The delayed release of Teyana Taylor’s second album, K.T.S.E. (Keep That Same Energy), was as messy as it could be. From not including the promised Lauryn Hill interlude to uploading the project more than a day late, Taylor had loyal fans in an uproar.
The famed singer/model is now coming clean about the Keep That Same Energy rollout in an interview with Real 92.3’s Big Boy in the Morning. The radio show host opened the conversation by sharing that he heard what was presumed to be the completed album months ago. Taylor explained, “I want to say added two new songs. You know as things go [on], everybody starts adding extra stuff. I don’t know if I have demo-itis but that old version, that first version is always the most raw; the dopest. It’s been a lot of changes since then.”
Her album, though, had one difference compared to her G.O.O.D. Music counterparts, who each had seven songs on their respective new albums. Taylor’s included eight, which she felt was only right. “I have something to prove. I got to get my rocks off,” she said. “I owe niggas like triple albums.” And revealed her album would’ve had nine songs but clearance issues caused her song called “We Got Love” not be featured.
While many have planted the album delay blame on label head Kanye West, Taylor isn’t letting that go down. “I’d have to blame a little bit of everybody because we set the date and we had the listening party, and then we had clearance issues. As far as the clearance issues, I don’t know. I feel like everybody plays a part.”
Taylor promises to make it up to her fans later this week, “Saturday, Sunday, you’ll hear the complete version of the album, which is the reason why it’s been a lot of mixed reviews because everybody’s like, ‘The album sounds incomplete,’” she said. “It’s because of those missing verses. At the end of ‘Issues,’ I had the Sade piece in there. The end of ‘Rose in Harlem,’ I had [Lauryn Hill’s] ‘Lost Ones’ in there, and I was really talking that shit.”
Later in the lengthy conversation, one host shared with Taylor that, “3Way” on Keep That Same Energy, “shocked” her. Taylor explained why this steamy song, which almost didn’t make the project, was important to share. “Listen, I ain’t about to sing about nothing I ain’t been through,” she said. “My album is what it is. I’m not saying this is what you have to do. But I’m saying when you make a vow and when you’re married, it ain’t no limits. Period.”
She continued, “It ain’t no what you going do, no what you not going do. Why did we get married? How we going to get married and have limits? I feel like a lot of times in society we make it to where it’s always the guy that want it. It got be [a] birthday or Christmas to get that. I’m Dora the Explorer in my marriage. I’m Curious George.”
Watch the full interview below.
