Last week, singer Teyana Taylor announced that she is retiring from music.
Days later, the G.O.O.D. Music singer took to Instagram Live, where she doubled down on her recent remarks, while outing Def Jam for hindering her creative growth.
“The majority of what that post was to warn my label who 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 100% me,” Taylor told her fans during the livestream. “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% and my label is giving me — they’re reciprocating, what, 10% of that.”
The singer accuses her label Def Jam of giving her “literally no push” over the years. She says that she has been begging them to release her for years, but they have no obliged.
“The crazy part about it is I asked Def Jam to drop me on almost 10 different occasions, straight to their face, up in the building, at the table. Like, ‘Yo, just drop me, because at this point, I can’t let this kill me,'” she said.
Following her retirement announcement, fans labeled Taylor a “quitter,” and urged her to continue to release music for them.
“I can see maybe how my message can come across, but at the same time, I feel like it’s a tiny bit selfish to say, ‘What about your fans? Do it for your fans,'” Taylor said. “Baby, I gotta do it for my mental health. I have to do it for my emotional health. 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.”
