Ella Langley is one of country music’s brightest rising stars, and she’s gotten co-signs from some of the genre’s great names, one of whom is Miranda Lambert. The two most recently performed together at the ACM Awards this year, sharing the stage for a rendition of Lambert’s 2005 smash hit, “Kerosene.”
Ella Langley Opened Up About Performing Miranda Lambert
Speaking to PEOPLE at Morgan Wallen’s Sand in My Boots Festival last month, Langley opened up about how much I meant to her to perform with Lambert, who has long been an inspiration to her.
“There’s a ridiculous amount of highlights of that whole entire week,” she began. “But performing ‘Kerosene,’ I already knew that I was going to do ‘Weren’t for the Wind’ but when we got asked to do ‘Kerosene,’ God, I was like, ‘It just made the night so much better for me because I got that initial fear out’ — and that was our first time performing together. It felt like a 12-year-old kid living her biggest dream ever on stage.”
Along with her duet with Lambert, Langley performed her song “weren’t for the wind” at the ACM Awards, having received the slot after being named New Female Artist of the Year.
The Alabama native further praised Lambert’s tenacious spirit and solid sense of self. “She is who she is, and she doesn’t apologize for that,” Langley gushed. “She stands up for herself, but she also stands up for others she believes in. And that’s just always been apparent by watching her as a young artist. So I’m really grateful to get to work alongside her.”
Lambert Offered Langley Important Advice
During an interview with the Big D & Bubba Radio Show, Langley revealed that Lambert also gave her some important advice.
“We got to do a rehearsal earlier that day, and really that whole week… I mean, I talked to her yesterday on the phone, and…she’s just been here before,” Langley explained. “There’s not really a rulebook to everything and I think everyone’s experience is different, but she can definitely have some advice on, ‘Well, this is what I’ve been through and this is how I can relate to that, and this is how I felt.’”
Lambert Helped Langley Overcome Imposter Syndrome
She continued, “On a day as massive as, you know, performing on the ACMs with somebody you’ve looked up to for so long…she was very comforting,” adding that Lambert told her, “‘You belong here, you belong here,’ you know? She kept killing the imposter syndrome in my brain.”
Langley and Lambert’s performance was one of the first of the show, and Langley revealed the chaos that was taking place behind the scenes as the pair were getting ready to take the stage.
“I had to change into that outfit from my [red] carpet outfit in two minutes,” she recalled. “I had people putting on earrings on either side, I was jumping in jeans and putting on a shirt at the same time, putting on boots, putting on lips [and] I mean, it was just nuts, taking my hair down, everything.”
Additionally, Ella Langley and Miranda Lambert will have the chance to share the stage again this summer, as they’ll both be opening for Morgan Wallen’s upcoming I’m The Problem Tour. The two artists will share several dates of the run beginning with a June 28 show in Madison, Wisconsin, and they’ll both share the bill with other acts as well throughout the tour’s run.
