{"id":1883887,"date":"2026-04-15T17:01:24","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T14:01:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1883887"},"modified":"2026-04-15T17:01:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T14:01:24","slug":"more-is-more-teyana-taylor-on-her-blockbuster-year-on-and-off-screen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1883887","title":{"rendered":"\u2018More Is More\u2019: Teyana Taylor On Her Blockbuster Year On (And Off) Screen"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/feature-teyana-taylor-billboard-2026-bb4-meredith-jenks-1-1800.jpg?w=1024″]<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\tTrending on Billboard\t\t<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tNew Yorkers know that one of the key elements of \u201cgetting lite\u201d is constant motion. The Harlem-indebted dance style is all about seamlessly shifting from one move to the next, which homegrown New York dancers, like Harlem\u2019s own Academy- and Grammy Award-nominated multihyphenate Teyana Taylor, understand requires thinking two or three steps ahead. And in a year that demanded her attention across music, film, fashion and motherhood, Taylor proved that she can still \u201cget lite\u201d with the best of them.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn August, she unveiled her cinematic album Escape Room<\/em>, her first full-length release since her self-professed retirement from music in 2020. Accompanied by a 38-minute short film that corralled famous friends ranging from Oscar winner Regina King to South African pop sensation Tyla, Escape Room<\/em> netted Taylor her first career Grammy nomination, nearly two decades after she made her Billboard<\/em> chart debut with 2008\u2019s \u201cGoogle Me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe following month, she emerged as one of the breakout stars of Paul Thomas Anderson\u2019s One Battle After Another<\/em> \u2014 which won best picture and five other Oscars in March \u2014 with her nuanced performance illuminating the psyche of a revolutionary battling postpartum depression. Taylor picked up acting nominations at virtually every film awards ceremony of the season, winning the Golden Globe for best supporting actress in a motion picture.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAs dancers, it\u2019s a pace that we move to; it\u2019s a beat,\u201d the 35-year-old muses on a rare day off after visiting her daughters and their classmates at school. \u201cFrom how I move around a scene to how I walk onstage, even the beats that I catch when I\u2019m on a red carpet, movement is embedded in everything that I do. People are surprised when I [movement coach] myself, but it\u2019s just the choreographer in me. You know how certain people have comedic timing? I have \u2018pocket timing\u2019 for when things should move. Even how I hold my gun as Perfidia Beverly Hills [in One Battle After Another<\/em>]. Dance plays a big part in everything that I do, even when it\u2019s not super intentional.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watch Billboard\u2019s Women in Music 2026 live on YouTube.com\/Billboard and Billboard.com on April 29, beginning at 9:30 p.m. ET\/6:30 p.m. PT. For more coverage on Women in Music, click here.<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n
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\t\t\t\t\tTeyana Taylor: Photos From the Billboard Women in Music\u00a0Shoot\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tThe Official Lineup for Billboard\u2019s 2026 Women in Music |\u00a0Billboard\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tHUNTR\/X Singers EJAE, AUDREY NUNA & REI AMI Are Billboard\u2019s 2026 Women of the\u00a0Year\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tAt the turn of the decade, Taylor\u2019s life and career looked very different. She released her third full-length, The Album<\/em>, without much support from her label. \u201cUntil I\u2019m free, until I can get [Def Jam] to release me, yes I want to retire. I don\u2019t want to do this anymore,\u201d she announced in a passionate Instagram Live near the end of 2020, temporarily closing a career chapter that brought the world contemporary R&B staples like 2018\u2019s \u201cGonna Love Me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBut Taylor had already prepared to pivot. Less than six months later, she joined the cast of A.V. Rockwell\u2019s A Thousand and One<\/em>, a gripping, Brooklyn-\u00adset drama about a single mother returning from Rikers Island to kidnap her son from the foster system and raise him herself. Taylor had spent most of the 2010s playing supporting roles in films such as Stomp the Yard: Homecoming<\/em> and Madea\u2019s Big Happy Family<\/em>, but Rockwell\u2019s feature directorial debut offered her star billing \u2014 and the space to come into her own as an actress.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhen you see that film, you can feel the sisterhood behind the lens. You can feel the safety and the protection,\u201d Taylor reflects. \u201cThat was a project \u2014 and a moment within my journey and my faith walk \u2014 that I knew was special. I felt it. She pushed me, I pushed her, and we pushed each other. That\u2019s what a great partnership is about. I will definitely be taking some of that knowledge up with me as I\u2019m preparing to direct my first feature film. Transitioning from music videos to television and film is really exciting, and I give thanks to women \u2014 queens \u2014 like A.V. who showed me how to navigate it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Meredith Jenks<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tThe National Board of Review named Taylor\u2019s portrayal of Inez de la Paz the best breakthrough performance of 2023, but that honor landed in the thick of monumental upheaval in her personal life. As she and Rockwell barreled through their first film awards season, Taylor was finalizing her divorce from former NBA player Iman Shumpert, whom she married in 2016 and shares daughters Junie, 10, and Rue Rose, 5, with. She dissects that emotional turmoil throughout Escape Room<\/em>, which started as a short film and eventually spawned an accompanying studio album. True to her blunt, New York City roots, she straight-up told Def Jam, \u201cIf I do an album, it will be a soundtrack.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFrom the melancholy, Lucky Daye-assisted \u201cHard Part\u201d to the house-\u00adinflected \u201cLong Time,\u201d Escape Room<\/em> is Taylor\u2019s most sonically and thematically ambitious musical project to date \u2014 and it all came together under her directorial vision. Building on the visual album format popularized by Beyonc\u00e9, Taylor tapped fellow hip-hop visionary Missy Elliott to help executive-\u00adproduce the Escape Room<\/em> short film, which combines sleek, Afrofuturistic elements with visual nods to classic sci-fi films like Ex Machina<\/em> and The Matrix<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI had so much to talk about; I couldn\u2019t put that in three minutes,\u201d she says. \u201cThat\u2019s how I felt as a music video director too; I was ready to move on to television and film because trying to consolidate stories into three-minute videos\u2026 I just can\u2019t do it. And that\u2019s how I felt in the music space as well. I love to write, but sometimes writing doesn\u2019t always rhyme. It\u2019s a feeling. So I tried to find the happy medium of my spoken word and my rhythms.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTaylor developed the short film \u2014 which co-stars Rebel Ridge<\/em> lead Aaron Pierre and Oscar nominee LaKeith Stanfield \u2014 alongside The Aunties, the all-female production company she co-founded with Coco Gilbert in 2017. In addition to providing various production services for artists, The Aunties manage a five-acre Atlanta lot equipped with dance, recording and prop studios, as well as countless pieces of equipment and 360-degree green-screen rooms. The company is a natural continuation of the path Taylor has charted for herself as an ever shape-shifting creative. She famously choreographed Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s \u201cRing the Alarm\u201d music video at just 15 years old, laying the foundation for her 2017 best choreography MTV Video Music Award win for Ye\u2019s \u201cFade.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTaylor created The Aunties out of necessity. She names the \u201cwhole \u201990s\/early 2000s era\u201d as her creative North Star, specifically referencing pioneers across visual media like Elliott, Busta Rhymes, Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson, Dave Meyers, Hype Williams, Quentin Tarantino and, of course, Paul Thomas Anderson. But coming up more than a decade later, Taylor had to work within tighter budgetary constraints \u2014 and she figured out a way to stretch those budgets to fit the scope of her vision. She shot the \u201cGonna Love Me\u201d remix video for under $40,000, showing her label her capabilities as a director and producer. And the numbers proved it: When the music video dropped nearly a year after the song had, it propelled \u201cGonna Love Me\u201d to an RIAA gold certification.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThat\u2019s when I came up with \u2018Spike Tee.\u2019 I am spiking these numbers!\u201d she says with trademark animation. \u201cAnd I love Spike Lee, so it was a double entendre. People wanted to see and hear me. From there, baby, them budgets was getting better and better. And even though the budgets were getting heftier, I don\u2019t spend just because it\u2019s there. My goal as a director, especially wanting to be a movie director, is to know how to save money and not break the bank. I poured into others, and that was one of the things that also played a part in me being able to hold my head high as I navigated retirement from music. I really enjoy being behind the lens.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAs the only person in BET Awards history to win video director of the year each time she\u2019s been nominated (2020 and 2023), her reimmersion into the world of film was practically preordained. Taylor joined the cast of One Battle After Another<\/em> in early 2024, beginning filming as she was finishing up her Escape Room<\/em> album and short film. As Perfidia Beverly Hills, Taylor stole the show \u2014 a firecracker performance that she achieved by channeling the heavy energy of her personal life and \u201ccolor-coordinating\u201d the emotional layers of her character.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMe, singer Teyana, I\u2019m a lover girl and a hopeless romantic. I\u2019m Julia Roberts in the sense that I want the fairy tale,\u201d Taylor says, dodging a call from the culinary school she\u2019s currently attending (she enrolled last summer) that she\u2019ll return later. \u201cPerfidia doesn\u2019t even cry; she is unapologetically selfish. I color-coordinated her layers so I could tell myself, \u2018When you look back up, you will look up in red. You will look down at that baby in pink. You will walk out of the room smoke gray.\u2019 By the time you hear the letter [she reads aloud] at the end, you feel the ombr\u00e9 of colors and hear a mother.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Meredith Jenks<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tFor those who have been following Taylor\u2019s journey since her Harlem dance days (or her time on MTV\u2019s My Super Sweet 16<\/em> or her 2010s GOOD Music stint), her 2025 was the culmination of two decades of work where she honed the tools to navigate several interlocked industries that bolt virtually every door shut when a Black woman is on the other side. From maneuvering out of label deals that didn\u2019t serve her to smoothly hopping from one creative lane to the next, Taylor has demonstrated a steadfast commitment to honoring her own desires and needs \u2014 and to nurturing every artistic inclination she feels, passing or otherwise.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cEvery time I had to retreat, God threw me back in the battlefield. But I realize that the battles are not punishment \u2014 they\u2019re preparation for the victory,\u201d she says. \u201cGod\u2019s taking that smallest teddy bear from you because he has a bigger one behind his back to give you! You have to give yourself grace so there can be self-control. You also have to understand that you\u2019re not going to always get it right. But everything that you do should be done with intention. That\u2019s why I can do 20\u00a0million different things. There\u2019s nothing wrong with trying, because you\u2019re going to figure out what it is you want to do. We have to give ourselves the grace that we give our children.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tNow that awards season has ended \u2014 \u201cI was living a double life [campaigning both projects], I felt like Hannah Montana living the best of both worlds!\u201d \u2014 Taylor is shifting her focus to a packed slate of upcoming projects. Next up, she\u2019ll star in\u00a072 Hours<\/em>, a Netflix comedy set for release this summer, and release a deluxe edition of Escape Room<\/em> that will include extended mixes, more uptempo tracks and collaborations that weren\u2019t quite ready for the album\u2019s initial release. She\u2019s also open to directing her own ensemble film, in which she\u2019d like to see the \u201c\u00a0\u2018chef\u2019s kiss\u2019 ensembles\u201d of Sinners<\/em> and One Battle After Another<\/em> join forces. \u201cI need to see us make One Vampire After Another<\/em>!\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOn April\u00a09, 2027, Get Lite<\/em>, her feature directorial debut starring Emmy winner Storm Reid, will hit theaters worldwide under the Paramount banner. Executive-produced by Taylor, with both Reid and Kenya Barris also producing, Get Lite<\/em> promises an NYC coming-of-age story rooted in the city\u2019s subway dance scene. In a way, Taylor previewed this full-circle project by recording public service announcements for the New York City subway and bus systems in February. \u201cI came across a TikTok of them playing my announcement, and I said, \u2018Now why would y\u2019all have my loud-ass voice bursting like that at 7\u00a0a.m.?\u2019 It was loud coming through the TikTok!\u201d she says in between boisterous laughs. \u201cWhen I tell you, I bust out laughing! And to be very clear, I did not get paid to do that. I did that for the culture. I wouldn\u2019t have even accepted money for that. That was for my hood.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd as she gears up to dominate in the coming years, Billboard<\/em>\u2019s Women in Music Visionary has no plans to turn her volume down, whether she\u2019s \u00admastering a new creative field or helping fellow artists execute their grandest concepts.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMore is more; I never believed in less is more,\u201d Taylor says. \u201cDon\u2019t tell me I\u2019m too loud, because I\u2019m going to be louder. Don\u2019t tell me I\u2019m too bold, because I\u2019m going to be bolder!\u201d<\/p>\n

This story appears in the April 18, 2026, issue of <\/em>Billboard.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/music\/awards\/teyana-taylor-women-in-music-2026-visionary-1236222739\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/feature-teyana-taylor-billboard-2026-bb4-meredith-jenks-1-1800.jpg?w=1024″] Trending on Billboard New Yorkers know that one of the key elements of \u201cgetting lite\u201d is constant motion. The Harlem-indebted dance style is all about seamlessly shifting from one move to the next, which homegrown New York dancers, like Harlem\u2019s own Academy- and Grammy Award-nominated multihyphenate Teyana Taylor, understand requires thinking two […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48,226],"class_list":["post-1883887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-billboard-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1883887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1883887"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1883887\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1883887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1883887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1883887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}