Miranda Lambert ACM Journey: From First Win to Crowning Ella Langley

The Female Artist of the Year award has been an ACM first for many incredible female country music artists, and in April 2025, Ella Langley learned she was next in line for that honor. In a video clip the ACM shared, a friend and fellow singer shared the good news: Miranda Lambert.

In the heartwarming video message, Lambert called Langely her “soul sister” and “partner in crime.” Langley was clearly touched by winning the award, and it was undoubtedly a special moment for Lambert, too. After all, she won the award herself 18 years ago, when her own career was just getting started.

Lambert Said Her First ACM Award Launched “A Really Cool Journey”

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In an April 2025 interview with the ACM, Lambert reflected on her own New Artist of the Year Award, which she won in 2007. “I think that was just the beginning of a really cool journey,” the singer said. She went on to describe how the validation that comes with winning such an award inspired her to continue on her music path. In the video clip, Carrie Underwood announced Lambert as the winner, giving her an award that she herself won the year before.

Lambert was certainly right about this first ACM award being just the beginning; as Leaf Chronicle shared, she has the most wins of any artist as of this publication, with 37 trophies to her credit. As the outlet also reported, Lambert was surprisingly absent from the nominees list for 2025.

Lambert Has Plenty to Celebrate in 2025

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Lambert will have to live vicariously through Langley when it comes to ACM Awards for 2025, but the singer has plenty of other great reasons to celebrate this year. “Kerosene,” the album that started it all, released on vinyl for the first time ever on April 25. Lambert shared the news of its release with an Instagram post in which she wrote, “I still love it and am so proud of it.”

Earlier in the year, the singer also shared with her Instagram followers that she was joining Morgan Wallen on the road. According to her post, Lambert will appear alongside Wallen at ten performances this summer.