The Album (Teyana Taylor album)
The Album is the third studio album by American singer Teyana Taylor. The album was released on June 19, 2020, through GOOD Music and Def Jam Recordings, almost exactly two years after her 8 track second album K.T.S.E. The album was preceded by the release of six singles "How You Want It?", "Morning", "We Got Love", "Made It", "Bare with Me" and "Wake Up Love". The 23-track album features guest appearances from Erykah Badu, Kehlani, Big Sean, Lauryn Hill, Future, Rick Ross, Quavo, and Missy Elliott. Taylor's husband, Iman Shumpert and their daughter Junie also appear.
Background and recording
Following the release of her second studio album K.T.S.E., Taylor announced that she would be updating the album and re-releasing it in June or July. After a Twitter user asked for the whereabouts of her updated album, Taylor revealed that her hopes for a new version had been deflated. "I guess we ain't getting one," she bluntly replied. Minutes later, Taylor sent a second tweet explaining how she intends to release the updated music. "A lot of clearance issues, shit takes time. At this point I will leave album the way it is & will just debut the extended records thru my visuals!" she said. In October 2019, Taylor spoke to Entertainment Weekly that she was working on a new album titled, The Album after many disappointments and frustrations with her previous record. She revealed that she took more creative control on the album in comparison to K.T.S.E., which had a verse cut without her knowledge and was shorter than she wanted. She said that she was ready to "take full accountability that I need to be 110 percent on everything that I do" and not let anyone compromise her creative vision. She revealed that for the album, she was focused on "fixing what didn't work the first time, getting a better rollout, more records, longer records... just giving everybody more." She aimed to release new music by the next year.Release
Two days prior to the album's release, Taylor celebrated her Juneteenth release with an album listening party, alongside friends like Cardi B, Lena Waithe, Karrueche Tran, and Winnie Harlow. Taylor sparked controversy and was criticized by social media outlets after photos from the event showed most attendees with their masks partially off or not on at all despite the restrictions to keep them on when while being in public during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. Taylor went on to address the apparent lack of masks: "... For all the internet covid experts ??we had REAL Covid Police & medics that made sure we were all safe and able to have a good time all while following covid regulations," she wrote. "Custom '#TheAlbum' Masks and hazmat suits were also provided!" Taylor shed more light on the situation during a video interview with Angie Martinez, doubling down on her claims that she and her team took extra steps to ensure guests' safety.Taylor went on to say it was a 60-person party in a 15,000-feet house with a lot of activity taking place outside. She also said there were "COVID prevention people" at the event. "Pretty much the 'COVID police'... You could not even walk in the house without putting on your HAZMAT suit and your mask," Taylor said. "... We were extremely safe."
Taylor explained why she decided to release the album on Juneteenth:
Composition
Complexs Eric Diep summarized the album: "The album is broken up by "studio" rooms. At 23 songs in length, it is significantly longer than Taylor's previous album, K.T.S.E., which was eight songs. Taylor was part of G.O.O.D. Music's seven-song album rollout, promising to re-release an updated version of K.T.S.E., but it never materialized. From those sessions, "We Got Love" appears at the end of The Album, replacing Kanye West with her doing his verse. Lauryn Hill speaks about wealth and abundance at the end". Taylor's husband Iman Shumpert appears on "Wake Up Love", while their daughter Junie is featured on "Come Back to Me."Commercial performance
The Album debuted at number eight on the US Blllboard 200 chart, earning 32,000 album-equivalent units in its first week. This became Taylor's first US top-ten debut on the chart.Track listing
Track listingtrack listing
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Credits and personnel
Credits adapted from Tidal and YouTube.Performance
- Teyana Taylor – primary artist
- Iman Shumpert – Spoken word, vocals
- Rick Ross – vocals
- Kes Kross – vocals
- Erykah Badu – vocals
- Quavo – vocals
- Kehlani – vocals
- Missy Elliot – vocals
- Future – vocals
- DaVido – vocals
- Big Sean – vocals
- King Combs – vocals
- Lauryn Hill – vocals
- Brendan Reilly – vocals
- Hal Ritson – vocals
- Louise Clare Marshall – vocals
- Richard Adlam – vocals
- Sharlene Hector – vocals
- Corey Cooper – background vocals
- Barryon Nembhard – background vocals
Instrumentation
- Bassman – bass guitar
- Travis Marsh – guitar, keyboards, synth
- Carrington Brown – drums, keyboards, percussion
- Ayo N Keyz – drums, bass guitar, keyboards
- David Harris – drums
- Gabriel Lambrinth – guitar
- Ricky Ramos – guitar
- Zo – keyboards
- Angel Lopez – bass guitar, drums, keyboards
- Federico Vindver – bass guitar, drums, keyboards
- Jordan Mosley – keyboards
- Justin Mosley – keyboards
- Timbaland – percussion
- Sean Alaric – bass guitar, drums, guitar, keyboards
- MIXX – drums
- Rob Harris – guitar
- Hal Ritson – keyboards
- Richard Adlam – keyboards
- Ben Somers – saxophone
- Neil Waters – trumpet
- Bizness Boi – drums
- Ninety Four –
- Cardiak – guitar
- Mike Dean – bass guitar, guitar
- Ray Keys – keyboards
- Michael Blackburn — guitar
- Isaac Wriston – bass
- Seven Aurelius – keyboards
- Johan Lenox – string arranger
- Yasmeen Al-Mazeedi – violin
Production
- Carrington Brown – production, additional production
- Bassman – production, additional production
- MIXX – production, additional production
- DJ Camper – production
- Cardiak – production
- Swiff D – production
- Ayo N Keyz – production
- Murda Beatz – production
- Teyana Taylor – production
- Louis Gold – production
- Tune Da Rula – production
- Timbaland – production
- Bongo BytheWay – production
- Bizness Boi – production
- Ninety Four – production
- Mike Dean – production
- Ray Keys – production
- Nova Wav – production
- Travis Marsh – production
- Wallis Lane – production
- Scribz – production
- Sean Momberger – production
- BoogzDaBeast – production, co-production
- Hitmaka – production
- Kanye West – production
- Seven Aurelius – production
- Hal Ritson – additional production
- Richard Adlam – additional production
- Sean Alaric – additional production
- Johan Lenox – additional production
- Angel Lopez – co-production
- Federico Vindver – co-production
- Jordan Mosley – co-production
- Justin Mosley – co-production
- Marco Mavy – co-production
- Sangria – co-production
- U.N.I. – co-production
- E*vax – co-production
Technical
- Colin Leonard – mastering
- Jaycen Joshua – mixing
- Andrew Dawson – mixing,
- Jess Jackson – mixing
- Mike Snell – vocal mixing, recording
- MIXX – recording
- Joel White – recording
- Jenna Felsenthal – recording assistance
- DJ Riggins – mixing assistance
- Jacob Richards – mixing assistance
- Mike Seaberg – mixing assistance
- Sean Solymar – mixing assistance, recording assistance
- Ayo N Keyz are credited together in production and instrumentation.
Charts