Riley Green Talks Sharing Success With Ella Langley For "you look like you love me" & More | ACM Awards 2025 - video Dailymotion

Billboard

Riley Green caught up with Billboard's Lyndsey Havens & Tetris Kelly at the ACM Awards 2025.

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00:00I wore my tall heels, no, it's okay, it's so good to see you.

00:02Good to see you, how y'all doing?

00:03We're good, man, how are you?

00:04Good.

00:05So, for me, looking, you know, on the outside looking in,

00:08you've had sort of a surreal year or two, I would say.

00:11How does it feel for you, though?

00:13Have you taken time to reflect?

00:15Well, it's been a little bit of a blur, but, you know,

00:17it's just awesome that a lot of things seem to be working.

00:20As a songwriter at first, it's always cool when people are really relating to the music.

00:24Super happy for Ella and her success,

00:26and I'm lucky to have her out on the road with me on this tour this year,

00:28so we get to play these hit songs together.

00:30I mean, eight nominations, the most nominations, I think, tonight for Ella,

00:33so how does it feel to kind of be intertwined with her legacy in that way?

00:36It's great, man.

00:36I mean, I remember when she was opening for me in small arenas

00:40and then had her on tour last year.

00:41You Look Like You Love Me happened, and it's still happening.

00:44Don't Mind If I Do is a huge song for us we did together on my album,

00:47and she's on tour with me now, and actually it's just great to kind of see her success

00:51and be able to kind of share it with her.

00:53Totally.

00:53You know, we are not songwriters ourselves,

00:55so tell us a little bit about how rare it is to actually find that magic with someone

01:00and then for it to sustain.

01:02Well, it just shows I don't know what a hit is

01:04because I thought that song was probably a little too traditional.

01:07I mean, talking verses.

01:08That's very old school, you know, but it blew up overnight, it seemed like,

01:13and it was all over the Internet.

01:15And like I said, I think it's more motivating than anything

01:17because it just lets you know that people are really buying into what you're doing.

01:20And me and Ella are from a very similar upbringing.

01:22She's from Alabama as well, just down the road.

01:24So I think we had a lot of the same influences growing up.

01:27What were some of those, would you say?

01:29Merle Haggard, George Jones.

01:31She's definitely an old soul too.

01:34I grew up listening to that with my granddaddy Buford,

01:35so I hope it comes out in our music.

01:37I hear it.

01:38Yeah, what is your Mount Rushmore, you would say, of country music?

01:41Well, Reba's got to be on it.

01:43I mean, I saw her earlier and I forgot who I was for a second.

01:45Most of the most.

01:45Yeah.

01:46I love that you get starstruck too at things like this.

01:48There's a handful of people, but Reba's on that list.

01:51Merle Haggard, definitely George Jones, George Strait.

01:56It's a long list.

01:58Yeah.

01:59And do you have any new artists on repeat right now?

02:01Yeah, everybody loves Zach Topp.

02:03Man, how cool is that he's bringing that traditional sound back.

02:07And there's just, the crazy thing about now is it seems like they pop up every day.

02:10There's so many new artists out there because there's so many ways to get music out now.

02:13And everybody kind of has the chance to shine if they can write a good song and perform it.

02:18So it's a fun time for country music.

02:20And I mean, I guess it's not the first time because I think about even like Florida Georgia Lineboys back in the day were like kind of rapping.

02:24But how do you feel about like kind of hip-hop joining with country right now with Big X to Plug and Shabuzzi and so many other artists?

02:30Well, you know, I look at it like I do like Yellowstone and what they did for country music.

02:34I mean, it brought country and western into mainstream and really made it popular everywhere.

02:38I toured in Australia for the first time last year and had sold out shows all over the place.

02:41We did the biggest country show in Europe at Hyde Park with Morgan last year.

02:45So for me, I'd say it's making country something that's popular through all genres.

02:49So it's only helping us.

02:50Thank you, man.

02:51I mean, global, you know, more and more so.

02:54When you and Ella are touring together, do you have any pre- or post-show rituals that we might not know about?

03:00Well, we don't have a pre-show drink.

03:02But now during the show, during You Like You Love Me, we always have a shot of tequila.

03:06So I made sure it was later in the show so I could still finish what I needed to do.

03:10But, you know, she's so creative, too.

03:13And we usually sit down and try to come up with some new way we can make the show a little bit better.

03:16And, you know, when you have two big songs like that, she's a big part of the show, you know.

03:20Yeah, that's the best part.

03:21But then what I got to ask you is the follow-up.

03:23Blanco, Reposado.

03:25Ooh.

03:26I'm a Blanco guy.

03:27Okay, okay, cool.

03:28But I will say I've drank cheap tequila before, too.

03:31Yeah, we've all been there.

03:32Yeah, we've all been there.

03:33Yeah, we've all been there.

03:34Yeah, we've all been there.

03:35Yeah, we've all been there.

03:36Yeah, we've all been there.

03:37Yeah, we've all been there.

03:38Yeah, we've all been there.

03:39Yeah, we've all been there.

03:40Yeah, we've all been there.

03:41Yeah, we've all been there.

Riley Green Talks Sharing Success With Ella Langley For "you look like you love me" & More | ACM Awards 2025

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