Singer and actress Gabrielle de Gama chats to YOU
The multitalented teen chats to us about her debut single, Nasty
NASTY INSPIRATION
Gabrielle de Gama (14) released her debut single Nasty last month. The catchy pop song is about bullying and was written by her and produced by Gino Lee.
The Joburg teen, who started high school last year, decided to pen the track after being cyberbullied by her classmates during lockdown.
“I’d just joined a new school and I hadn’t met any of my classmates face to face,” Gabrielle says. Her fellow students went through her social media pages, added her to a WhatsApp group and called her names.
She also experienced bullying in Grade 4 after joining a new school, when she was body-shamed and mocked for having natural hair. All these experiences inspired her to write her song.
“At the time I could never really win, and that’s what Nasty is about. It’s about sending out the message that bullying is not okay.”
It took her two hours to write the lyrics, and two months to arrange the song to record it. “I felt like I was releasing how I was feeling on the inside. [Writing Nasty] made me feel very peaceful.”
TRIPLE THREAT
Gabrielle isn’t only a talented singer, she’s also an actress and a model. Next month she’ll be on the small screen in the M-Net series Reyka.
Her acting career began in 2018 when she was cast as the lead in Annie the Musical at the Peoples Theatre in Johannesburg. During her audition for the part she discovered she had a talent for singing.
“My aunt told my mother about the auditions for Annie and she thought I’d be great for the role. I told my mom I really wanted to audition. She asked if I could sing, and I told her I hope so!”
Her audition song was Scars to Your Beautiful by Alessia Cara. “I got the role, and I was like, ‘Yay!’”
This was also when she decided to pursue a music career.
“Music made me feel something I hadn’t felt before. It made me feel like I’m at the right place and at the right time and like I was meant to do this.”
Theatre, she says, taught her discipline, “to always be on time, to be respectful and to follow instructions”.
Gabrielle works with a vocal coach, June Kraus, who discovered that she could sing opera, which she incorporates in her music. “Just a little snippet of me hitting those high notes.”
DEBUT ALBUM
Gabrielle has penned 35 tracks and is hard at work on her second single. She hopes to drop her debut album in September.
“The next song might be about an experience I had with a boy. He used my pen to write another girl’s name on my hand and I want to write about how it made me feel.”
The teenager also wants to write about diversity, family life and her journey in music.
“In my next songs I’d like to add more high notes and more classical beats so I can also showcase my opera side, but for Nasty I thought pop would be most appropriate because it’s supposed to be a catchy song.”
Gabrielle doesn’t want to be labelled a pop artist as she’d like to branch into other genres.
“I really like rock, acoustic and country music. I want to write as many different types of songs as possible so I can reach a wider variety of people.”
TAKING FLIGHT
Gabrielle has no plans to slow down her showbiz career. In July she’ll be jetting off to New York to audition at the International Modeling and Talent Association convention, but her first love will always be singing, she says.
“Acting has gotten me a lot of international jobs but singing is my passion. I love modelling because it shows my brand. With singing, I can write about my experiences. With acting, I can express the emotions I feel by doing monologues and writing scripts.”