Gayle's Discography Includes Way More Than “ABCDEFU”

Gayle is originally from Texas, but she grew up making frequent road trips to Nashville with her family to pursue her musical dreams. At 14, the young singer was discovered by former “American Idol” judge Kara DioGuardi, who mentored her and encouraged her to be more vulnerable with her song lyrics. Thanks to DioGuardi’s coaching, Gayle was able to tap into her emotions and produce hits like “ABCDEFU,” nab a No. 1 spot on Billboard’s Emerging Artists chart, and sign with Atlantic Records.

Like Halsey taking inspiration from their birth name, Ashley, to come up with a memorable stage name, and H.E.R. performing under an acronym (Having Everything Revealed) instead of her legal name, Gabriella, Gayle is actually the singer’s middle name. Her real name is Taylor Gayle Rutherfurd, but her friends usually call her Gollipop or Goll, a play on Gayle and the word “lollipop.”

When Gayle was around 7 years old, a teacher introduced her to scatting and played videos of Ella Fitzgerald in her element. Gayle instantly fell in love and brought her newfound passion for music home, where her mom doubled up on her music knowledge by feeding her the sultry sounds of Joss Stone and Nina Simone.

Eventually, Gayle discovered the works of Aretha Franklin, who remains her biggest musical inspiration to this day. “Aretha has this soul and intensity that I find really inspiring and impactful, and in that moment, I felt this thing that I could honestly live in forever,” she tells POPSUGAR. “I was like, ‘That’s it. That’s what I want to do for the rest of my life. I want to be making music the way that Aretha Franklin is.'”

After rising to TikTok fame, Gayle landed shows across the country, performing alongside Charlie Puth, AJR, Florence + The Machine, Snoh Aalegra, My Chemical Romance, and more. Remi Wolf and Yungblud are still on her list of artists she’d like to collaborate with. In the meantime, she keeps the music juices flowing with songs like “Breakfast at a Funeral” by Wens and Sean Kennedy and “Never Be Like You” by Flume and Kai, her go-to shower song.

At 17, Gayle already has a growing tattoo collection, including an image of a “little orange slice” just above her right elbow that she got as a tribute to her first tour. “I was just being very, very sentimental,” she says, adding that she took a similarly affectionate approach when she got her second tattoo, an “ABC” in honor of her hit song, which she cowrote with Dave Pittenger and her best friend, Sara Davis. “The A is in my handwriting, the B is in Sara Davis’s handwriting, and the C is in Dave Pittenger’s handwriting,” she says. “So I have their handwriting permanently inked on my body forever . . . Who knows, maybe when I’m like 30 I’ll hate it, but in this moment, I’m appreciative of it.”

With her 18th birthday fast approaching, Gayle already has plans to add to her collection. “When I’m 18, I want to get my mom to draw a heart,” she says. “I’m going to get it tattooed, and then I’d do the same and she does the same, so we have matching heart tattoos. So whenever she’s away from me, she’s still with me, you know, that mother-daughter bullsh*t.”

Part of Gayle’s edgy look – which often includes ripped tights, combat boots, and some form of a rock ‘n’ roll T-shirt – is her two-tone hair, black on the right and auburn on the left. Speaking with POPSUGAR, Gayle revealed that she prefers the DIY approach to going to the salon. “I did dye my hair right before quarantine started, and then I dyed it pink and purple and did all these crazy colours because nobody was going to see me,” she says.