Teyana Taylor Says ‘Everybody Told Me It Was Dumb’ When She Switched from Music to Movies
Teyana Taylor Says ‘Everybody Told Me It Was Dumb’ When She Switched from Music to Movies
Angel SaundersFri, February 27, 2026 at 3:55 AM UTC
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Teyana Taylor at the 2026 Costume Designers Guild Awards at The Ebell of Los Angeles on Feb. 12Credit: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic -
Teyana Taylor opened up on how it feels to see her dreams come to fruition
The multi-hyphenate entertainer quit the music industry by 2020, but is now an Oscar and Grammy nominee
Taylor returned to the music industry in 2025 with her Grammy-nominated album Escape Room
Teyana Taylor is right where she’s supposed to be.
In a new interview with Time for the magazine’s Women of the Year profiles, the 35-year-old multi-hyphenate star reflected on a time when her talents were as widely praised as they are now.
Despite appearing in Kanye West‘s “Fade” video, which premiered at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards, and previously scoring a 2014 hit with “Maybe,” the One Battle After Another star admitted that by 2020 she was ready to leave the music industry, where she didn’t feel supported.
“Everybody told me it was dumb,” Taylor told Time. “And I was like, ‘No, I am going to be a great actress. One day, I am going to be a great director.’ ”
Taylor proved critics wrong, booking roles in Coming 2 America, A Thousand and One and White Men Can't Jump. In 2025, she earned praise for her performance as Perfidia Beverly Hills in One Battle After Another, earning an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. It's Taylor's first Oscar nod.
Teyana Taylor poses on the red carpet at the EE BAFTA Film Awards 2026Credit: TOLGA AKMEN/EPA/Shutterstock
The Paul Thomas Anderson-directed movie also stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro, Chase Infiniti and Regina Hall. It earned 12 other nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director for Anderson and Best Actor for DiCaprio.
“Even if I go home empty-handed, I have won,” Taylor said, adding that she’s excited to be honored amongst her “awards-season bestie,” fellow nominee, Frankenstein star Jacob Elordi.
The other nominees in the Best Supporting Actress category are Sentimental Value stars Elle Fanning and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Weapons star Amy Madigan and Sinners star Wunmi Mosaku.
“We're young, we're blessed, we're being celebrated — this is the time to be happy and to have fun with it, especially in a space that some people take so serious, and some people are cold, some people are robotic,” she continued.
Remaining positive, Taylor shared what she sees for her future.
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“I would love the EGOT,” she said. “And if I don’t get that Tony, guess what that T is gonna stand for? Teyana.”
Taylor, who also earned a Grammy nomination this year for Best R&B Album for Escape Room, added, “When you have a creative that does it all, let them spread their wings. Never cage a creative.”
Teyana Taylor at the 2026 Costume Designers Guild Awards at the Ebell of Los Angeles on February 12Credit: Julian Hamilton/WireImage
Prior to awards show season, Taylor also spoke exclusively to PEOPLE about what made her come back to the music industry and release Escape Room.
“I think what lured me back was just me coming back on my terms,” Taylor told PEOPLE in a December 2025 interview. “All I ever wanted was to feel appreciated, and I wanted to feel utilized. I didn't want to be stuck or put into one box.”
The “Bare with Me” singer has grown a lot in the past decade, including going through a divorce with Iman Shumpert, whom she was married to for seven years and shares two daughters, Junie and Rue Rose.
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Still, creativity has always helped her power through.
“I love to create and direct, so being able to come back to music in such a vulnerable way was very healing for me,” she said. “It was a lot of different things blocking my journey or what was written for me.”
During her interview with Time, Taylor said she plans on touring in late summer 2026.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
