Does Teyana Taylor even know what day it is right now?
She arrived at Time magazine’s Women of the Year gala on Tuesday night in Hollywood in a bit of fog. Just the day before she was posing and smizing for cameras from her front row seat at the Chanel fashion show in Paris. “I just landed a few hours ago,” Taylor told me. “The show was yesterday. Now, I got to make sure I look good because you know that jet lag can whoop your ass.”
The musician-turned-actress has nothing to worry about. She arrived at the Time event in a gorgeous body-hugging black and brown Schiaparelli dress. Her makeup and hair? Perfection.
While in Paris, Taylor had her second fitting for her Oscar gown. “I was nearly in tears,” she says. “It’s so good. My final fitting is on Thursday. It’s so major. I can’t wait for you to see it.”
I ask her how she’s feeling about Sunday’s Academy Awards. “I am so nervous,” Taylor says. “I’m realizing this is about to come to an end and I really had a blast. There are all the friendships I made and all the beautiful people that I’ve enjoyed running into all awards season. I’m going to miss everybody. This whole journey has been so beautiful. I don’t take any of his for granted.”
Taylor recalls “retiring” from the music business in 2020. “I was like, ‘I’m going to pivot,’” she says. “I said, ‘I want to do other things that I love,’ and that is what I did. And then I got ‘A Thousand and One.’ So if it wasn’t for that retirement I don’t know if I’d be here today.” (She returned to music last year and earned her first Grammy nomination for her new album “Escape Room.”)
Teyana Taylor at the Chanel fashion show at the Grand Palais on March 9 in Paris.
WWD via Getty Images
Our chat gets interrupted by Mel Robbins, who says all she wants to do is give Taylor a hug. “Congratulations,” the podcast host, self-help guru and fellow Time honoree says. “We’re all rooting for you.”
Before Taylor takes her seat inside the ballroom, I ask her what she’d say today to her younger self. “I’d say, ‘Baby, I’m so proud of your patience. I’m proud that you never changed your heart,’” she says. “Through all the trials and tribulations, I’ve always walked in grace. Even when it hurt. I lean on my people and I say how I feel. When they’re able to talk me through it, I’m able to step outside like a champ.”
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