This year’s political race has somehow continued to find itself intertwined in the country music scene.
In an effort to appeal to younger generations and capitalize on the ever-growing popularity of TikTok trends, politicians have increasingly turned to using popular artists’ music in their social media content, and even making appearances at their concerts.
One of the most frequent users of this strategy is President Donald Trump, whose affiliated social media accounts, including his personal page, the official White House account, and his campaign account, @TeamTrump, regularly incorporate trending music into their posts.
Each page seems to roll out new videos almost daily, pairing clips of Trump with whatever audio is currently making the rounds on social media. However, the strategy hasn’t always gone over smoothly, with artists like Noah Kahan, Taylor Swift, Kacey Musgraves, and more expressing objections to the use of their music or removing their audio from the videos completely.
And in case you haven’t noticed, another big name the page seems to love to feed off of the massive success of is Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper, Ella Langley. As if the numerous posts featuring Langley’s hits such as “Be Her” and “Butterfly Season” weren’t enough proof already, @TeamTrump has officially clarified today that Trump is, in fact, an Ella Fella.
Today, the campaign page posted a video featuring the Alabama native’s hit, “Choosin’ Texas,” featuring footage of Trump throwing hats to the crowd during one of his recent rally stops in Corpus Christi and Lubbock.
The back-to-back stops yesterday (Oct. 27) marked Trump’s third time speaking in the Lone Star state this month, hoping to pull support for attorney general running for Senate, Ken Paxton. As of right now, polls are showing a tight race between Paxton and his Democratic opponent, James Talrico, who’s closely ahead, 50% to 45%, according to Univision/YouGov (meaning Texas could potentially have its first blue wave in the Senate race in 33 years since its last democratic senator, Bob Krueger, was appointed in 1993).
Hence why Team Trump’s “Choosin’ Texas” clip also throws shade at the Democratic candidate with video text that states, “Two Things are true: 1. Trump is an Ella Fella” and “2. Talafreako is not an Ella Fella.” As the Texas General Election nears, with less than a week of voting left until Tuesday, November 3, the caption also doubles down: “Texas is choosing RED!”
For a little more context as to why Team Trump may assume Talarico’s “not an Ella Fella,” earlier this month the 37-year-old candidate popped up at the Austin City Limits music festival, followed by a guest appearance at Kacey Musgraves’ show in Dallas. Her viral snapshot, taking a selfie alongside him with her bedazzled Dallas top, of course, then spurred Kristi Noem’s massive tweet, which stated, “I’ll take @ellalangleymusic over Kacey Musgraves any day. And if I’m choosin’ Texas, I’ll take Ken Paxton over James Talarico.”
By now I’m sure we’ve all seen Kacey’s savage clap back, responding on X, “I don’t think you have a dog in this fight, but if you did, you would have shot it.”
As for Langley, she seemingly chose to distance herself from the controversy, removing her tag from Noem’s original post and later liking one of Kacey Musgraves’ recent Instagram posts. Many fans interpreted the move as a subtle indication that she wasn’t interested in seeing women in country pitted against one another.
Likewise, despite ongoing online speculation and repeated claims that the “Dandelion” singer is “MAGA,” Langley has largely kept her political views private and has not publicly confirmed any party affiliation or endorsement