail, because if Choosing Texas is going to be Song of the Summer, we need to understand why it works. The opening is just Ella and a guitar. The first verse establishes the scene. She's driving through Texas, remembering someone she left behind. The landscape is huge, the feeling is small and lonely. That contrast is the emotional core of the song. When the chorus hits I chose Texas, I chose me, I chose everything I thought I had to be, there's this weight to it. She's not celebrating her choice. She's not regretting it either. She's just sitting with the complexity of it. That nuance is what makes the song feel real. The second verse adds pedal steel. The drums come in. The production builds, but it never a whelms. You can still hear every word Ella's singing. You can still feel the space around the vocal. It's a big song that sounds intimate, and that's really hard to pull off. And then there's the bridge, which is where the song lands its emotional knockout punch. Ella's voice cracks just slightly when she sings about seeing his face in every sunset. It's a tiny imperfection that makes the whole performance feel honest. You believe she means every word because you can hear the vulnerability in her voice. That bridge is the moment people talk about.

10:32 That's the moment that makes you rewind. That's the moment that turns a good song into a song that matters to people. Radio has embraced Choosing Texas in a way they don't always embrace ballads. Country radio made it a massive hit from the start, which isn't surprising, but pop radio picked it up too. Adult contemporary playlisted it. Even some alternative station started playing it. That's rare for a country song, and it's speaks to how widely the song is resonating. Streaming numbers back this up. Choosing Texas has accumulated over eight hundred million streams on Spotify. It's been used in over two million TikTok videos, not always as a dance track, but as a soundtrack for people sharing their own stories about choosing careers, over relationships, about leaving home, about making hard decisions. That's the kind of cultural penetration that wins Song of the Summer. It's not just about the numbers. It's about the song becoming part of how people express themselves. Now, let's address the elephant in the room.

11:37 Can a ballad actually win Song of the Summer? The conventional wisdom says, no song of the summer is supposed to be up tempo. It's supposed to be fun. It's supposed to be the song you blast with the windows down, the song that plays at every party, the song that makes you want to dance. But that conventional wisdom is outdated. Look at the past few years of songs of the summer. Yes, you have Your Espresso by Sabrina Carpenter in twenty twenty four, up tempo, fun summary, but you also have songs like Billie Eilish's Birds of a Feather, which is mid tempo and melancholic. You have Morgan Wallen's Last Night in twenty twenty three, which is definitely not a party song. The definition of song of the summer has evolved. It's not just the song that soundtracks beach days anymore. It's the song that soundtracks the entire summer experience, the highs and the lows, the parties and the quiet moments, the joy and the heartbreak. And summer is when people have time to feel things. Schools out, work slows down for a lot of people. You have long evenings and lazy weekends.

12:45 You have space to reflect and sometimes the song that captures that reflective mood is the one that sticks with you. Choos in Texas works as a summer song because summer is often when people make big life decisions. It's when you graduate and figure out what's next. It's when you take that job in a different city. It's when you break up with someone because you know you want different things. Summer is a season of change, and Choosing Texas is a song about change. So where does Choos in Texas stand right now in the Song of the Summer race? It's the front runner, not just because it's had the most weeks at number one, not just because it's been the most consistent performer, but because it has all the elements that make a song of the summer cultural impact, streaming, dominance, radio support across multiple formats, a story that resonates with people's lives and staying power. The song has survived every challenge thrown at it. Every time a new hit arrives and threatens to end its run, Choosing Texas proves it's not done yet. That's the sign of a true phenomenon.

13:51 Can it hold on through July and August? Can it fend off the competition from Harry Styles, Bruno, mars Olivia, Rodrigo, and everyone else making a run at summer dominance. Based on what we've seen so far, I'd say yes, Choosing Texas has already proven it can last. It's already shown that people don't get tired of it. It's already demonstrated that it can coexist with other massive hits and still come out on top. But the race isn't over. The official Songs of the Summer chart doesn't debut until after Memorial Day, and the tracking period runs through Labor Day. We're only halfway through. A lot can happen. That's why we're doing this series. Over the next five weeks, we're going to profile the other major contenders, Pink Pantherists and Zara Larson, Harry Styles, Noah Kahan, Bruno, mars Olivia Rodrigo.

14:44 We're going to look at what each of them brings to the race, what their strengths are, what could hold them back. But today we're focused on Ella Langley and Choosing Texas. The song that's dominated twenty twenty six, the song that keeps coming back no matter how many times it gets knocked down, the song that proved a country ballad about regret and wide open spaces could become one of the biggest hits of the year. Whether it becomes Song of the Summer twenty twenty six remains to be seen. But right now, on June fourteenth, with summer just getting started, Choose in Texas is the song everyone else has to beat. This is Garrett Fisher and this is the Hip Maker Chronicles.

15:25 Join us next week as we look at contender number two, Pink Pantheris and Zara Larson Stateside, the Olympics, Boost and the international collaboration that's taking over social media. The hit Maker Chronicles Song of the Summer twenty twenty six What will be the song that defines Summer twenty twenty six? Six part series Sunday's June fourteenth to July nineteenth, twenty twenty six. By the way, follow Hitmaker Chronicles on Spotify and turn on notifications so you never miss an episode. And while you're there, leave us a comment on Spotify and let us know what you think about today's song. We're also trying to spread the words, so if you like the show, please tell a friend or even better, share an episode with them.