After revealing she didn’t know K.T.S.E. would have no visuals or singles, Taylor posted her official statement about the complicated rollout on Instagram
We’re getting a clearer picture of the production process and rollout for Teyana Taylor’s latest, K.T.S.E. (short for “Keep That Same Energy”), with the ever-evolving narrative possibly nearing its end.
ICYMI: Shortly after K.T.S.E. was released on June 22, criticism popped up on Twitter claiming Kanye West dropped the ball with the rollout by delaying the album’s release and potentially losing critical streaming time that could have helped boost K.T.S.E.’s success. The claims imply that West tried to low-key sabotage Taylor by not giving her the support that the other albums released during West's five-album “Wyoming sessions” plan (including Daytona, ye, Nasir, and Kids See Ghosts) seemed to get and that it may have had something to do with the fact that she’s the only woman in the lineup.
As reported by The Fader, Taylor’s interview on Ebro in the Morning quickly turned to the album rollout and the complications around it. When asked whether she was okay with being included in the five-album plan rather than getting her own solo moment, Taylor replied, “At first I didn't really know that it was going to be the five album thing until we had our last meeting. Once [Kanye] said his [album] and everybody else, I was a little nervous at first. I was like ‘Y’all [are] legends, I ain’t trying to be up in the middle of all of that’.”
She gave even more insight and not all of it shows West or the five-album plan in a favourable light. “I didn’t know ahead of time that there wouldn’t be any singles or visuals,” she said. “But I knew that it was going to be the five-album thing, [Kanye] wanted [my album] to be last, you know, he wanted mine to be the biggest. That’s the way they sauced it up. I was sold.”
There’s an implication as well that Taylor was kept at a distance from certain parts of K.T.S.E.’s production, too.
“The majority of the songs were done with [the release date announced]. It ain’t like, ‘Oh it’s crunch time and we don’t have a record’. It was just a lot of miscommunications as far as clearances [and] certain versions. You know, when the album dropped, I didn’t hear that version of the album,” Taylor explained, going on to give a telling example. “You notice there’s only one verse on ‘Never Would Have Made It’. I’ve got two whole other verses that didn’t make it. The first verse was about my mom, the second verse was about [Taylor’s daughter] Junie, and the third verse was just about anyone who ever doubted me and, like, still thanking them as well. That didn’t make it, so all you hear is Junie’s voice in the background and then you hear the verse about my mom. So it was just like, hearing that — just because it was about my daughter — I felt a way. I notice everything that was not done. That’s not the version that I heard.”
Despite Taylor’s previously stated complicated feelings about K.T.S.E.’s production, she took to Instagram over the weekend to set the record straight on how she really feels about making K.T.S.E., West, and G.O.O.D. Music.
“For a better clarity of my ‘publicized emotions’ toward my album...I LOVE MY ALBUM and never said that I didn’t AND BELIEVE IN MY ALBUM with all of me. My complaints never came from a place of anger but more so from a place of hurt that I felt that I owed the world more,” she explained in a lengthy statement, going on to say later that “though a shortened version shocked me upon its released date, I appreciate my brother Ye for helping me produce my most vulnerable, personal and soulful album to date. I think that our collaboration on this album shows and proves to add to the culture we creatives promise to push forward! I never meant for my passion to be mistaken for ungratefulness, however, I’m always open to agreeing to disagree, that doesn’t take away from the bond I share with not only Ye but all of my G.O.O.D Music family.”