In 2011, 7-year-old Taylor Gayle Rutherfurd, a budding fan of Ella Fitzgerald, took the stage at a vocal arts summer camp to perform "Cowboy Take Me Away" by The Chicks. "I was so nervous. In the rehearsals, I literally used to cry and run off stage," GAYLE tells POPSUGAR in a remote interview from Ohio, where she's touring with AJR. In spite of her stage fright, she powered through, channelling her newfound love for one of music's most influential figures: Aretha Franklin.
"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 says. "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.'"
"It's a really intimidating thing when you actually feel like you have the permission and freedom to be yourself, because who are you?"
At the time, GAYLE's family and friends were sceptical of her sudden passion for stardom, but she "stubbornly" persevered, requesting frequent family road trips from Dallas to Nashville in elementary school to get a vibe for the music scene. While most preteens don't get the opportunity to follow their passion 700 miles across the country, GAYLE's mom fed her daughter's fervour with Nina Simone records and drives to Music City. "My mother is a superhero to me. She's made so, so many sacrifices to help me do what I love," GAYLE says. "I would not be where I am without the support of my family."
At 14, her tenacity paid off and she was scouted by former "American Idol" judge Kara DioGuardi, who acted as her mentor. "From the minute [GAYLE] opened her mouth I was confused," DioGuardi recalled in an Instagram post. "She had an intensity and voice way beyond her 14 years. She stuck with me like she was [embedded] in my soul."
With DioGuardi's encouragement, GAYLE began to explore her vulnerability in her songs, making countless revisions until the lyrics and melodies began to flow together seamlessly. "I'm very grateful to have found Kara at the time that I did," she says. "I feel like the biggest thing that she did was give me the permission to fully just be myself . . . If there's no standard you have to uphold yourself to, then what are you? What do you do? What are you like? It's a scary feeling, especially at 14."
Years later, those moments of self-reflection resulted in "abcdefu," a breakup anthem that passed a crucial litmus test before it hit number one on the Billboard Global 200 and number three on the Billboard Hot 100 charts: a listen from her older brother, Trace, her biggest music critic. "He looked me dead in the eyes after I played it for a second time, and he was like, 'That's a hit,'" she says of the song, which she cowrote with her best friend Sara Davis and Dave Pittenger. "And I was like, 'What? You have never said anything positive about the music I've shown you, ever.' And he's like, 'That's it, that's the song.'"