Photo Credit: Acacia Evans
Written by: Oliver Heffron
GAYLE is a fucking superstar. In a matter of months, the teenage pop singer ascended to the top of the charts around the world with her breakout single “abcdefu,” an impossibly catchy yet intimately charming ode to “fucking off” every tether to a toxic ex except for of course, “their dog.” The unbelievably catchy, fuck-centered chorus of “abcdefu” resonates so intimately and uniquely because it’s not simply a righteous outburst at a trifling past-lover. It’s a jubilant and liberating expression of self-respect and dignity in the face of unnecessary animosity; taking the subversive, self-loving, and humorous high road when somebody you once cared about tries to use that emotional vulnerability against you.
Sent into the stratosphere through social media, the track introduced the world to Gayle’s dynamic voice and empowering lyricism, which rallies against antiquated gender constraints and expectations of female pop singers with an expletive agency, yearning to contemplate the messy contradictions of attraction and love with songs that confront the raw potency of love without constraint. Following a series of “abcdefu” remixes highlighting her musical versatility, GAYLE released her first EP, a study of the human experience, vol.1, an efficient and potent showcase of the rising Nashville star’s compelling, personal and powerful formula for crafting edgy pop-anthems. GAYLE’S stunning voice, undeniable melodies, and unique perspective make her one of the most exciting artists coming out of Nashville today, reminding the world that the city’s musical powerhouse extends far past the borders of traditional country music. In a recent interview with The Nuance, GAYLE explains the surreal experience of suddenly being shot to the top of the global charts:
“It's really funny because I don't feel any different as a human being. I definitely have like things to be happy and excited about in ways that I didn't necessarily before, but it doesn’t guarantee you internal happiness. I wish life is that easy where success can guarantee you internal happiness, but it just doesn’t; life doesn’t work like that. I will say there’s times where there’s a shitty day or a minor inconvenience and I’m like, at least my song is number one on the radio, to keep me in check and keep me happy and grateful, for sure.”
GAYLE, born Taylor Gayle Rutherford, grew up in Plano, Texas, idealizing singers like Aretha Franklin while dreaming of creating music herself. When GAYLE was 12, her mother moved with her to Nashville to chase that passion, and GAYLE set out to pave a lane for herself in writing and performing country music. GAYLE quickly put in the work, constantly improving her songwriting skills and performing at open nights and music competitions throughout the city: “You know, I’ve done the open nights and the songwriting competitions. I’ve done the hours on Broadway…and all that shit’s important at the time. You might not always realize it, but looking back, I can see everything I did that helped me get to the place I am today.” Gayle holds a deep appreciation for the city’s musical community and songwriting traditions, which molded the artist she is today:
“I think there's so much more importance in the songwriting community and the writers round performance community in Nashville. I think that's so important for developing artists, and somebody who just like wants to work on their craft and want to work on collaboration and just like continuously grow their sound and grow themselves as a performer. So I genuinely think Nashville is like the place to go and the place to develop as an artist and a writer.”
Working with talented singer-songwriters throughout the city, GAYLE learned from their varying approaches to writing music how every artist values things differently: “I've been with songwriters where they really value like melodies and like being more like general with concepts … Or, for other people, it’s all about specifics in lyrics…it’s just been really interesting and fun seeing the different perspectives of consistent hit songwriters and how it works differently for every single one. Everyone has their own formula.”
Navigating the music city as an aspiring young country singer, GAYLE ended up finding her inspiration and avenue for expression in a different genre: “I started out with country music and I felt like there were more rules and things that I had to abide by that I didn't necessarily particularly have to in Pop. That’s when I started kind of discovering the edge in pop music that I really enjoyed.”
GAYLE has taken that edge she found and sharpened it to a pop-katana, finding her formula in melodically infectious lyrical expressions of the volatile, sexual and explicit emotional reality of adolescence without the expected corporate sanitization that usually comes with a number 1 artist. a study of the human experience, vol.1 explores the nasty emotional residue leftover from impulsive acts of attraction with striking clarity and vulnerability.
Like the keys descending down dissonant steps to a deep harmony in the first moments of the project’s intro, “luv starved,” GAYLE synthesizes moments of sexual and romantic discord into poignant contemplations about love and attraction. GAYLE both looks inward and out, both eviscerating the manipulative impulses of other’s late-night approaches with the guitar-driven “ur just horny,” while revealing the internal anxieties and nagging thoughts that come from those moments when the lines of friendship and romance are blurred with the incredibly catchy “sleeping with my friends.” She also frequently frames the betrayal, manipulation, cynicism, and loneliness that accompanies acts of impulses as a universal, destructive consequence, especially on these hauntingly insightful lyrics from the groovy collaboration “e-z (feat. UPSAHL & Blu DeTiger):” “Cause ride or dies / Turn to sex and lies / No, we don’t commit too much / We’re power tripping, loving it / ‘Cause that’s the way we do it / Glorify our problems, but we never solve ‘em / We’re too busy acting like we know too much / Faking love and fucking up our friendships.” “kiddie pool” slows and sweetens the pace, highlighting a soiree of wonderful vocal harmonies manifesting a sweet sentiment about seeking deep emotional connection in a surface-level world with a fitting touch of humor: “Don’t want kiddie pools / I’m a fool / I want oceans / On my tippy toes / Hold your noes / Fuck your floaties.”
Fresh off her first major headlining show in Nashville, and a new music video for “luv starved,” GAYLE is quickly becoming one of the brightest stars emerging from the music city. Despite the sudden success at a young age, GAYLE is incredibly well adjusted, describing her new experience with a vastly large social media following with pragmatic realism, understanding how it’s helped grow her music and career while also understanding the daily difficulties that come with an increased amount of followers criticizing what you do.
“It's such a blessing and t's such an amazing way to like connect with people and get to know them for them to get to know you and to show people your music and see if they hate it or not. But sometimes people are assholes, and like sometimes you just don't want to deal with that. So like that's just the way the world works.”
Finding a family in the local pop and alternative scene, GAYLE sees potential in its underappreciation: “there are more people doing pop music and alternative genres other than just country music in Nashville, and people don't always realize that, there's power in being underestimated because nobody sees it coming. I think Nashville, they have a bit of that. And I'm really excited to even just see how Nashville is growing within the next five to ten years.”
While excited about the future for other genres in the community, looking back at her past, GAYLE sees the most important change Nashville needs to see is more appreciation and space for its talented, undervalued female singers and songwriters in the country music industry.
“I think, more importantly, country music needs to give space to women. … My heart just didn't feel particularly called to do country music. And that's honestly something that I almost had a privilege in, because I see these women who have this call to do country music, and they love country music but country music doesn't always love them back, and it just breaks my heart.”
GAYLE is impossible not to root for. Her music shines a brave, honest light into the difficult and unprecedented emotional reality of love and sex for young people in the social media era. Going forward, GAYLE is focused on continually improving and “becoming the best performer and writer that I possibly can.” While grateful for the number 1 song and the sudden success, GAYLE keeps working out of pure love and lifelong dedication to music, both her own and the community around her’s: “at the end of the day for me, it's not about like, positions on a chart. It's about the people that I connect with and like that's what I want to keep continuously doing with my music.” We can’t wait for whatever comes next from Nashville’s favorite emo-alphabet girl.