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'A-B-C-D-E, F U!': Teen sensation GAYLE talks about female empowerment and her global hit song
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Angry debut: American singer-songwriter GAYLE scored a global hit with her major-label debut single, pop-punk number "ABCDEFU". (Courtesy of Acacia Evans) (Courtesy of Acacia Evans/Courtesy of Acacia Evans)
T
em>The American singer-songwriter scored her breakthrough the only way she knew how: by materializing her anger and vulnerability in a snappy pop-punk earworm.
First released in August last year, GAYLE's cheeky hit "ABCDEFU" has now become a worldwide phenomenon: entering the Top 3 of the immensely competitive, all-genre US Billboard Hot 100 chart while simultaneously riding high on the Billboard Global 200 and national charts in the United Kingdom, Malaysia, Germany, Israel and other countries. Making the feat more impressive, the song serves as the major-label debut single for the 17-year-old artist, catapulting her to becoming one of the most talked-about voices in the contemporary pop landscape.
Seven months after "ABCDEFU" dominated (and still dominates) the charts around the world, the Texas native still couldn't decipher the reason why it had become such an unexpected hit.
"You know, I'll never fully get to know," she tells The Jakarta Post, "because when you're, like, a part of the writing process of the song, you can never really hear it for the first time. I think the biggest thing is, like, just having an open space to be angry, you know? I'm not sorry that I'm angry at that person - I just am. And I'm not saying it's healthy. I'm not saying you should be angry. I'm just saying that if you are, it's okay."
GAYLE's expression of anger through "ABCDEFU" might explain how she inadvertently became one of the most relatable teen sensations in pop music, especially at a time when everyone around the world was struggling with their mental health due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She would later double down on this emotional subject on her debut EP A Study of the Human Experience Volume One, released digitally on March 18.
Incandescent fire
