MORE FALL RELEASES 11.15^ → Celine Dion Courage DJ Shadow Our Pathetic Age 11.22^ → Jason Aldean^9 Harry Nilsson Losst and Founnd T“How do you not like
your own album?” is a
question Teyana Taylor
has been fielding for
the past year, following
public frustration sur-
rounding the release
of 2018’s K.T.S.E., an
eight-song project
executive-produced
by Kanye West.
“It’s not about not
liking it,” she tells EW,
adding that she appre-
ciates the music that
did get released. “It’s
about the fact that it
was not long enough,
verses were taken out,
a lot of stuff happened
[that] I didn’t know until
I heard the album like
everybody else.”
Rather than hold
grudges, the 28-year-
old New York City native
has decided with her
upcoming project,
simply titled The Album
(out in December), to
“take full accountability
that I need to be 110 per-
cent on everything that
I do.” Oddly enough,
while listeners have
stuck by her through
the K.T.S.E. dilemma,
their concerns now
seem to be that she is,
by their estimation,
too successful and
happily married to give
them the art they want
from her. Says Taylor,
“It’s like, ‘We love that
you’re happy, but baby,
we going through it!
I’ma need you to get
me through what you
got me through with
this [past] album.’ ”
Taylor has taken
her fans’ concern as
a creative challenge
to explore new topics
on Album’s songs. The
performer is now
writing music for both
lovebirds and “the girl
that has that wall built.”
With artists like SZA
and Ella Mai breaking
through, Taylor notes
“it’s a different level
of appreciation for
R&B right now,” so she
welcomes another
chance to give her fans
even more of what
they’re asking for.Harlem’s Rose