Riley Green Says He Thought “You Look Like You Love Me” Was “Too Traditional” To Be A Hit At Country Radio

Thankfully, he was wrong. Very wrong.

I think we’ve all heard Riley Green and Ella Langley’s smash hit “You Look Like You Love Me” probably more than we wanted to at this point… it’s a great song, but I have heard it so many times now I don’t think I can listen to it even one more time. From radio, to social media, the song was (and still is) everywhere, and it certainly launched Ella’s career and put her into a new stratosphere in terms of her place in mainstream country.

She co-wrote most of it with Aaron Raitiere, while Riley came up with the words for his second verse later on, after Ella had already cut it as a solo song. She recalled Aaron asking her about her love life during a write, and she told him:

“‘Honestly, I’m at the point where if they look like they love me, I gotta get out of there. It’s just too much for me right now.’ And we giggled at that, and then as songwriters, when you hear something like ‘you look like you love me,’ we’re like, ‘Well there’s a title, You Look Like You Love Me.’

And we just wrote the title down… we wrote the song in 2022, so six months later, we had an afternoon write, he loves to talk about how I brought in this bowl of spaghetti. I made my lunch, brought it in… and we say this is like the luckiest bowl of spaghetti. I think we might get a tattoo with a tiny piece of spaghetti on it.”

They sat down and penned it very quickly, and Ella explained that she was inspired by what she called the “talking country” she grew up on, specifically one of her first favorite songs in David Coe’s “You Never Even Called Me by My Name.” She didn’t think “YLLYLM” would ever even make it onto a record, because they were “just talking,” not really singing, and in terms of the content of the lyrics, it certainly was very different than the typical country cliches with the woman walking up to the man in a role reversal from most country music.

And Riley seems to feel the same way.

In a feature interview with Billboard, he talked about how he grew up on country classics like Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You” and George Jones’ “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” which both include spoken words parts, though those songs are from a different time and in all honesty, it really was a risk for them to put this out as a single, though I think it helped when they started getting such positive feedback on social media.

It went #1 at country radio, and they also won the CMA Award for Musical Event of the Year for “You Look Like You Love Me” last year, in addition to three ACM Awards this year for Single of the Year and Visual Media of the Year, and Music Event of the Year.

But Riley admits he thought the talking verses were probably “too traditional” to be on country radio, adding that he’s “so glad I was wrong”:

“I thought the talking verses were probably too traditional to be a big hit on country radio. and I’m so glad I was wrong.”

Even just a few years ago, I think he would’ve been right and who knows how well the song would’ve done… would it have been the mega viral hit that it is now? Who knows, but thanks to artists like Riley and Ella, that type of music is “cool” again, and has taken over in terms of the popularity in not just the country general, but music in general in many ways right now.

Elsewhere in the interview, BMLG founder and CEO Scott Borchetta noted that Riley is interested in potentially doing some acting, and that’s something that’s in the works, too:

“Riley called me about a year ago and asked about Tim McGraw and how did Tim [get into acting]. That’s something that he is going to spend some energy on, and I think we could see another gear with him in that space.”

He obviously has the looks for it, and you might vs well strike while the iron is hot, so to speak:

“When things are going well, you’ve got to go. ‘Make hay while the sun is shining’ is what Granddaddy would say. And I feel like that’s where I am. Things are going really well.”

Very true words, and I forgot what a good saying that is… I’m gonna have to use that one again soon.

Riley is currently out on the road with Ella opening for him on his Damn Country Music tour, and hopefully, maybe we’ll get to hear some new music sometime this year too. He most recently released Don’t Mind If I Do last fall.

“You Look Like You Love Me”

RILEY GREEN DAMN COUNTRY MUSIC TOUR DATES:

May 30, 2025 – Cincinnati, OH – The Andrew J Brady Music Center
May 31, 2025 – Detroit, MI – Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre at Freedom Hill
June 12, 2025 – Baltimore, MD – Pier Six Pavilion
June 13, 2025 – Wilmington, NC – Live Oak Bank Pavilion
June 14, 2025 – Raleigh, NC – Coastal Credit Union Music Park
June 19, 2025 – Franklin, TN – FirstBank Amphitheater
June 21, 2025 – Huntington, WV – Marshall Health Network Arena
July 24, 2025 – New York, NY – The Rooftop at Pier 17
July 25, 2025 – Boston, MA – MGM Music Hall at Fenway
July 26, 2025 – Gilford, NH – BankNH Pavilion
August 21, 2025 – Bonner, MT – KettleHouse Amphitheater
August 22, 2025 – Idaho Falls, ID – Mountain America Center
August 23, 2025 – Nampa, ID – Ford Idaho Center Amphitheater

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