Asad Jung

Teyana Taylor’s latest album, KTSE, is a short yet impactful album that illustrates themes of love, loneliness, beauty, and lust.

The project, produced by Kanye West, is sample-heavy, which works well to enhance Taylor’s own soulful delivery, as Ye’s samples on this particular album are derived from mostly 60s and 70s R&B/Soul Groups. The first track on the album, Gonna Love Me, uses a sample from an early 60s and 70s group called The Delfonics. The sample functions to create a sense of longing, and also immortalizes that sensation by using a nostalga, as well as Taylor’s own voice. In this song, Teyana is asking her lover to forgive her, to wait for her. She belts: “Please wait up for me, ’til whenever I get home.” Taylor’s voice is powerful yet pleading, and though it is strong in its volume and intensity, it reveals the true nature of Taylor’s desire, that even though she may be tough, she is still dependent on her lover, and needs them to respond.

The second track on the album, Hurry, takes on a more playful cadence, but still shows off Taylor very serious vocal talent. The song features a verse from producer Kanye West, as he ruminates on a bad Trinidadian chick, the memory seemingly sparked by Taylor’s own avowal of the powers of the fatty: “”Keep your eyes all on this fatty, if you like what you see take your hands and grab it, Hurry, Hurry.” Though the track is masterfully produced, it fits uncomfortably among the other songs on the album, probably due to the reduced intensity of the themes that swim throughout the project. Some have said that the track does, however, sample Kim Kardashian’s sex tape with Ray J, though a G.O.O.D. music rep disappointed many fans by disavowing that particular piece of knowledge.

The third track on the album, Rose in Harlem, reiterates an idea that many black artists from the inner-city have used, that of a rose growing from concrete, a flower growing from a place where it is unwelcome, a thing of beauty and purity coming from a tough environment. The idea became a household metaphor after poet Tupac Shakur explained that a rose coming out of concrete is similar to a ghetto kid growing up and being able to impact other peoples’ lives positively, despite growing in a harsh environment.

Issues/Hold on, the fourth track on the project, uses a sample from Billy Stewart’s I still love you, Taylor agains seems to be pleading with her lover, asking for forgiveness and amends. Taylor respects the idea of mutual guilt, as she sings: “You ain’t always been an angel but heaven’s on our side I got my demons too, I know just how you feel.” Taylor’s ability to express her own emotions while empathizing with her lover is one reason that her song resonates with listeners, it isn’t one-sided at all, rather it delves into the complicated nature of love itself. The fifth track of the album, No Manners, combines decadent strings with trap-influenced flows, as well as a soul-sample.

On the whole, the album is much like Teyana herself, beautiful, powerful, deep, and personal, and though it carries heavy baggage on its shoulders, the project manages to handle its weight by using it as a chip on its shoulder rather than as a roadblock. Taylor’s voice is beautiful, but it isn’t angelic. It draws from its inner strength to be heard, but it still brings its demons with it. And as a result, the world gets to listen to, but perhaps never completely understand, the very complex and intuitively moving voice of Teyana Taylor.