Lainey Wilson and Ella Langley showed their support for one another, and spoke to the importance of women banding together in country music.
iHeartRadio’s Brooke Taylor spoke about the two award-winning artists after the 2026 Billboard Women In Music celebration on Wednesday (April 29) at Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, California. Wilson presented Langley with the Powerhouse Award at the event. Taylor said:
“Lainey Wilson was talking about how important it is for women in country music to hold hands and steward and just fight for each other. And I just think it’s so cool to have them together because Ella Langley and Lainey Wilson (are) just powerhouses right now. Last night, speaking of powerhouse, Ella Langley took home the Powerhouse Award, and Lainey Wilson got to honor her in that. If you missed this video, these two just loving on each other. So sweet. Congratulations to Ella Langley.”
“Lainey, I love you so much. I’m so grateful you’re here,” Langley said, in part, as she accepted her award. “My team is predominantly women, so I’m very grateful for women tonight because I would not be standing here without them at all. …To me, powerhouse is strength, resilience, it’s coming back when you don’t necessarily want to but you feel like, ‘I’m going to.’ I'm going to fight for this thing that I love to do, and this is something I've wanted to do my whole entire life. There hasn't been another dream for me, there wasn't a day that I wanted to be anything else.”
Wilson said in a previous interview with iHeartCountry that Langley is “kind of like my little sister, in a way, and I see a lot of myself in her. But she’s got this spunk to her that I’m like, ‘there ain’t no stoppin’ this chick,’ which I love to see. She is a go-getter, and she is one of the most talented people. She’s just got it going on. So, I FaceTimed her the morning of the ACMs and was just checking on her. I was like, ‘I know these are stressful days.’ It kind of feels like your wedding day, you know? And she was doing good. She was holding her own. So, I’m proud of her.”
“I’m buddies with Megan Moroney (and) Ella Langley, and to watch their stars just soaring, it’s really, really cool to see,” Wilson previously said at a press event, where she also spoke to well-respected women in country who chose to “pour into me,” including Miranda Lambert, Reba McEntire, Wynonna Judd and Dolly Parton. “And at times, I wanna just pour out as much as I possibly can to them and be like, ‘don’t you miss this moment,’ you know? ‘Be present. Do whatever you gotta do to soak it in and celebrate these times, and then get ready for the next one because it’s going to be right around the corner quicker than you can even realize it just happened.’ So, my advice to them is really just to keep your head down and work hard, but also…acknowledge that their hard work has gotten them to this point…and not letting the voices of the world get them down.”