GAYLE: “I’m gonna be a bitch sometimes…” (12/7 at The Foundry w/ Winnetka Bowling League)

“The biggest thing to know is I’m a 17-year-old girl and things are gonna change in my life.  I’m gonna be a bitch sometimes because people piss me off,...

“The biggest thing to know is I’m a 17-year-old girl and things are gonna change in my life.  I’m gonna be a bitch sometimes because people piss me off, I’m gonna fall in love…  My goal is to keep continuing my life and let that inspire my music,” says GAYLE.  That sentiment makes sense, considering that the singer/songwriter recently released her Atlantic Records debut, “abcdefu,” a hyper-sassy breakup anthem written as a response to the very-possibly-soon-to-be pop star finding out her ex was talking smack about her.  The accompanying music video even features GAYLE and her besties, decked out in the height of 1997’s tween angst fashion, sneaking into said ex’s parents’ house (Remember, they’re all still teens!) to flip off family photos, give his dog a shower, and bake him a nice “F U” cake, which they quickly splatter all over the rents’ kitchen.  The whole thing resembles a TV edit of something by Larry Clark or Harmony Korine… which kind of just adds to the aforementioned sentiment.  So, it was to my surprise that, during a recent phone chat with GAYLE, upon asking her her favorite albums, she tells me, “I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You — that has “Respect” and “A Change is Gonna Come,” and, of course, the title track – and Adele’s 19.  Those two just because of their voices.  I started singing when I was seven and started writing when I was 10, but I was always drawn to those power voices.”

During the course of our chat GAYLE proved to be notably more mature than her latest single would lead one to believe (which was both reassuring and, to be honest, a little disappointing…), but she also admits to being exceptionally enthralled by a number of recent releases by artists certainly capable of matching her levels of sass: Sasha Sloan’s Only Child, Billie Eilish’s dont smile at me, Olivia Rodrigo’s “Déjà Vu,” UPSAHL’s Lady Jesus (“She’s so great!  She’s spectacular!”), and Julia Michaels’ “All Your Exes” (“I was listening to it while driving and I almost shit myself it was so good!”)  And while GAYLE certainly hasn’t attained the same recognition as these other ladies just yet, she is hitting some milestones, including FM radio airplay: “My song played on the radio yesterday in Dallas, Texas, where I’m from, on [sings the call letters] 106.1 Kiss FM, and that was absolutely amazing.  I grew up listening to that station.”  It also got some recognition in her current home (“It also played in Nashville on [sings the call letters once again] 107.5 The River.”), where she got to enjoy it alongside friends and family: “We just sat in my car, listening to my song.”

GAYLE is currently in the middle of a tour supporting pop rockers Winnetka Bowling League, which will play its final date at The Foundry at The Fillmore on December 7th.  She tells me that the tour has been phenomenal (“The whole thing has been a highlight, really.”), both in regard to the headliner (“They’re so good…  Getting to hear people scream ‘CVS’ every night is just amazing.”) and their fans (“What I really love about Winnetka’s fanbase is that they’re really receptive to new music and loving to hear live music, which you never know about because most of them have probably never heard of me.”)  But as much as she’s loving this tour, she’s equally excited to get more of her music out in 2022: “I’m especially excited about coming out with a body of work…  I’ve got new songs coming out next year and some collaborations, hopefully some tours…  I get so much joy out of making music and I hope other people get joy out of it as well.”

*Get your tickets here.

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During the day Izzy Cihak teaches transgression, subversion, and revolution at Temple University. At night he haunts Philthy's best venues to cover worthwhile acts for Philthy Mag. Morrissey is everything to him and, in their own heads, all of his friends see themselves as Zooey Deschanel.

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