It’s here.
Last night, Drake premiered the highly-anticipated remix of Ella Langley’s monster hit “Choosin’ Texas,” which just spent its 22nd week at #1 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 and officially tied Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” as the longest-running #1 hit ever in U.S. history.
As it stands today, “Choosin’ Texas” is the longest-running #1 hit by a female artist this century and the only country song by a woman to triple up and go #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100, Hot Country and Country Airplay charts simultaneously.
It’s a juggernaut, to say the least, and fans have been speculating that something like this was coming.
Drake went viral for blasting the song in Houston at a nightclub while he was deejaying an event in July, and took to TikTok in response to post a video of her lip-syncing the rapper’s legendary collab with Lil Wayne, “HYFR (Hell Ya F***ing Right),” which famously contains the George Strait reference, “All my exes live in Texas like I’m George Strait.”
Drake then took to Langley’s comment section almost immediately, complimenting her songwriting with the simple comment, “Goated Pen.”
Just a week later, on August 22nd, he was spotted jamming out to “Choosin’ Texas” next to Langley’s opener, Ernest, during her show in Little Rock, Arkansas, at the Simmons Bank Arena. During her performance, the camera panned to a tent where Drake was having the time of his life, and he was singing along to every word. Of course, the crowd went wild when they saw he was there.
A few days after the show, Langley would also upload a photo of herself chatting with the rapper in a photo dump on Instagram (slide 13).
And last night during a livestream, Drake unveiled Fear of Missing Out (FOMO), which was an hourlong string of music videos and new songs, including, of course, the remix of “Choosin’ Texas,” which features Don Toliver.
The song has yet to be released on streaming, and after the livestream it ended the video was set to “private,” though plenty of fans managed to capture it and share it all over social media.
As you can probably imagine, his version of “Choosin’ Texas” is a far cry from Langley’s original, and in this version, it’s the cowgirl who rides away:
“She’s from Texas, I can tell by the way she grip on my wood grain,
She’s down to take a hundred shots with me and talk about my pain,
It doesn’t take a crystal ball to see,
A cowgirl ends up riding off on me,
Drinkin’ yak all by myself,
She’s from Texas, I can tell, baby,
Big wooden wheel, where should I go?
Johnny Manziel with hits that I throw,
College Station nights you used to know,
Now you’re getting fried down in River Oaks, I already know,
Sugarland, Pearlland, Woodlands, you just need a good man, oh”
Drake shared in a post on Instagram that this “Fear of Missing Out” project is “self funded surrealism” and “a story about making the absolute most of it all in one summer.”
He gave a lengthy explanation of it all, too, saying in part:
“Here’s some life advice before you watch. Nobody is coming to save you. You must use each day to decipher who you love and trust and march forward with them. I hope this serves as motivation to make that call, take that trip, drop that song, open that shop, see your parents, leave that relationship or stay in it forever, spend the bread, get some more etc…
They keep saying our genre is dying. Videos don’t matter. Nobody is watching nobody is listening. I still care. As much as I did on the set of Best I Ever Had. So be kind and rewind.”
Earlier this year, Drake dropped a trio of albums in Iceman, Maid of Honour and Habibti, and while many thought it might include a Morgan Wallen collaboration, though it ended up just being shout-out to Morgan on a song called “White Bone,” though it’s possible they still might put out a real song together.
Obviously, this “Choosin’ Texas” is not country in the least bit, and it’s not supposed to be, but it’s pretty cool that Ella has crossed over into mainstream culture like this, as Drake is one of the biggest artists in the world, and he’s a certified Ella fella.
There’s probably a lot of people who will discover Ella’s music because of this, and that’s a huge win if you ask me. Check it out:
“Choosin’ Texas”
