Ella Langley's Heartache Story Unfolds In Cinematic 'Choosin' Texas' Video

Ella Langley and Luke Grimes visit his “good old stomping grounds” in the cinematic “Choosin’ Texas” music video that premiered on Wednesday afternoon (April 1).

The award-winning artist and the star of Yellowstone and Marshals play a couple headed for heartache when they arrive in Abilene, Texas. Langley can’t help but wonder, “you ever wish you didn’t leave Texas?” Grimes admitted, “sometimes,” and added, “then I wouldn’t have met you.”

Langley and Grimes agreed to meet up with some of his friends at a local saloon, alive with crowds of patrons clad in cowboy hats, ubiquitous pool tables, glowing Christmas lights strung on the ceiling, a band led by country megastar Miranda Lambert, and more. As Langley and Grimes ordered a drink at the bar, Grimes locked eyes with a former flame, played by actress and model Ava Phillippe (daughter of award-winning actress and producer Reese Witherspoon). Phillippe went on to share glances with country artist Kaitlin Butts, who confronted Langley in the bathroom.

“You’re not from around here, are you?” Butts asked as the two women stood in front of the mirrors.

“No. Tennessee, actually,” Langley replied.

“I can tell,” Butts said. She added, as Phillippe and Grimes reconnected over a drink, “you got some kind of nerve bringing him around here again. …Just so you know, Texas has a way of keeping what’s hers.”

Langley and Grimes hit the dance floor; however, the Marshals actor continued to steal glimpses of his ex-girlfriend. Langley stepped outside, where she found Lambert and her band. The two singers shared a drink together, and Langley admitted, “I think the guy that I’m in love with is in love with somebody else.”

“Sounds like he ain’t the one for you then,” Lambert told her, and said there’s “room for one more,” if Langley needed a ride back to Tennessee. Ultimately, Langley chose to take Lambert up on the offer, and Grimes stood alone as the van pulled away.

Langley directed the video with Wales Toney and Caylee Robillard. It also features JB Mauney, Tyson Durfey, Shad Mayfield, Leighton Berry, Dale Brisby, Shea Fisher Durfey, Tanner Usrey, Wade Bowen and others, and filmed at Stagecoach Ballroom in Fort Worth, Texas.

The Alabama-born country artist teamed up with Lambert, Joybeth Taylor and Luke Dick to write the history-making heartache single, which she released in October 2025. She followed “Choosin’ Texas” with “Dandelion,” “Be Her” and “Loving Life Again” from her highly-anticipated sophomore studio record. Dandelion will arrive on Friday, April 10.

“We were just having a writer’s retreat, and she [Lambert] was telling me this story about how she had a kangaroo in her passenger seat, and she got pulled over, and the cop was like, ‘oh, you have Texas plates.’ And I went, ‘well, she’s from Texas, I can tell,’ Langley said on the 2026 iHeartRadio Music Awards red carpet, reflecting on the story behind “Choosin’ Texas.” “And literally just from that phrase, the ‘she’s from Texas, I can tell by the way,’ kind of just fell out, and I think we all latched onto that story of, ‘oh, he picked the other girl.’ You know? He picked someone else. I think everyone’s had a crush, and at some point that crush was more into somebody else at one point. If not, then lucky you or you’re lying.”

Langley, the reigning iHeartRadio Music Awards Best New Country Artist, is looking ahead to her headlining “Dandelion Tour” after she releases her album. The run of shows will include special guests Kameron Marlowe, Dylan Marlowe, Kaitlin Butts, Gabriella Rose and Laci Kaye Booth on select dates. See the dates here.

Watch Langley’s new “Choosin’ Texas” music video here: