Since K.T.S.E. dropped last month, Teyana Taylor has embarked on her interview circuit, slowly revealing some of the behind-the-scenes details about her sophomore album and its shortcomings. In a new interview with Hot 97, Taylor discusses some of the “miscommunications” related to its release, and her hesitation toward Kanye’s historic 5-album release schedule.
G.O.O.D. Music's leading lady previously told BigBoyTV she planned to re-release the “completed” version of the album since a few samples didn’t clear and a couple tracks were left off. However, she later disappointed fans by tweeting that an updated project wouldn’t be coming.
“I mean the majority of the songs were done when we put that date out,” Taylor explained to Ebro, when asked why the album wasn't completed on time. “It ain’t like, ‘oh it’s crunch time and we don’t have the records.' It was just a lot of miscommunications as far as like clearances, and certain versions.”
Her track “We Got Love” featuring a voice note from Lauryn Hillsurfaced online late Tuesday evening. In the interview, Taylor confirmed that the song was left off the album entirely, along with several verses and samples from other songs. “When the album dropped, I didn’t hear that version when the album dropped,” she said. “If you notice there’s only one verse on 'Never Would Have Made It,' I got two whole other verses that never made it.”
She goes on to explain that one verse missing from "Never Would Have Made It" was written about her daughter Junie. “Hearing that, just because it was about my daughter most importantly, like I felt a way,” she admitted.
Taylor also revealed that being included in Kanye’s massive 5-album rollout made her nervous. “I felt like it was worth it. At first, I didn’t know it was like a five album thing,” she explained. “I knew me and Pusha were supposed to come out around the same time. Once he [Kanye] said his and everybody else I was a little nervous at first, cause I was like, ‘Y’all n***as is legends. I ain’t trying to be in the middle of that.’”
She decided to “go with the flow,” but didn’t realize that meant K.T.S.E. wouldn't have any singles or visuals before its release. Still, Kanye sold her on the idea. "He wanted mine to be last. He wanted mine to be the biggest," she said. "The way they sauced it up, I was sold."
Listen to the full interview in the video above.
