What Teyana Taylor's Retirement Teaches Us About Supporting Creatives
Teyana Taylor recently announced her retirement from music and it took the world by surprise. After just releasing her critically acclaimed album, ‘The Album’ that even made legends such as Elton John join in on the praise, it's hard to see why Teyana Taylor has decided to give up her role in the music industry. According to Taylor herself, she expressed she felt “super unappreciated as an artist, receiving little to no real push from the ‘machine,’ constantly getting the shorter end of the stick, being overlooked.” With this announcement, Teyana Taylor got major love from fans and even fellow peers in the music industry such as Swiss Beatz, The Game and Janet Jackson.
With the retirement of Teyana Taylor, can this teach us how to appreciate creatives and artists as a unit. How can we be more supportive of creatives in the industry that may not be pushed by a major record label, agency or brand? Even those who are pushed by a major machine such as Teyana Taylor or Tinashe during her time with RCA records have felt how lonely it can be in the creative industry. It's a hard spot to be as a creative to constantly showcase your talents and be vulnerable enough to let people into your creative process only for them to shut you down or not give you the proper support you need.
This begs the question, is it better to be a creative and work independently? Once Tinashe was released from her label, that gave her more room to grow and release amazing music projects and even collaborate with other artists that were more aligned with her brand. Seeing Teyana Taylor’s retirement playout only made me realize that many of the talented artists not only in the music industry but in many sectors of the creative industries are not supported financially or even emotionally. By just posting someone's artwork or commenting on their process on social media is a big boost to help them get one step closer to their goals. Even checking in on their wellbeing can be a big help and give them the tools to keep going. Be sure to check in on your creative friends even if everything looks good from the outside, you never know how your support can help them to continue to succeed and grow.
