Gayle Ditches Fake Niceties on New Single ‘Don’t Call Me Pretty’

Gayle gave up on hopeless people pleasing just a few weeks ago on her then-new single “Everybody Hates Me.” It was easier, she realized, to act like no one wanted her around in the first place. But on her latest release “Don’t Call Me Pretty,” the singer-songwriter ditches fake niceties and even faker friends.

In a statement, Gayle described the single as being “an attempt to capture the moments of frustration when i’ve felt objectified in my friendships, over the internet, and generally in life.”

During the first verse, Gayle expresses the slightest bit of regret about lines that shouldn’t have been crossed, but ultimately removes herself from the equation altogether. “Your thoughts are out of my control, but get me off your fuckin’ camera roll,” she demands. Later, she sharpens her edge, singing: “Tell me I should smile more and I’ll knock your teeth out/That’ll give me somethin’ to smile about.”

The DIY music video that accompanies “Don’t Call Me Pretty” finds Gayle spending the day at the zoo and amusement park with her bandmates, two friends who weren’t swept out during her spring cleaning.

Plus, Gayle has been a little too busy touring with Taylor Swift to really worry about whether everyone hates her or if they think she should smile more. The singer still has eight shows to go as opener on the Eras tour, with shows in May and August. During June and July, she’ll switch off to join Pink on the European leg of her Summer Carnival tour.

Gayle’s Eras tour setlist has opened with “Everybody Hates Me” and closed with her Grammy-nominated breakthrough single “ABCDEFU,” with “Don’t Call Me Pretty” and some songs from her debut EP A Study of the Human Experience sprinkled in between.

“Life is so hard, but it’s so lovely at the same time. And that’s really confusing. Especially when you’re growing up,” the 18-year-old musician told Rolling Stone last year ahead of the project’s release. “I’m not necessarily set on ‘This is who I am.’ I’ve gotten really comfortable with who I am as a person and what I want. But I know I’m going to change. I know that the things I want are going to change. And that’s OK.”

From Rolling Stone US.