GAYLE’S STUDY OF THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE
18-year-old singer-songwriter GAYLE is currently gearing up for the release of her second EP tittled “a study of the human experience volume two” out today.
“I wanted to dig deeper into some more personal things about my relationship with my body and the world and with religion and kids my age.” Says Gayle about her new EP.
“I’m not always proud of who I am or things I’ve done, but I am who I am, and I can’t change that. A Study of the Human Experience Volume Two talks about the moments that happened in my life that lead to where I am. I don’t always do the healthiest, the smartest, the most mature, the most reasonable or responsible things-I just do what I want in the moment and learn from my mistakes”
The Nashville-based artist is currently lighting up an array of festival stages around the world, with recent performances at Lollapalooza and the UK’s Reading and Leeds, and upcoming performances set for Firefly Music Festival and Austin City Limits Music Festival. She has recently performed at dates supporting My Chemical Romance. We got to chat with Gayle all about becoming an artist, how she handles tour life, and all the juicy deets from performing with MCR <3
Age: 18
Zodiac Sign: Gemini
Hometown: Plano, TX
Tell us about your upcoming EP a study of the human experience volume two. What can we expect from this project?
The second EP is mostly songs that I wrote when I had just turned 17. I’m still learning things, learning new things about me and my life and things that happened to me when I was younger and how they affect me now today. And I wanted to dig deeper into some more personal things about my relationship with my body and the world and with religion and kids my age.
I also wanted to give more context of who I am as a person and why I am the way I am, so people can understand why I think the things I do or act the way I act sometimes.
Break down your creative process for us, how do you create your music?
My songwriting process normally starts with a word that I find inspiring. Most of the time the word leads into an emotion, and with this emotion I try and figure out sonically what I would like to capture. So I try and figure out emotionally what I would like to get across, and how I’d like all of the instrumentation to meet that emotion.
I normally start with the chorus and then we try and come up with melodies until we all agree that we find something catchy. A hook is always my priority when it comes to the melody, so we kind of figure out something we think is hooky, write all the lyrics in the chorus, go to the verse, then we write the verses and pre.
What are some of your tour life essentials, things you can’t be without on tour?
Deodorant, makeup remover specifically because makeup’s great, but if you have nothing to take it off with, your skin is like “fuck you.” Advil, electrolyte packets, socks, socks, packing cubes, protein bars, and sunscreen. I never actually bring sunscreen, but I really should.
Last song you listened to?
“Taxidermy” by Chloe Lilac
Last book you read?
The Waffle House menu
Tell us about how you started making music.
I was delusional and thought I could be on the radio tomorrow… I found Aretha Franklin and I found her voice so inspiring. And I thought about it so much that it made me eventually want to try and sing myself.
And then I started singing for random strangers in restaurants, in art galleries, at parks and in school. And my mom was like, “that’s annoying,” so she put me in vocal lessons and I started taking steps to do music professionally.
Who were your favorite musicians growing up?
Aretha Franklin of course. Reba McEntire was actually a really big inspiration to me growing up because my mom had me listening to country music. Taylor Swift for sure. Joan Jett and Avril Lavigne too.
What do you love most about living in Nashville?
I really love the co-writing, the songwriting/collaboration culture, and the community in Nashville.
What inspires you to create?
My life, and things that have made me feel strong emotions.
You’ve recently performed alongside My Chemical Romance. Tell us all about that!
Going to Dublin, Ireland to open up for My Chemical Romance is one of the craziest things I’ve ever done in my life. They’re absolutely iconic, and I was so scared to open up for them- I got so nauseous. But it was such a beautiful venue and the makeup from the fans was so inspiring and so beautiful, and the outfits were incredible and everybody in My Chem was just so nice and so complimentary, and I was just so honored that they asked me to open for them.
Tell me about life with chromesthesia. Can you tell us all about this and how it affects the creative process.
I’ve never not had chromesthesia, so I don’t really know what my life is like without it. But overall I really enjoy having it because it helps me, my creative process, and figuring out single covers and the color palettes I want for a music video because the colors are already there for me automatically right as I start making a song.
The only time where it can be negative is if I’m making a song and I objectively like it, but I don’t like the color of it. It’s annoying because there’s always something I’m not gonna like about it that’s out of my control. And I can try and change it, but I don’t know what makes something the color. So like I could try and change the guitar sound to make it less yellow, but who even knows?
Lets talk about your looks, what do you look for when picking what to wear on stage?
Overall, I think the most about feeling comfortable in my body and wearing something that won’t limit how much I can move around. I also think about the weather outside and how much I’m gonna move, and then I try and have clothes that will meet that.
So if it’s very hot outside, I’ll probably wear a skirt, shorts, more of a crop top or a tank top. If it’s colder outside, I’d probably wear pants, long sleeves, oversized sweaters and things like that. I always look for loud patterns like plaid, or even leather, bright colors, stripes. I like loud patterns.
What is your go to beauty routine. Hair, make up, skincare?
I have no skincare routine. But if there’s something that I consistently do, it’s my makeup.
Most of the time I don’t put on foundation cuz I’ll just sweat it off. I put on concealer, a lot of concealer under my eyes because your girl got dark circles. And then I bake under my eyes for three minutes just because when you’re performing, you’re sweating a lot. If I’m doing a smokey eyeliner, I go in with eyeshadow first then fill it in with eyeliner, and I put it on my waterline as well. I also bake that when I’m done so the waterline can stay longer when I’m like sweating or just spending all day backstage at a festival. And I try and think about things that will last long term.
I lost my contour stick when I was on tour. So I put my finger in a brown eyeshadow, and I put it on my nose and cheeks. I lost my highlighting stick when I was on tour, so I put a shimmery eyeshadow on my nose. I lost my eyebrow pencil, so I put the same contour shade in my eyebrows, and sometimes I give myself fake freckles. And then I lost my blush, so I take a brush – I literally just do this all with one Urban Decay eyeshadow palette – and I just take a pink and I just put it on my cheeks. Easy.
Who is your celeb crush? Pete Davidson
Guilty pleasure: Chili’s molten lava cake
Whats your favorite snack? Quesadilla
What’s your favorite type of flower? Blue bonnets
Photography: Acacia Evans
