In March, Ella Langley broke a chart record held by Taylor Swift and Beyoncé. Now, the country singer has reached a new milestone as her song “Be Her” has reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart, just behind her reigning hit, “Choosin’ Texas.”
“Langley becomes the first woman known for primarily recording country music to hold the Hot 100’s top two spots in a single week,” Billboard states. “Among all core-country acts, Morgan Wallen previously earned the honor for a week in May 2025.” The magazine adds that Langley is the 27th act to hold Nos. 1 and 2 on the Hot 100.
Ella Langley’s “Be Her” Reaches No. 2 on the Hot 100
“Be Her” was released on October 17th, 2025, as the follow-up to “Choosin’ Texas,” with each appearing on her 2026 album “Dandelion.” Langley wrote it alongside Smith Ahnquist, Jordan Schmidt, and HARDY, who recalled the ease and excitement of the writing session.
“I knew ‘Be Her’ was a hit the second we started writing it. It’s one of those songs that basically wrote itself,” he told American Songwriter. “We were done in 30 minutes.”
In an interview with Katie Neal for Katie & Company, Langley corroborated the story, explaining they hit on the title and soon found the hook.
“We just kept singing that over and over, because when you write songs, whether those lyrics are gonna change or not, it’s good to get into how the cadence of the lyrics are moving around… I kind of fill it in like a puzzle afterwards. So I just kept singing that, and all of us were like, ‘Oh, that feels amazing.’”
The lyrics are about self-reflection and “being the her you want to be,” she added.
Musically, “Be Her” shares several aspects with “Choosin’ Texas.” They have similar tempos, with “Choosin’ Texas” around 112 bpm and “Be Her” at 110 bpm. Langley’s yearning vocals are again accompanied by a lush throwback arrangement of guitars and pedal steel.
“The cushioning, layered instrumental gives the track a distinctly retro, ‘90s-inspired feel, consolidating Langley’s role as a neo-traditional trailblazer,” Holler Country states. “At the same time, much like ‘Choosin’ Texas’, there is an addictive, pop-adjacent sensibility about the infectious hook, making this another surefire hit-in-waiting for Langley.”
The Two-Chord Loop Behind “Be Her”
Another interesting commonality is the harmonic choices in each song. Instead of the typical I, IV, and V heard in country music, “Be Her” and “Choosin’ Texas” revolve around a two-chord pattern in the verse. Each begins the phrase with two bars on the ii chord before resolving to the I chord for two more bars. A ii-I chord progression is not a strong cadence like a IV-I or V-I, and its use in each song feels more like a musical sigh than tension and release.
In fact, “Be Her” never changes the chord progression. It’s in the key of B major and cycles between C#min and Bmaj7 for the entire song. The excitement comes from the arrangement and Langley’s soulful vocal delivery.
“Be Her” isn’t just another hit for Langley. It’s part of her larger breakout and the solidification of her sound – one that clearly resonates with music lovers.
