GAYLE Finds Perspective in ‘Observing Chaos’
GAYLE experienced the kind of breakthrough that can alter a young artist’s life almost overnight. When “abcdefu” became a global phenomenon in 2021, its sharp-edged frustration carried the Nashville-based singer-songwriter from a rapidly developing career into an entirely different orbit. The song earned billions of streams, reached audiences around the world, and eventually received a Grammy nomination, all while GAYLE was still navigating the years when most people are only beginning to understand who they want to become.
What followed moved just as quickly. Two EPs expanded her catalog, while years on the road took her from her own headline shows to stages alongside Taylor Swift, P!NK, My Chemical Romance, Tate McRae, Cyndi Lauper, and AJR. Her songwriting also traveled beyond her own releases, with credits for artists including Kelly Clarkson and collaborations that demonstrated an instinct for writing both within and outside her own perspective. Eventually, constant motion gave way to something she had experienced far less of: the space to understand what those years had actually meant to her.
That distance became essential to Observing Chaos, her debut album arriving September 18. Co-written and co-produced by GAYLE, the project reflects a period of growing up shaped by relationships, heartbreak, trust, identity, and the search for clarity when life refuses to arrange itself neatly. And rather than treating those experiences as problems with clean resolutions, the album stays close to their contradictions.
Its early songs begin to show what that looks like in practice. “junebug” turns uncertainty into something loose and exhilarating, while the piano-led “loving you is” moves inward as GAYLE confronts the emotional toll of an unhealthy relationship and the necessity of choosing herself. But as components of a larger body of work, they introduce an album that’s comfortable moving between release and reflection without forcing either feeling into a simpler shape.
With Observing Chaos out now, we caught up with GAYLE to explore how she approached her first full-length album, the experiences behind its songs, and what she’s come to understand about herself along the way.
Observing Chaos comes after you deliberately gave yourself some distance from releasing music and had time to process several incredibly fast-moving years. When you returned to writing for yourself, did you notice that your perspective—or what you needed from songwriting—had changed?
Gayle: While I took a step back from posting every day and putting out music, I’ve never really stopped making music. There was definitely a time I was writing more than I was in that “off” period, but if I had an idea, I would go in the studio and write it! I’m really lucky to live in music city, and I make music with literally some of my favorite people, so in that off year, I guess there was just less pressure to have to finish everything right away, so we just got to slowly pick away at songs we love, which was a really fun process.
You experienced an enormous amount of visibility at an age when you were still figuring yourself out. When you eventually had enough space to separate the perception of GAYLE the artist from yourself outside of music, what did you learn about who you had become?
Gayle: First of all, I love this question; second of all, I learned so many things, but the biggest thing I learned is that nobody knows what they’re doing. There’s not a secret plan somebody has that’s foolproof. There’s no button someone can press for you to have a hit song. All you can do is just try, hope, work hard, be a nice person, and believe in yourself. Also, not one single soul in this industry inherently owes you anything.
You co-wrote and co-produced Observing Chaos, giving you a hand in shaping the album from both sides of the process. Did taking greater ownership of the production change the way you translated an emotion or idea into a finished song?
Gayle: You know I’ve been co-producing almost all of my records, but this is the first time I really tried to advocate for myself and the credit I deserve in something, especially when it’s music I literally wrote and am singing. So I don’t think it changed the process of how I felt about making music.
“junebug” brings a lighter, more playful energy into Observing Chaos, even as the rest of the record leans into heavier emotional territory. How important is it for you to have that sense of contrast and spontaneity within the album, and what role does that side of you play in the bigger picture of the project?
Gayle: For the concept of my album, it’s very important to me that songs on this album represent my journey as me growing into the person I am today and me sonically fighting my beating as a songwriter and artist.
“loving you is” finds you recognizing the point where devotion to someone else starts to cost you too much. What did writing that song help you understand—or clarify—about choosing yourself?
Gayle: To be completely honest, I wrote “loving you is” years ago and hated the song. I made so many mistakes after writing that song. I heard nothing but a cocky teenager who thought she knew everything when I wrote this song, and last year I listened to “loving you is” again, and I realized what a “cocky” teenager was in reality just a hopeful one. I really believed I was going to want better for myself and hold the people around me to a specific standard, and I just didn’t…
For years, it was hard for me to admit I made mistakes after writing a song that made such huge claims that I wouldn't do those things again, but if I didn’t put this song on my album, I probably would never put it out. And I decided to really honor “loving you is” by having it as a single so it could be a powerful and hopeful song on its own while really staying true to the story and putting it in the top half of the album. Life would be great if that song could be the end of my album, but in reality, it was the beginning of so many lessons I had yet to learn about myself.
You’ve spent years performing everywhere from your own headline shows to tours with Taylor Swift, P!NK, My Chemical Romance, Tate McRae, and Cyndi Lauper. After watching so many different artists command a stage and build relationships with their audiences, what have you taken from those experiences into the performer you are now?
Gayle: When it comes to a headlining tour, there’s an overall performance as an artist that I want to guarantee, while also finding moments to make every show special. For Taylor, she has such a set show that ran seamlessly every night, but for two songs only she knew what was going to happen next; she gave her fans a consistent show while also giving them a unique experience. In the middle of her set, P!NK would read her fans’ signs and let them throw things on stage, and on her last song, she’d go up in the sky, so every audience member could be close to her, and she could be close to them.
As someone who sang with Cyndi Lauper on stage, we didn’t play with tracks, and the song was as long as she wanted it to be that night, and I could feel her playing off the energy in the crowd to know where to take the song and how long it should last. [MCR] basically played with wedges to twenty thousand people, and I saw him switch up the set list and how I saw he changed up his speeches for his songs. I opened up for Tate on her last non-arena tour, and it was the first time I was ever hearing anyone sing my song back to me. That tour meant a lot to me because I felt like Tate was years ahead of me in establishing her artistry, and she’s only a year older than me. I’m not a dancer whatsoever, so it was really cool seeing someone my age be so successful and express themselves as an artist in such a different way than I do, because trust me, no one should see me dance.
Despite everything you’ve already released and experienced, Observing Chaos is your debut album. What became possible with a full-length record that you couldn’t accomplish through individual songs or your two EPs?
Gayle: I think the EP’s really talked about my story while I was in the middle of it, and I see this album as more of a reflection of my life over the past few years. I was knee-deep in touring when making those two EP’s, and really in the thick of it all, and this album feels like I got to take a deep breath, and now I can really give a true insight into my past.
So much of this album seems to come from allowing yourself to exist within uncertainty instead of immediately resolving it. Now that Observing Chaos is finished, are there parts of your life—or yourself—that you’re more comfortable not having an answer for?
Gayle: I think I’m more comfortable with making mistakes than ever. I stayed in some bad situations because I didn’t want to admit that I made a mistake, but if I were more honest with myself, in the long run I would’ve been able to learn from my mistakes more quickly and make less along the way.
