Music

“Don’t I know you from somewhere?” a curious fan asks ­BigXthaPlug as the rapper and his entourage are escorted through Coachella’s artist entrance.
BigX has probably heard that phrase a lot lately. From ­Beyoncé using the good-naturedly boastful “The Largest” as part of an interlude on the Cowboy Carter tour to earning a top five hit on the Billboard Hot 100 for his Bailey Zimmerman collaboration, “All the Way,” the Dallas native radiates Texas-sized star power.

And while BigX’s booming voice and larger-than-life stage presence have helped him ­become one of rap’s most recognizable newcomers, the 26-year-old born Xavier Landum is preparing to take his outsized charm across genre lines with his highly anticipated ­country-trap project.

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“Everybody is realizing I’m not just a rapper — I’m an artist,” BigX says while reclining in the cavernous living room of the Indian Wells, Calif., estate he’s calling home for Coachella, as vitamins flow through an IV drip into his beefy bicep. “I feel like it’s not [me] trying to take over somebody’s situation. It’s more like, ‘Hey, I’m an artist and I want to see if I can do this as well.’ ”

BigX landed on the country scene in 2022 with his platinum-certified breakout hit, “Texas,” and its music video, in which he threw on a cowboy hat while rapping over bluesy acoustic slide guitar. Some believed BigX had country roots, having been raised in the 214 — but the self-described “city boy” bluntly admits he “never listened to country music in my life.” Instead, he grew up on the mix of rap, soul and R&B, ranging from Lil Wayne to 2Pac to The Isley Brothers, that his parents played.

But as his career picked up steam, some of his biggest new fans turned out to be country superstars like Morgan Wallen, Jelly Roll (who just brought BigX out during his 2025 Stagecoach set), Post Malone and Luke Combs. “So many people from the country world said they f–ked with me and wanted to do something with me,” says BigX, who was genuinely surprised by the crossover appeal.

The seeds were planted for a country project. “We buckled down and did it before the next person would do it,” he says. BigX’s right-hand producers — Tony Coles, Bandplay and Charley Cooks — collected different sounds to create a perfect country-trap blend that remained true to BigX’s signature soulfulness.

“I wouldn’t say my version of country music is country music. It’s kind of mixing the two sounds,” he explains. “I’m rapping on a bunch of country-style beats, but it’s not just country. I’m not on there sounding like no cowboy; I’m rapping. I’m just doing it from a country standpoint. I’m not saying it was easy — it definitely was a challenge.”

Among those challenges: For a country project, BigX felt he needed a different mentality from the one he has had while recording his upcoming rap album. “I was just coming out of my sad era and I don’t really drink liquor like that, [so] it was kind of harder to do,” he admits.

But the early returns on his country gamble have been both immediate and massive: First single “All the Way” debuted at No. 4 on the Hot 100 in April and became BigX’s first Hot Country Songs No. 1.

“All the Way” was a year-and-a-half in the making before its release. After hearing the rapper was working on a country project, Zimmerman thought it would be “insane” to work with BigX. A few months later, “All the Way” was in his inbox.

“It didn’t feel like we were trying to be something. It just felt right and a great song,” the rising country artist says, adding that he hopes “All the Way” encourages other artists from different genres to team up. “It always felt off to me that we wouldn’t go have fun with Snoop Dogg or go have fun with Eminem like Jelly [Roll] did.”

While BigX considers the project done on his end, his team is still awaiting verses from potential collaborators and doesn’t want to shut the door on any 11th-hour tweaks. As it is, BigX’s country rodeo is already shaping up to be a star-studded affair, with Jelly Roll, Post Malone, Shaboozey and more onboard.

“I didn’t think I was going to get as much positive feedback as I’ve been getting,” he says of the wide-ranging approval he has received from the country community, including being honored as Billboard’s 2025 Country Power Players Innovator. “A lot of people, I feel like, wouldn’t even accept that. A lot of people don’t even accept people of my color even trying to be in that lane. Just to be accepted the way it’s being accepted and everyone wanting to work with me — I’m grateful.”

This story appears in the May 31, 2025, issue of Billboard.

At this year’s Academy of Country Music (ACM) Awards, Ella Langley was the biggest winner of the night — but she can still recall fighting to perform in sweaty, hole-in-the-wall clubs in her home state of Alabama.
“I was the only woman, really, in that scene,” the 26-year-old artist says. “I was living with two other artists who were getting gigs over me. I was like, ‘I play just as good as they do. My band’s just as good as theirs. Give me a chance.’ There were times I’d have to send a couple of extra emails, but once they let me in [the venues], they would want me back. It made me work harder. But I grew up with a lot of strong women, so I’ve never looked at myself as anything other than equal.”

In the male-dominated country genre, Langley’s determination — along with her blockbuster single, the flirty, recitative Riley Green collaboration, “you look like you love me” — has helped usher her to the forefront of a new generation of country artists. Her lyrics are frank and unfiltered, her music a blend of neo-traditional country with a folk-rock edge, and she approaches her shows with the swagger of someone who battled for the attention of fans in those sweaty clubs and won.

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Onstage at the ACM Awards, while accepting the trophy for music event of the year for “you look like you love me” — one of five awards that she received — Langley again acknowledged the power of following her vision and instincts. “Everyone said this song was going to be the most underperforming song on the record,” Langley said of the duet — which ultimately defied expectations by topping Billboard’s Country Airplay chart in December and becoming her first entry on the Billboard Hot 100.

The video for “you look like you love me” has an Old West saloon vibe, but Langley has cultivated her own version of vintage-rock style that has drawn comparisons to 1970s music icons like Linda Ronstadt and Jessi Colter.

“I’m a tomboy [who] grew up with brothers, but I love to do my makeup and get dressed up,” says Langley, who can often be found in the forest deer hunting when she’s not onstage. “Jessi Colter was the outlaw of the outlaws. She didn’t put up with s–t, and I don’t either. I think the things they wrote about were very honest. That’s all I’m trying to do — write songs that mean something.”

That goal has roots in her Hope Hull, Ala., upbringing. Growing up in a musically inclined family, Langley says she learned to read by singing from a hymnal and became a disciple of classic artists such as Ronstadt and Stevie Nicks, but also modern ones including Miranda Lambert. (Langley performed Lambert’s “Kerosene” with her at the ACM Awards.)

Langley’s love of nature led her to study forestry at Auburn University, but she ultimately decided to pursue music, refining her performance and songwriting skills and honing her craft. She relocated to Nashville in 2019 and signed with Columbia Records/SAWGOD in June 2022, releasing the song “Country Boy’s Dream Girl” later that year and then following it with her EP Excuse the Mess in 2023. She wrote songs recorded by Elle King and collaborated with Koe Wetzel and Kameron Marlowe, but broke through in her own right with “you look like you love me,” which she began to work on with songwriter Aaron Raitiere while on tour opening for fellow Alabama native Green in early 2024.

Langley’s musical chemistry with Green, who contributed the song’s second verse and joined her on vocals, was undeniable — as was the catchy chorus. The track officially arrived in June, and the pair performed it on tour. When she issued her debut full-length album, Hungover, in August, “love me” surged on the charts. The 14-song set highlighted her unapologetic brand of songwriting, fusing it with rock’n’roll ­acuity (“Girl Who Drank Wine,” “I Blame the Bar”) while also conveying raw vulnerability (“People Change”).

This fall, Langley will extend her headlining Still Hungover Tour with additional dates, and she’s at work on a new album, which could arrive next year. “It’s unlike anything I’ve put out, and it’s the most me I’ve ever felt on a record,” she says of her forthcoming music. She dreams of one day adding acting and writing cookbooks to her résumé (“My kind of cooking is redneck cooking”) — but for the moment, music is her focus. Though it’s too early to tell whether the album will feature duets, “There will be things this year with collaborations that will appease the fans,” she teases.

Whatever shape the new album takes, one thing is certain: Billboard‘s 2025 Country Power Players Rising Star will keep making music her way.

“Where’s the damn rulebook that people keep telling me about?” she says. “I have yet to see it.”

This story appears in the May 31, 2025, issue of Billboard.