Y’all already know I love this song…
“Could’ve Been Her” was our Song of the Week this past Monday, and today, Ella Langley dropped a beautiful, acoustic rendition of the tune from her just-released debut EP Excuse the Mess.
The song is already a beautiful stripped-back ballad, where she very honestly details the fact that a relationship came to an end simply because she couldn’t and wouldn’t change herself for someone else, and this setting just gives it a different layer of depth and meaning.
Ella says that they filmed this performance video at the Wightman Chapel in Nashville, which felt very fitting, as the Hope Hull, Alabama native grew up singing in church:
“The acoustic video for ‘Could’ve Been Her’ is out now!
We recorded it in the Wightman Chapel in Nashville, I grew up singing in church so it only felt right to pay tribute to that with these videos… Go check it out on YouTube!”
Written by Ella along with Joybeth Taylor, Trannie Anderson and Will Bundy, I love the chorus where she explains that there probably were a few things she could’ve done to make it work by being untrue to herself, but refused to do so because “that wouldn’t be me”:
“If I’da shut my mouth, faked that smile
Probably coulda made it work for a while
Cried in the dark instead of screamin’
There wouldn’t be red wine stains on the ceilin’
If I’da buried my feelings
Pushed down the hurt and let you cheat
I coulda been her
But that wouldn’t be me”
I think it’s a pretty universally-relatable concept, but not one that I’ve heard in a song quite this way before with this kind of conviction, and it’s easily a standout and one of my favorites on her new project.
Do yourself a huge favor and check it out:
The studio cut:
