New Music To Know: Teyana Taylor is the Young R&B Diva, Seven Years in the Making

By Marissa G. Muller

Teyana Taylor has perfected the role of a diva. At 23 years old, the Harlem-raised R&B upstart has seven years of training. She first entered the spotlight when she appeared on MTV’s My Super Sweet 16 — proudly declaring at the start of her episode, “I’m known for doing big things” — and, shortly before, signed to Pharrell Williams’ Star Trak Entertainment imprint on Interscope. Now that she’s with Kanye West’s GOOD Music subsidiary on Def Jam, Teyana’s delivering on her promise with her appropriately titled debut album VII, out Nov. 4.

“I don’t care about the picture I paint, I just want people to love the album,” she says over the phone, while in the middle of a shoot for Rolling Out magazine. (Teyana has also almost-perfected multitasking, putting our interview on hold eight times throughout our 20-minute conversation.) But her rough-around-the-edges demeanor—barking at her crew, “Everyone be quiet. I can’t hear her,” or apologizing for missing questions, “My signal is a**-trashed”—is one of the things that makes her album so loveable.

Over the past seven years, Teyana has come down to earth from the self-important lyricism of “Google Me,” a track that peaked at 90 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart, of which she says, “wasn’t my favorite. VII is a clean slate.” She’s more concerned now with being relatable, like on the soulful kiss-and-don’t tell “Business,” the seductive “Maybe,” featuring Pusha T and Yo Gotti, and the approval-seeking “Do Not Disturb,” where she flexes the softer side of her voice, singing, “I need you to love me babe/ Make me know it/ I need you to want me babe/ Come and show it.”

“I want people to relate to my music and be like, ‘Yes, yes! I go through that’,” she says. “I have a lot of love records on my album. I want people to be able to feel like real love exists. All of the lyrics come from the heart. Everything is genuine.”

That tenderness, combined with her love of fashion—Teyana has her own streetwear label, Unbothered—is what landed her on Kanye’s radar. Before lending her vocals to the shimmery holiday track “Christmas in Harlem,” released as part of GOOD Fridays, and the gospel intro of the title track from 2010’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Teyana and Kanye bonded over their interest in artful clothing.

“We were fashion friends and [Kanye] invited me over to the studio hear his album and look at some custom Balmain pieces for his tour,” she recalls. “That was an opportunity for me to show off my skills. He was always a fan of mine but never really knew what I was capable of singing-wise. I went in there, he asked me for some background [vocals], I did it and he was like, ‘Wow, you really sing. What’s your situation?’ My Beautiful Twisted Dark Fantasy was the record that got me signed.”

Like Kanye, Teyana is more interested in creating her own sound than following trends — and on VII, it’s particularly expansive.

“I was just listening to my album yesterday and I thought every single record sounds different,” she says. One exception on the album where Teyana’s claws come out is on “Dreams,” her response to Tory Lanez’s song named for her, where he fantasizes about being with her. “I wanted to respond with an old school R&B vibe. We don’t really do that anymore in R&B. They probably expect me to be sexy but I wanted to come back with something that would shock people,” she says referencing her puffed-up chest lyrics like “This pedestal so high n—–s can’t reach it.” “I’m trying to create my own lane and be outside of the box.”

That means she’s not even asking for help from Kanye in shaping her own sound. “He doesn’t really step in [and interfere] with your creativity and what you have planned, or sit down and define a style or sound,” she explains. “I always have own style and just get [songs] done and send them over to him and he gives his opinion. It’s my own taste.”

While anyone else would get flustered creating art around known perfectionist Kanye, Teyana doesn’t have that crowd-pleasing instinct. Nor is she phased by the fact that her mentors past and present — Pharrell and ‘Ye — are at the top of the hip-hop chain. “I don’t feel any pressure. I just feel blessed and lucky that I’ve had the opportunity to work with some amazing people.”

Her ease and confidence comes from being in the industry for almost 10 years, from televising her Sweet 16 birthday party to guesting on songs by Missy Elliott (“Put It on Ya”), John Legend (“Bliss”), Vince Staples (“Limos”), Trey Songz (“I Need a Girl (Remix)”), The Game (“Bottles & Rockin J’s”), and, even, venturing into acting with Stomp the Yard 2: Homecoming.

“I was able to go through it early,” she says. “Now I know the ins and outs of the industry.”