The Album (Teyana Taylor album)
| The Album | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | June 19, 2020 | |||
| Genre | R&B[1] | |||
| Length | 77:19 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Producer |
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| Teyana Taylor chronology | ||||
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| Singles from The Album | ||||
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| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 78/100[2] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [4] |
| Clash | 9/10[5] |
| Entertainment Weekly | B+[1] |
| NME | [6] |
| Pitchfork | 7.3/10[7] |
| Rolling Stone | [8] |
| Tom Hull – on the Web | B+ ( )[9] |
The Album is the third and final 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. (2018), Taylor announced that she would be updating the album and re-releasing it in June or July.[10][11][12] 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.[13][14] 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.[15]
Release and controversy[]
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.[16][17] 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 while being in public during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.[18][19][20][21] Taylor went on to address the apparent lack of masks: "... For all the internet covid experts