Amid work as an actor, dancer, and choreographer along with other creative pursuits, Teyana Taylor has had a labyrinthine career as an R&B recording artist, highlighted by the forthright Top 20 entries VII (2014) and K.T.S.E. (2018), and The Album (2020), her intensely personal and wide-scoped third LP for Kanye West's Def Jam-supported G.O.O.D. Music. Teyana appeared on 2017 tracks by Meek Mill and the duo of Fabolous and Jadakiss, and in June 2018 issued K.T.S.E., short for "Keep the Same Energy." The last of five similarly brief G.O.O.D. LPs overseen and co-produced by West in Wyoming (following titles by Pusha T, West, Kids See Ghosts, and Nas) it debuted at number 17 and yielded the gold-certified single "Gonna Love Me" (number 19 R&B/hip-hop). After a few preview tracks scattered across 2019 and the first half of 2020, most notably the Lauryn Hill collaboration "We Got Love," Taylor delivered The Album on Juneteenth of the latter year.