Teyana Taylor Announces She’s Retiring from Music: I Asked Def Jam To Drop Me 10 Times!

Teyana Taylor

Teyana Taylor Announces She’s Retiring from Music: I Asked Def Jam To Drop Me 10 Times!

R&B Crooner and Director extraordinaire Teyana Taylor has announced that she is retiring. In an Instagram post put out Friday, December 4th, Teyana Taylor used a Spotify post of her streams and music thanking fans for their support, but telling them she would be taking time away, saying:

“Wow, who did that? Y’all did that! ?Thank you ? I ain’t gone front in times of feeling super under appreciated as a artist, receiving little to no real push from the “machine”, constantly getting the shorter end of the stick, being overlooked, I mean the list on and on lol.. 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! To all my supporters from day 1 & all my new ones I love you and I thank you for everything & don’t worry y’all know ? all hustlers have the understanding that when one door closes another will open…either that or I’m pickin da locks petunia!!! So wassup???”

Several commented underneath the post including her husband NBA player Iman Shumpert,writing:

“I’ve watched first hand how much blood you’ve spilled in this shit. It wasn’t for nothing baby! And we rockin no matter what u choose to do…it’s GONE GO! Love you mostest”

She later clarified her statement on Instagram Live, saying she thought her “Post was misread” and that it didn’t have anything to do with a recent snub by The Recording Academy with a lack of a R&B category Grammy nomination.

“Like when I say the shorter end of the stick or being overlooked I mean by the people who are supposed to support me most. My partners. My label… And then I see comments of people saying ‘But if you love it, you shouldn’t change. You shouldn’t let no award’… and it’s just like everything is a relationship…. You can be in love one day and you can be out of love some years down the line. That’s where I am with music.”

She later went on to say the majority of her frustration was towards her label Def Jam.

“I do feel like the majority of what that post was, was toward my label that I’ve been signed to for almost 10 years. Everything that you guys see of me, everything that I put out, everything that I do is like 100 percent me. My thing about it is – there’s no gun to anybody’s head to do anything that they don’t want to do, so yes I am going to feel under-appreciated if I’m putting in 110 percent and my label is reciprocating what 10 percent of that.”

She added that she felt she had no support.

“I constantly feel alone. I constantly feel unappreciated. I constantly feel failed because there’s literally no push. I be looking at sh** like why am I not doing that?….I asked Def Jam to drop me on 10 different occasions because at this point I can’t let this kill me.”

She said mainly her retirement was about her mental health.

“I’m my stylist. I’m my choreographer. I’m my director I’m my everything… So it’s like y’all save money in so many different areas so why don’t you take that money and actually put it into some marketing. That’s what I mean about the shorter end of the stick, because I don’t get the same treatment that every artist gets.”

Many celebrities spoke out in support of Taylor, including Cardi B and JT from the City Girls.

Rapper The Game also penned a post on Instagram reminiscing on his time with the singer, whose been in the music industry since she was 15.

What do you think about Taylor’s decision to retire? Let us know in the comments.