The best mentor you could have.

Earlier this year, Ella Langley took home four ACM awards including New Female Artist of the Year, ACM Single of the Year, ACM Music Event of the Year, and ACM Visual Media of the Year (as an artist and producer) for her hit song “you look like you love me” with Riley Green. She had a huge night, but she’s commented here and there that it was mentally very tough for her, even though it looked from the outside as though she should’ve been on cloud nine.

I have to imagine that it was all extremely overwhelming, and during a recent radio interview, Ella talked about how much Miranda Lambert helped her through it. Ella performed Miranda’s hit “Kerosene” with her during the show, and they also wrote a song together recently which had been on Ella’s “vision board” for a couple years:

“I do, I do them every year. I’ve been doing them with me and my photographer Caylee, and my manager Megan and there’s always one or two extra people in there every year. But we do them around New Year’s Eve it started. This last year we had a show on New Year’s Eve, but I think we did it the day before or after, but yeah, every year I do one and it’s crazy to see the things that are on there.

I had a big picture of Miranda Lambert on there two years ago, and it had a little book next to it about writing and I got to ride with her last last year for the first time and it was just really cool… I even showed it to her, I was like, ‘Don’t think I’m weird. I understand this is weird.’ She was like, ‘That is really weird.’”

Not long after that, Ella found herself onstage performing with one of her musical heroes, and it was a whirlwind experience. Ella had just two minutes to change from her red carpet dress to her onstage outfit, and she said people were putting earrings on her and helping her change so she could be ready to go open the show.

That week leading up to it, Ella and Miranda had done rehearsals together, and Ella explained that Miranda kept reminding her that she deserved to be there, and not to let the imposter syndrome get the best of what was an incredible experience and dream come true:

“Well, the ACM’s were absolutely insane. I had to change into the outfit from my carpet out fit in two minutes. I had two minutes to do that and that was actually insane. I had people putting on earrings on either side, I’m jumping in jeans, putting on a shirt, putting on boots, putting on lipstick.

I mean, it was just nuts… taking my hair down, everything. But we got to do a rehearsal earlier that day, and really that whole week. And she’s someone, I mean, I talked to her yesterday on the phone and she’s always somebody… you know, she’s been here before, and there’s not really a rulebook to everything.

And I think everyone’s experience is much different, but yeah, she can definitely have some advice on, ‘Well, this is what I’ve been doing, and this is how I felt.’ So in a day is massive is performing on the ACMs with somebody you’ve looked up to for so long, she just was very comforting and like, ‘You belong here, you belong here.’ She kept killing the imposter syndrome in my brain.”

It’s so important to have women like this as mentors, especially at this very early stage in Ella’s career, and it sounds like she’s found a real friend in Miranda and at the very least, someone who understands the position she is in, which so few can really relate to.

I imagine it has to be pretty shocking and surreal the first time you have such a big night at a show like that, and while it’s surely exciting, not many artists talk about the harder parts of bursting onto the scene and having so much responsibility thrust upon you like what Ella’s been experiencing since she’s really started blowing up this year and some last year.

I think they did a great job at the ACM’s, and “Kerosene” will forever be iconic:

The full interview: