Gayle on Going Viral With ‘abcdefu’ & Dyeing Her Hair at 3 AM Post Breakup
If you were a teen in the late ’90s and early aughts, chances are you saw a budding pop star at the mall, such as Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. Now, teens can just go on TikTok, belt out their song, and — whether from luck or true talent — have a hit on their hands. As for Gayle, she did a little bit of both. Although the 17-year-old wasn’t even alive during Britney and Christina’s heyday, she’s no stranger to a mall performance.
Last Saturday, I met up with Gayle (one word, like Cher) at Westfield Century City in Los Angeles for her big Afterpay-hosted activation. She was giving a free live performance just a few weeks before her EP release & sold-out tour, complete with green slushies and churros. Now if you’re thinking you have no idea who Gayle is, listen to her song and you’ll know. “Abcdefu” spent weeks at No. 1 on both the Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts. Did I mention she’s only 17?
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This activation is much bigger than the mall performances she’s done in Nashville, TN. But she also has one of the most popular songs in the world right now. Keep reading for more on the refreshing new pop star.
How TikTok Changed Her Life & Career
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I first heard “abcdefu” on TikTok, seeing the biggest stars on the platform signing along. I ask Gayle if she credits TikTok for her success. She does but it was not an overnight success. “I posted “abcdefu” on TikTok every three to four days or almost every day for, like, a year,” she says. “Nothing happened. Nothing. Zero, like literally nothing.” She’ll never know exactly, or which video, made it start to take off but she credits a viral trend of folks translating “abcdefu” into ASL.
It proves persistence pays off. “I think it goes to show, it doesn’t always happen the first time,” she says. “It doesn’t mean it wasn’t necessarily good but it’s hard to get people to pay attention to things, to see things.”
How Her Ex Feels About the Song
Something I’ve always wondered about “abcdefu” is whether her ex is in on the joke or knows the song is about him. “I think he knows, I don’t know,” she says. “I blocked him on everything in February and I released the song in August. Oh my God, it’s the year block-iversary! I don’t even know if they’ve heard it.” (Of course they have.)
How She Puts Her Own Experiences Into Her Music
“The EP is about my life and my experiences,” she says about songs such as “‘ur just horny” — that she won’t be singing today because there are small children at the mall. “I don’t know the difference between attention and people caring so when people pay attention to me, I think they care and I make dumb decisions and sleep with my friends because they care about me,” she says. “But then they don’t. They just want to get in my pants and I’m sad about it. And then I get really mad. And I write “‘ur just horny.'”
She tells me about how she used to have “low standards” and got into “shitty relationships” where she wasn’t treated how she deserved. If you know the lyrics to “abcdefu,” this will sound familiar.
Who Inspires Her Beauty Looks
Looking at Gayle, she has split-toned hair (one side is brunette and one is redder), pants that are plaid on one side and herringbone-print on the other and two different colors of Converse Chuck Taylors. It’s safe to say she’s into the trend. She credits Melanie Martinez and Sia beauty inspirations. “I first did it myself,” she admits. “I dyed my hair black with Overtone right after the breakup.” When it rinsed out, she went for an orange shade, which turned a little redder than she’d hoped.
Then one day at 3 a.m., she was “really fucking sad” and dyed half her head black. The problem is, she thought she had a good middle part when in reality, it was totally lopsided. “It was so bad but you know what? I felt like a new bitch,” she says. She eventually went to a hair colorist for help and I’d say, it all worked out in the end.
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