“‘Choosin’ Texas’? Never heard of it.”
That sentiment became a common refrain as Ella Langley’s hit country song topped the Billboard Hot 100 all summer and eventually passed Mariah Carey to set the record for the longest-running Number One in that chart’s
history. Even Doja Cat claimed to be in the dark. “I don’t know what that is,” she said when asked about Langley. Despite what feels like ubiquity to some, others continue to insist that they’ve never heard “Choosin’ Texas” at all. And, if they’re on social media, they’re sure as hell letting you know it.
There are, as always, logical explanations for such a phenomenon. In our algorithm-driven age, it’s entirely possible to design a curated world where you never encounter “Choosin’ Texas”: You don’t engage with country content, you don’t listen to country playlists, you don’t even remove your earbuds when you enter a coffee shop, should twang be coming out of the speakers. Gone are the days of the monoculture radio hit. Shared experiences are few and far between.
That lack of monoculture is part of the reason why some were reticent to declare “Choosin’ Texas” the song of the summer when it was clear there was no viable competition (in chart terms, at least). We’re all living different summers at parallel times, with social media feeding back to us only what we want to hear and see. If you care to live in a silo, rent is free.
At this point, though, if someone contends they’ve never even heard of “Choosin’ Texas” or Langley, it may say more about the listener than the song. Or, for that matter, what they want to project to the world. With incessant news coverage alongside chart and playlist presence, it’s pretty difficult to still claim total ignorance on this one. Perhaps there is a deeper reason why people say they haven’t heard the song and feel the need to make it known: cultural cachet.
Country music fans recognize this well. We’ve become so accustomed to hearing the qualifier “I listen to anything but country music” to signal class and taste that it’s become a touchstone in sociological studies of music. As Nadine Hubbs wrote in the book Rednecks, Queers, and Country Music, “distance from country music can help to define one as a middle-class individual, which is precisely a matter of distinguishing oneself from the tastes, characteristics, and people of the working-class masses.” It’s shorthand, often, for liberal politics and a way to separate oneself from anything that could be associated with rural or Southern stereotypes. “I’ve never heard of ‘Choosin’ Texas’” is the “I listen to anything but country” of 2026.
It may feel innocuous. Like what you like, right? But continuing to dismiss a genre only feeds into stereotypes that many have been working tirelessly to undo, and reinforces and empowers those that are earned. Some of this was on display last week when people began digging up old hunting photos of Langley and using them as evidence that she’s MAGA (Langley has not spoken about her personal politics). But being a hunter or an outdoors enthusiast does not inherently indicate partisan beliefs — assuming it does is another way we’ve grossly come to misunderstand rural traditions, and the people who practice them.
So, maybe “I’ve never heard of ‘Choosin’ Texas’” is not quite the flex that some think it is. Instead of claiming ignorance of the song on social media, why not try a swift Google search instead. It just might open your algorithm — and also your mind.
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