alt-j

MAGGIE MONTGOMERY - NASHVILLE, TN - MARCH 2022

A STUDY OF POP SENSATION: GAYLE

For many 17-year-olds, life is simple: school, work, study, weekend, repeat. That is not the life of rising singing-songwriting sensation Taylor Gayle Rutherford, better known as GAYLE.

For her, life is filled with writing, recording, interviewing, touring, and more the average kid could only dream of. Her life wasn’t always like this, though. It wasn’t until attending her first concert, Aretha Franklin nonetheless, at the age of seven that this began to change. Despite already having an affinity for music, it was the legend who inspired GAYLE to make music her career.

“She’s who made me want to do music, the way she made me feel,” she said. “I felt like I had never felt before. I was just like ‘That is what I want to do for the rest of my life. “

Even though the two couldn’t be more different sonically, GAYLE instantly connected to Franklin’s music, which we have come to know as simply iconic.

“I love her intensity. She’s very intense and her soul was very inspiring to me. Her attitude as a performer and an artist I really love,” GAYLE said. “I’m originally from Texas, so I was always surrounded by country music, and hearing something different, I thought ‘Whoa, that is fucking amazing.’”

As she grew, more artists influenced her, helping her tailor her style like Julia Michaels, Alanis Morrissette, and other powerhouse women who created sounds she could put a unique flair on. However, the soft notes and lyrics of Michaels mixed with the strong vocals of Morrissette aren’t all we have to thank for GAYLE’s genre-defying songs topping charts today. We also have to appreciate that pop smashes played a massive role in her musical discovery.

“I loved pop music,” she said. “I was obsessed with The Chainsmokers. I think I was probably 12 or 13 when ‘Closer’ was out and oh my god, the ‘hookiness’ of that song and their music I was so obsessed with because they had this way of putting earworms into their songs.”

In a truly magical fashion, GAYLE created her perfect musical concoction: the soulfulness of Franklin, the catchiness of The Chainsmokers, the depth of Michaels’ lyrics, and the spirit of badass rockers like Morrissette.

However, creating this blend didn’t happen overnight. Though it may come as a shock, GAYLE’s original

background is in country music. Hailing from Texas and later discovered in Nashville by Kara DioGuardi, CEO of Arthouse Music Publishing who later signed her, it was her original plan.

“I was homeschooled and genuinely what I was surrounded by, specifically in Texas, was the good girl, ‘Yes ma’am, no ma’am,’ socially acceptable thing,” she said.

Where she ended up is vastly different and not what you would expect from that world.

How did she go from the girl next door to the loud, vocal, and even angry teen who’s not afraid to write a “fuck you” song about their ex? Unlike how creating her distinct style took time, drawing influence throughout her life, she just woke up one day and vowed to make a change.

“I was a really judgmental person when I was younger because I didn’t understand how the world works,” GAYLE said. “I would look at people who would drink or do drugs or have sex before marriage or wear crop tops, and I genuinely judged those people…Then, I just honestly started growing up.”

Realizing she wasn’t happy and was trying to please others, she decided to start doing things differently. As she matured, GAYLE wanted to do those same things she judged others for.

“I realized I was judgmental because I didn’t understand those feelings. I didn’t know why people were feeling the way they felt,” she said. “I didn’t know why anybody did that because I’d never experienced that before.”

Encountering these feelings, she started becoming a different version of herself.

“That also made me want to be more outspoken about the things I personally believe should be accepted, or at least have less shame around it,” GAYLE said. “It’s a big part of who I am now because I never want to be that ignorant again.”

Proving she is like other teenagers in some ways, as their life experiences affected who they are, so did GAYLE’s. What she wanted when she was 12 is not what she wants anymore.

“I used to think about who I was going to be when I was older and the things I wanted. I woke up one day and realized that all of that completely changed over time,” she said. “Especially with music, I was always dead set on [country music], and that hadn’t changed. Then I woke up one day and was like, I didn’t do any of that, and I’m, honestly, happier because of it.”

Even though she shared that her life is still a mess, she seems to have a lot figured out, definitely more than us at 17.

She brought this energy of being a woman living life as she pleases and speaking out to her viral song “abcdefu”, which has received many accolades, including spending 19 weeks at the time of writing on the “Billboard Global 200” where it hit number one. It also peaked at number three on Billboard’s “The Hot 100” where it placed for 18 weeks at the time of writing. If you haven’t heard this song, you’re clearly living under a rock.

While GAYLE may never fully understand why it resonates so much with listeners because she can’t experience it from their perspective, she believes it is partly due to being openly angry – something many people struggle with, herself included for a while.

“There’s so much shit to be mad about in your personal life and the world,” GAYLE said. “If you sit and think about it, most of the time people have something that makes them mad. For a really long time, I didn’t let myself get angry because I thought that made me an angry person, but not feeling your anger is what makes you an angry person in the long run because you don’t emotionally process any of it...So, I just really wanted ‘abcdefu’ to be an open space where people can be angry.”

Beyond that, the song was filled with words we’ve all thought of but were scared to say to someone’s face. Even though GAYLE didn’t directly say all that to their face, she said that being able to say it in a song helped her know that she could say it to someone’s face if she wanted to. Either way, there is no way he didn’t hear the song, and he definitely knows who it’s about!

Reminiscing on days spent daydreaming about the song hitting number one on the radio with her best friend she wrote it with, GAYLE expressed what it felt like when her manifestations came true.

“I remember when it hit three million streams and being like, ‘Whoa, that’s cool,’“ she said. “Especially because a song I had out before had like 500,000 streams in a year, and I was so excited about that. Then when ‘abcdefu’ in three or four months had three million, it was so exciting. I could not have guessed or known in any way. I was hoping. But even if it wouldn’t have done that, I still would have been happy with what it had done.”

Reaching milestone after milestone, GAYLE can tell her childhood self that her dreams of going number one or making the Billboard charts came true, even if she didn’t expect it to happen so quickly.

“I’m so grateful that it gives me more confidence in the goal of making this happen again, knowing it has happened before. It seemed so unreachable six months ago,” she said.

Released after “abcdefu,” her next single “ur just horny” achieved great success as well, accumulating over 11 million streams on Spotify alone. Again, she proved that raw emotion is the guide to the hearts of music lovers everywhere.

Her leading goal in creating music, honesty is something she values and puts into every song by relying on personal experiences, a refreshing sensation when it can seem like other artists are just selling.

Her debut EP, which wasn’t out at the time of our interview, is titled a study of the human experience volume one, alluding to those emotions at the forefront of her first two singles as creating a moment for open discussion on life.

“It’s definitely a study of my own experience — my personal experiences and everything that I’ve done in my life, but it also is a collaborative project,” GAYLE said about her first body of accumulated music. “I worked with other writers and producers, and they put themselves in the music as well. It’s not particularly just a study of my human experience; it’s a study of the human experiences involved with the project.”

Adding fun twists to her work, GAYLE is devoted to treating each piece more experimentally, whether sonically, collaboratively, or topically. Like the title says, it is all a study. Her favorite song from the EP proves her ability to defy being just one kind of artist — not being what many would expect from her.

Talking about her song “kiddie pool”, Gayle said:

“Somebody asked me a question like ‘That seems like such a different place for you sonically; how did you get to that place of wanting to experiment with yourself?’ It’s funny because I wrote that song before any other songs on the project. I wrote that when I was 15 with my best friend Sarah Davis who was 18. It was about six months to a year before we wrote ‘abcdefu’ – I was madly in love with my boyfriend who we ended up writing it about. I loved him so much, and I wanted to tell him, and that was a scary thing. It’s such a vulnerable thing being like, ‘Hey, I’m in love with you.’ So, that song is about experiencing love for the first time and young love and admitting that to a person.”

Showing that there are many sides to her, she proves that her EP is not about taking her one sound and running with it. It’s about showing evolution to her listeners, something that they

“My biggest thing is I hope people know my music is a safe space to feel anything you want,” GAYLE said. “If you listen to my songs and you get angry, great. If you listen to my songs and you get happy or sad, or if you feel nothing at all. Think what you want to think and feel what you want to feel. Put on whatever you want to put on. It’s your choice. You can listen to it and use it in your life any way you want.”

Currently touring with three shows under her belt by the time of the interview, GAYLE shared that she was performing unreleased songs, including ones not found on the EP, which are contenders for a later venture. While most time on tour is spent working, she dedicates a lot of time to being an avid foodie, embracing foods from each environment. While that may not seem like much, existing in various capacities is a special thing to do, and existing at all isn’t easy.

In a poetic manner, GAYLE shared that sentiment in a profound message:

“Don’t be too hard on yourself. Existing as a human being is really difficult. It’s a difficult thing to maintain. So, if you just survived, that’s a success.”

How did a 17-year-old become so candid and wise at such a young age? Well, we’re still trying to figure out her secrets. Follow along on the journey with us, so we can all learn how to be more like GAYLE and say what she did best — “abcdefu.”