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K.T.S.E.
Studio album by Teyana Taylor
Released	June 22, 2018 (2018-06-22)
Studio	West Lake Ranch,Jackson Hole, Wyoming[1]
Genre	R&B[2]
Length	22:53
Label	GOOD Def Jam
Producer	Kanye West (alsoexec.)
Teyana Taylor chronology
The Cassette Tape 1994 (2015) K.T.S.E. (2018) The Album (2020)
Singles from K.T.S.E.
"Gonna Love Me" Released: July 17, 2018 "Issues/Hold On" Released: April 2, 2019

K.T.S.E. (aninitialism ofKeep That Same Energy) is the second studio album by American recording artistTeyana Taylor, released on June 22, 2018, byGOOD Music andDef Jam Recordings.^[3]

Following the release ofVII in 2014, Taylor took a step back from her music career, instead working in television, getting married and giving birth to her first child. In 2018, it was announced thatKanye West would be producingK.T.S.E, with recording for the album taking place inWyoming. It is the final of five albums released over consecutive weeks, produced by West in their entirety as a part of the "Wyoming Sessions",^[4][5] following the release ofPusha T'sDaytona, West'sYe andKids See Ghosts withKid Cudi, andNas'sNasir. The album features a guest appearance by West, as well as additional vocals byTy Dolla Sign andMykki Blanco. A wide variety of record producers collaborated with West on the album, includingMike Dean,Rodney Jerkins, and BoogzDaBeast.

Taylor's and West's efforts resulted in anR&B album that heavily featured soul based productions and sampling. Upon release, Taylor announced that the album was released in an incomplete form, as several tracks were absent due tosample clearance issues. An updated version ofK.T.S.E. was announced; however, Taylor appeared on the Breakfast Club and said she will not hold her breath on the album's extended version and she won't make any promises on it.

After releasing her debut studio albumVII (2014), Taylor landed a number of television gigs, got married and became a mother. Taylor kept a low profile music-wise followingVII, only releasing an EP and a few singles.^[6] In June 2016, Taylor released the song "Freak On", featuring guest vocals fromChris Brown.^[7] She announced that it would be thelead single from her upcoming second studio album; however, the album never came to fruition.

On August 28, 2016, at theMTV Video Music Awards, Kanye West premiered the music video for his single, "Fade", which features Taylor performing a dance routine inspired by the 1983 filmFlashdance.^[8] In April 2018, Kanye West announced two new albums, a solo album and self-titled collaboration withKid Cudi under the nameKids See Ghosts, both of which would be released in June.^[9] Additionally, he revealed he would produce upcoming albums by GOOD Music label-matesPusha T and Teyana Taylor, as well asNas.^[10]

Pusha T'sDaytona was the first project out of Wyoming weekly releases.^[11][12] The following week, West released his album,Ye.^[13] The week after, West released a collaborative album withKid Cudi, titledKids See Ghosts, named after their group of the same name. The following week the fourth album from the Wyoming sessions,Nasir by Nas, was released. Taylor's album,KTSE, was the last of the five weekly releases and was slated to be released on June 22, 2018.^[3]

In May 2017, news began to surface that Kanye West was working on his new album "on top of a mountain inWyoming" in seclusion.^[14] Similar reports emerged almost a year later, in March 2018, of various artists including West being spotted inJackson Hole, Wyoming.^[15] The same month, Taylor revealed that she and West were working on new music together. While remaining secretive about the project, she revealed that West would be making a return to "Polo 'Ye". "Polo 'Ye" refers to West's more sonically conscious lyrics (heard on "All Falls Down") and sample-heavy productions such as "Through the Wire" or "Famous".^[15] In January 2018, announced that recording for the album was complete, with just a few "minor tweaks and whatever last-minute switches or edits and a green light from Kanye and should be good to go," before revealing West as the executive producer for her project.^[16] West was still working on the album's production on a flight fromParis toLos Angeles hours before the listening party.^[17]

Unlike the previous four releases,K.T.S.E features eight songs instead of the traditional seven and breaks from thehip-hop heavy production style.K.T.S.E featuressoulful sounds andacoustic guitars but still includes West's signature vocalsamples.^[18]

"Issues/Hold On" is anR&B song that features a "fuzzy, laidback beat" and samplesBilly Stewart's 1965 single "I Do Love You". Kanye West and the song's co-producers strip the sample back leaving the song to feature a "tenderguitarloop, warmbass line, simpledrum pattern, and airy background vocals." Lyrically the song explores love and vulnerability, with themes of uncertainty regarding relationships due to past experiences.^[19]

The album was released byGOOD Music andDef Jam Recordings on June 22, 2018. To coincide with the album's release Taylor held a listening party in Los Angeles that was streamed live via Taylor'sTwitter account starting at 11PMPST (2AMEST).^[20]K.T.S.E. was released incomplete, with the ninth track "We Got Love" being excluded due to an uncleared Billy Stewart sample. The track "Issues/Hold On" was to include aSade sample and "Rose In Harlem" was going to contain an interpolation ofLauryn Hill's "Lost Ones". Taylor originally announced thatK.T.S.E. would receive post-release updates similar to West'sThe Life of Pablo (2016) once the samples were cleared. However, on July 2, 2018, Taylor announced that the album would no longer be updated and instead the extended records may debut through future visuals.^[21][22] Taylor later said on July 12, 2018, that she wasn't aware there'd actually be no visuals for the album.^[23]

Taylor later performed a remixed version of "We Got Love" with West onSaturday Night Live on September 29, 2018. On October 1, 2018, the duo recorded a music video for the song at theTMZ offices, with indications that the song would appear on West's forthcoming albumYandhi.^[24] AfterYandhi was scrapped, Taylor released "We Got Love" as a single in December 2019. Taylor later used "We Got Love" as the closing track onThe Album (2020).

In support of the album Taylor embarked on a joint summer tour with American singerJeremih across North America. The 24-city joint tour began inTampa, Florida, on August 3 and make stops inAtlanta,Philadelphia,New York,Detroit,New Orleans before the tour ends inPortland, Oregon, on September 8.^[25] In late August, following a dispute between the two artists, Taylor dropped out of the tour.^[26]

"Gonna Love Me" impacted USurban contemporary radio on July 17, 2018, as the album's first single.^[27] A remixed version of the single, billed as the "Wu-Tey" remix, featuring the appearance of theWu-Tang Clan membersGhostface Killah,Method Man, andRaekwon was released on October 19, 2018.^[28] A music video for the track was released on November 6, 2018.^[29] "Issues/Hold On" impacted US urban contemporary radio on April 2, 2019, as the second single from the album. On April 3, 2019, "Gonna Love Me" was certified gold in sales by theRIAA.^[30]

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	7.1/10[31]
Metacritic	74/100[32]
Review scores
Source	Rating
The A.V. Club	B[33]
Consequence of Sound	B−[34]
Exclaim!	6/10[35]
The Guardian	[2]
The Independent	[36]
The New Zealand Herald	[37]
Pitchfork	7.8/10[38]
PopMatters	6/10[39]
Rolling Stone	[40]

K.T.S.E. was met with generally positive reviews from critics. AtMetacritic, which assigns anormalized rating out of 100 from mainstream publications, the album received anaverage score of 74, based on eight reviews.^[32]

Alexis Petridis ofThe Guardian describedK.T.S.E. as "a record that melds new and old R&B with such flair", praising Kanye West's production who "takes theartfullydistorted old-school R&B samples that double as his calling card – the ones that, over the years, he's rendered increasingly abrasive and jarring – and returns them to a more blissed-out and soulful sound."^[2] Claire Lobenfeld ofPitchfork believed thatK.T.S.E. is "long overdue, but the album remains too small a platform for her tremendous vocal talent", complimenting Teyana Taylor's performance whose "singing sounds luxurious but effortless" and "sticky and seductive."^[38] Maura Johnston ofRolling Stone wrote: "There are enough good ideas onK.T.S.E. to suggest a path to prominence for Taylor, and her album ends with a strong statement of purpose. But until Taylor releases, or is allowed to release, music more often, she will remain stuck onpop's sidelines – still necessary, and still missing."^[40]

K.T.S.E. debuted at number 17 on the USBillboard 200 with 23,000album-equivalent units, of which 7,000 were pure album sales.^[54] It was the seventh best-selling digital album of the week.^[55] It serves as Taylor's second top 20 album in the United States.^[54] In its second week the album fell to number 57 on the USBillboard 200, moving 10,000 album-equivalent units, which included 1,000 pure album sales.^[56]

Notes

• ^{^[a]} signifies a co-producer
• ^{^[b]} signifies an additional producer
• ^{^[c]} signifies a vocal producer
• "3Way" and "Never Would Have Made It" feature additional vocals byTy Dolla Sign

Sample credits^{[citation needed]}

• "No Manners" contains a sample from "Love Where Are You Hiding", written and performed bythe Elgins.
• "Gonna Love Me" contains a sample of "I Gave to You", written and performed bythe Delfonics; and samples ofMichael Jackson's 1972 rendition ofBill Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine"
• "Issues/Hold On" contains a sample of "I Do Love You", written and performed byBilly Stewart.
• "Hurry" contains a sample of "Can't Strain My Brain", written and performed bySly & the Family Stone.
• "3Way" contains an interpolation of "How Can I Love U 2nite", written and performed bySisqó.
• "Rose In Harlem" contains elements of "Because I Love You, Girl", written and performed bythe Stylistics; lyrical themes interpolated fromTupac Shakur's famous poem "The Rose That Grew from Concrete"; and a sample of "Spanish Harlem", written and performed byBen E. King.
• "Never Would Have Made It" contains interpolations of "Never Would've Made It", written and performed byMarvin Sapp.
• "WTP" contains interpolations of "Work This Pussy (Hurt Me Mix)", written and performed byJunior Vasquez; "(Work This) Pussy (Original Bitch Mix)", written and performed by Go Bitch Go!; a sample of "Get Up Offa That Thing", written and performed byJames Brown; and dialogue clips spoken byOctavia St. Laurent andVenus Xtravaganza in the 1991 American documentary filmParis is Burning.

• Mike Dean – engineering(tracks 1–6, 8), mixing(tracks 1, 3, 6)
• Zack Djurich – engineering(tracks 1, 3, 4, 6–8)
• Nathaniel Alford – engineering(tracks 1, 4, 6, 8)
• Noah Goldstein – engineering(tracks 1, 2, 4, 6)
• Baruch "Mixx" Nembhard – engineering(tracks 2, 3, 5, 6)
• Mike Snell – engineering(tracks 2, 3, 5, 6)
• Mike Malchicoff – engineering(track 1)
• Clinton "HeadAche" Walker III – engineering(track 7,8)
• Jenna Felsenthal – assistant recording engineering(tracks 1, 3–6, 8)
• Sean Solymar – assistant recording engineering(tracks 1, 3, 4, 6), assistant mixing(tracks 1–6, 8)
• Jess Jackson – mixing(tracks 1–6, 8)
• Andrew Dawson – mixing(tracks 2, 4, 5, 7)
• Stephen Feigenbaum – string arrangement(track 6)
• Yasmeen Al-Mazeedi – violin(tracks 3, 6)

• GOOD Fridays

• K.T.S.E. atDiscogs (list of releases)

• 2018 albums
• Teyana Taylor albums
• GOOD Music albums
• Def Jam Recordings albums
• Albums produced by Kanye West
• Albums produced by Mike Dean (record producer)
• Albums produced by Plain Pat
• Albums produced by Rodney Jerkins
• Albums produced by Mark Batson
• Albums produced by E*vax

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