ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER Star Teyana Taylor Covers ELLE Magazine’s 2025 ‘Women in Hollywood’ Issue

Pin

ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER star Teyana Taylor covers ELLE magazine’s 2025 ‘Women in Hollywood’ issue photographed by Carin Backoff and styled by Alex White.

Pin

Pin

Teyana Taylor’s Era of Reinvention
The musician, director, and ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER standout has proven she can do it all. And she’s doing it her own way.

Teyana on the mantra she lives by:

“Honestly, the wait is not punishment; it’s preparation. A lot of times, when we’re going through something or things are not going our way, or in the timing that we want them to go, we keep asking, ‘But why?’ And it’s just understanding that it’s okay if something is not yours. Yes, it can hurt, but that was not for you. I used to pray for times like this to be in this position. Don’t harp on what’s not for you; no matter what that is, whether it is in the business, in a friendship, or in a relationship, I will be okay.”

Teyana on releasing Escape Room, following her five-year hiatus from music:
“I recorded this album on my terms. This is the most vulnerable work I’ve ever done; my label gave me a lot of support and freedom to do that. Sometimes, you’ve got to just shake the table. Some people believed, and some people didn’t believe in the vision I had, and that that made me go harder. Would I have been the same Inez if I didn’t go through that? Would I have been the same Perfidia? Would I be the creative artist that I am today if I hadn’t gone through that break?”

Teyana on what Perfidia, her character in One Battle, taught her:

“Perfidia is unapologetically herself, and those are the parts of her that inspire me because I feel, as a Black woman, when we are at that level of confidence, we’re told that we’re too loud. When we say nothing at all, we’re told that we need to stand up. We stay, we’re weak. We go, we’re the problem. I can appreciate Perfidia standing on what she believes in.”

Editor-in-chief: Nina Garcia
Photographer: Carin Backoff
Stylist: Alex White
Writer: Nerisha Penrose
Hair: Lateafa Alvaranga
Makeup: Yeika
Manicure: Sarah Chue at Star Touch Agency

[Photo Credit: Carin Backoff for ELLE Magazine]

• Alex White
• Carin Backoff
• Editorials
• ELLE
• Lateafa Alvaranga
• Magazines
• Sarah Chue
• Teyana Taylor
• Yeika