Teyana Taylor Confirms She's Retiring from Music: 'I Won't Let This Kill Me'
Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Teyana Taylor
Teyana Taylor has a clear message: she's retiring and wants her label Def Jam to drop her.
In a 32-minute Instagram Live, the singer opened up about feeling "underrated," "overlooked" and getting the "shorter end of the stick" by her label Def Jam over the years.
"Maybe if I retire, n—s will let me go," the 29-year-old said in the video. "Drop me, fam. Let me be free because, at this point, I'm so tired. I'm motherf—ing tired."
She said that Def Jam was "reciprocating 10%" of the "110%" that she puts into her music and that they need to "take accountability."
"I constantly feel alone. I constantly feel unappreciated. I constantly feel failed," she said. "There's literally no push."
A rep for Def Jam did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Jacopo Raule/Getty Teyana Taylor
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She clarified though that she's not a "quitter" and she's "just leveling it up" and "moving on." (She explained she would want to go independent if she got off her label.)
"Baby, I got to do it for my mental health. I have to do it for my emotional health," she said. "I have to do it for my kids, so I can stay alive for my kids. Until I'm free, until I can get [Def Jam] to release me, yes I want to retire. I don't want to do this anymore."
The singer said in the video that while artists typically get stylists, choreographers and producers "right there," she typically does that work for herself.
"Y'all save money in so many different areas so why don't you take that money and actually put it into some motherf—ing marketing," she said. "I don't get the same treatment that every artist gets, no matter what label you're on."
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"Besides performing for my real fans and being in a booth, nothing else about music makes me happy," she said. "Period. And honestly, it took me to even retire to realize how many fans I had."
The singer reassured her fans that the reasoning for her retirement had nothing to do with her fans' support and that she will continue to lead choreography or direct for other artists.
"I'm not gonna let this s— kill me," she said. "I got kids to live for. I have a beautiful family to live for... it's already stressed me out. I'm very, very tired. I'm over it."
The mother of Junie, 5 this month, and 3-month-old Rue ended the Instagram Live by saying, "Until I'm 100% free, I'm done with this s—. I'm done with everything. I won't let this kill me and I ain't selling my soul."
The singer's new statement comes after she thanked her fans and said she felt "under-appreciated" in an Instagram post sharing her numbers on Spotify.
"I'm retiring this chapter of my story with the comfort that I can depart with peace of mind seeing that all the hard work & passion put in was indeed loved & supported somewhere in the world!" she wrote on Instagram on Friday.
