Teyana Taylor Has Some Pretty Big Supporters in the Music Industry
Published Sept. 22 2021, 5:30 p.m. ET
Through the decade-plus that she has been publicly making music, Teyana Taylor has carved out her own niche within the industry and had a few pretty successful tracks to go along with that. The star has had support from some of the biggest names in music including the likes of Kanye West and Pharrell. Thanks to those cosigns and more, Teyana has expanded her reach into countless international markets and solidified her star power in more ways than one.
As with most modern artists, all of that aforementioned success usually comes with the help of at least one major label. So, who exactly is Teyana signed to? Keep reading for all of the details regarding her music career.
Who is Teyana Taylor signed to? She has been with several labels throughout her career.
In September 2006, 15-year-old Teyana was credited with something huge: the choreography on Beyoncé's hit single "Ring the Alarm." Just a few months after that in January 2007, the budding star signed a deal with Pharrell's imprint, Star Trak Entertainment, through Interscope Records. One month later, Teyana's fame grew thanks to her episode on My Super Sweet Sixteen, which gave way to a feature in Jay-Z's music video for "Blue Magic."
Teyana released her debut single, "Google Me," in February 2008 which was the lead single for her mixtape "From a Planet Called Harlem," released on Aug. 16, 2009.
Come 2010, just hours before Kanye West was set to release his album "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy," Teyana was called into the studio so the rapper could check out some of her fashion pieces. Determined to make it onto the project, Teyana hummed along with the songs he played for her, influencing Kanye to put her on the album.
Teyana was featured on hit tracks such as "Dark Fantasy" and "Hell of a Life," her biggest musical placements yet. This gave way to her contributions the same year on one of Kanye's G.O.O.D Friday releases titled "Christmas in Harlem" alongside him and CyHi the Prynce.
Roughly six years into her tenure with Star Trak, Teyana opted to not renew her contract and venture off as a solo artist. She mentioned at the time that she still had a great relationship with Pharrell, but wanted to be able to create music completely on her own terms. Shortly after that, she released an independent mixtape titled "The Misunderstanding of Teyana Taylor."
By 2012, Teyana officially signed with Kanye's label, G.O.O.D Music, an affiliate of Def Jam Recordings.
Under G.O.O.D Music, Teyana began working on her debut album, a project many years in the making. On Nov. 4, 2014, that album, titled "VII," was released to much critical acclaim, and debuted at No. 19 on the Billboard 200.
The artist worked on a few one-off projects over the next few years, but it wasn't until June 22, 2018, that she decided to release her second full-length album, titled "K.T.S.E." An alternate version of it was slated to release afterward, but it never came to fruition.
Almost exactly two years later, Teyana put out her third and most recent studio album, titled "The Album." Its 23-track length featured the likes of Erykah Badu, Kehlani, Lauryn Hill, Future, Rick Ross, Quavo, and Missy Elliott, and the project debuted at No. 8 on the Billboard 200, her first top 10 placement ever.
Teyana officially announced her retirement from making music in 2020.
According to Billboard, Teyana said that she was done making music via an Instagram post on Dec. 4, 2020. She mentioned that she felt "super underappreciated" as an artist after being given "little to no real push from the 'machine.'" She concluded by saying that she is "retiring this chapter of my story," which made many fans question if she was giving up music for good.
The publication mentioned that she clarified this in an IG Live session the following day.
Citing disputes with G.O.O.D Music and Def Jam, Teyana told fans in the IG Live, "The majority of what that post was to warn my label who I’ve been signed to for almost 10 years. Everything that you guys see of me, everything that I put out, everything that I do is 100 percent me. There’s no gun to anybody’s head to do anything that they don’t want to do. So yes, I am going to feel underappreciated if I’m putting in 110 percent and my label is giving me — they’re reciprocating, what, 10 percent of that."
The star added that she "asked Def Jam to drop me on almost 10 different occasions, straight to their face, up in the building, at the table. Like, 'Yo, just drop me, because at this point, I can't let this kill me,'" but reportedly didn't get a straight answer back from them. Def Jam never officially responded to her claims, and despite these disputes, they still have her listed as a signee to this day.
