Album

K.T.S.E. yielded a gold-certified, Top 20 R&B/hip-hop hit in the form of "Gonna Love Me." Despite those significant firsts for Teyana Taylor, the singer and songwriter had misgivings about the 2018 LP, the last in a sequence of five like-sized G.O.O.D. Music titles inevitably branded as an installment in the Kanye West-guided "Wyoming sessions." Taylor hits the reset button with The Album. Its title effectively brushes aside both K.T.S.E. and her fine 2014 debut, VII. Almost 80 minutes in duration, this set even dwarfs the aggregate of the two preceding releases as if to leave no doubt that it's her definitive and unrestricted work. Taylor furthers the notion by starting The Album with recordings of husband Iman Shumpert's marriage proposal and his 911 call in response to the unexpected natural birth of their daughter Junie. Soon enough, Junie -- a few years older -- introduces the misty "Come Back to Me," and then the tranquil "Wake Up Love" floats past with Taylor's husband the provider of a devotional guest verse. After she revamps Erykah Badu's elusive-temptation tale "Next Lifetime" with a featured appearance from the originator, Taylor closes out the romantic segment with the Guy-interpolating bliss-out "Let's Build," duetting with Quavo in sincere and mellifluous style. Next is a grip of bedroom slow jams. None eclipse "Request" off VII, but the Kehlani collaboration "Morning" is a seductive delight, while the snaking (and accurately titled) "Boomin" is a treat for lovers of late-'90s R&B with explicit references to Blaque and much of the Swing Mob (plus an appearance from the latter's Missy Elliott). Confident diversions into breezy Afro-pop and underwater dancehall lead to a half-hour stretch covering various romantic woes. Taylor confronts, pleads, departs, regrets, and more, delivering a couple of her most riveting performances on "Concrete," all toxicity and torment, and "Still," a strong contender for the surrogate Jazmine Sullivan ballad of 2020. The Album is rounded out by an up-tempo trifecta that with each verse and chorus, all the way through Lauryn Hill's closing words of wisdom, increases in power. ~ Andy Kellman