Gayle Kabaker’s “Summer’s Lease” | The New Yorker

Contents:

• CHARTBREAKER: HOW GAYLE SPELLED OUT HER SUCCS WH BREAKUP SMASH ‘ABCFU’
• GAYLE TEAS UPG TOURS WH TAYLOR SWIFT AND PK AT 2023 GRAMMYS: 'I COULD CRY THKG ABOUT IT'
• GAYLE KABAKER’S “SUMMER’S LEASE”
• THE VICLY FUN BREAKUP SONG THAT PUT GAYLE ON THE TEEN POP-ROCK RADAR
• SUMMER GAYLE PORTFOL
• SUMMER GAYLE SANRS OKLAHOMA

CHARTBREAKER: HOW GAYLE SPELLED OUT HER SUCCS WH BREAKUP SMASH ‘ABCFU’

GAYLE photographed by Grace Rivera on Dec. Chartbreaker: How GAYLE Spelled Out Her Succs Wh Breakup Smash ‘abcfu’.

GAYLE TEAS UPG TOURS WH TAYLOR SWIFT AND PK AT 2023 GRAMMYS: 'I COULD CRY THKG ABOUT IT'

In 2018, Arthoe Mic Publishg CEO Kara DGuardi pulled GAYLE’s name out of a hat durg a songwrg pop-up event Nashville and heard the risg star sg for the first time. Nearly a before GAYLE would sle the Billboard charts wh her breakthrough h “abcfu, ” the Plano, Texas native attend her first ncert — an Aretha Frankl show, when she was jt ne years old — that cemented her own sire for a siar future.

“Havg the passn for sgg and performg was rooted Aretha Frankl’s [mic], ” GAYLE tells Billboard, also cg Na Simone and Julia Michaels as her earlit mil fluenc.

A year later, she opted for homchoolg to foc on mic, and at the same time, started takg trips to Nashville to work — ultimately leadg to her n- wh DGuardi, who by the end of 2018 signed GAYLE to a rerd and publishg al wh Arthoe.

GAYLE KABAKER’S “SUMMER’S LEASE”

GAYLE photographed Dec. GAYLE built a most followg wh a handful of penntly-released sgl over the next few years, cludg “Dumbass” and “Orange Peel, ” but was her angsty die-pop track “Z” that put her on an ternatnal radar.

’” GAYLE rells, her voice excedly jumpg up an octave. The tractn led to attentn om Warner Mic’s Korean team, and subsequently, Atlantic Rerds stati — which was already helpg DGuardi wh distributn for GAYLE.

THE VICLY FUN BREAKUP SONG THAT PUT GAYLE ON THE TEEN POP-ROCK RADAR

In January 2021, Atlantic print, A&R, Pete Ganbarg (who first met DGuardi 20 years prr and doubl as the print of ATCO Rerds) signed GAYLE to a rerd al wh the label that signed Aretha Frankl nearly 60 years ago.

“I really love the velopment of Atlantic, ” GAYLE says.

SUMMER GAYLE PORTFOL

By the summer, GAYLE felt ready. The followg month, September, GAYLE released three addnal versns of “abcfu, ” cludg rendns named after a different vibe (“angrier” and “chill”) as well as s origal mo.

SUMMER GAYLE SANRS OKLAHOMA

“The strategy behd releasg multiple versns of the song me om GAYLE herself, ” Ganbarg says. “Every versn brought somethg different, ” adds GAYLE.