Although the ceremony for the 2025 ACM Awards is still a few days away, Ella Langley and Riley Green are early winners for their breakthrough hit “You Look Like You Love Me.” The surprise was revealed while the pair were on stage at Country Thunder in Tampa, Florida, Friday night (May 2) — with the reveal coming from none other than country icon and 18-time ACM Awards host Reba McEntire.
A special video from Reba, in which she congratulated the two artists as winners of this year’s award for visual media of the year (for their “You Look Like You Love Me” music video), played during Green’s set at the festival on Friday. Langley receives honors for both artist and director in the category.
“Sorry to interrupt, but I have some big news,” Reba teased in the clip that announced their win. “Congratulations to Ella and Riley! Can’t wait to celebrate with you both in Frisco!”
Langley learned of her first Academy of Country Music award just a week ago, during her set at Rock the Country in Knoxville, Tennessee.
News of that first win — for new female artist of the year — arrived courtesy of friend and co-writer Miranda Lambert via video message. (Lambert, who called Langley “my soul sister in country music and a partner in crime,” was named winner in the same category 18 years ago.)
Langley’s the most-nominated artist at the 60th ACM Awards.
With two awards to her name already, several remain up for grabs for the singer-songwriter at this year’s ceremony: female artist of the year, plus single of the year, song of the year and music event of the year (all for her “You Look Like You Love Me” duet with Green). For song of the year, the two are nominated as both artists and songwriters.
The twangy, flirty barroom duet, released in 2024, made it to No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart, No. 7 on Hot Country Songs and No. 30 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The 2025 ACM Awards will stream live globally on Prime Video and the Amazon Music channel on Twitch on Thursday, May 8 at 8 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. CT / 5 p.m. PT from the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas. Expect to tune in for two-and-a-half hours to catch the full show.
The Academy of Country Music Awards is the longest-running country music awards show, with its inaugural year being 1966.
The ACM Awards are produced by Dick Clark Productions, which is owned by Penske Media Eldridge, a joint venture between Eldridge Industries and Billboard parent company Penske Media.