Teedra Moses has to be one of the most underrated singers in the business. She’s got one of the most beautiful voices I’ve heard in a long time, the ability to write lyrics that any woman can relate to, and a debut album that I swear you can let play without skipping any tracks. She was supposed to be a star, but something in her held her back from commercial success. But to her fans, she’s a woman in her own league–and we love her for that.
There are many opinions on why Ms. Moses never made it big time, with the most common speculation being that she is just way too talented to go the traditional booty shaking and plastic sex kitten route that the industry executives shove down the throats of most female artists.
Although she isn’t smiling at us from the covers of Essence and Ebony like some of the others, she is still very much in love with music, and has managed to hold on to her love despite mainstream’s rejection.
She recently chatted it up with Madem Noire, and explained why she won’t be landing any major endorsements or crossing over to the dark side of Pop Princess any soon:
“You have to have a drive for that kind of thing. You gotta want that. I can’t say I want fame as much as I just want to be appreciated as a talented artist. And I think I did that. My s— is so random. I could be somewhere and somebody says, ‘are you Teedra Moses.’ It just makes my day. I don’t know if I’d want it to be to a point where I don’t appreciate that. I can’t tell you why, but part of it is a desire for it. And I have more of a desire to be really good at what I do, more than just being famous.
This is going to come off real arrogant, but I mean it in the most humble way: I feel like I was born to be a rock star.
And I feel like I am somebody special rather you know it or the next person knows it, it’s just how I feel. It has nothing to do with the next person being less than me or greater than me. I just feel like I’m special. God dropped something in me. I guess because I don’t have that desire and need for fame I don’t compete with anybody but me. It’s really hard to please myself, hence taking forever to put out an album. I just live in my own little world. Maybe if I lived outside of myself more thought about what people thought… and wanted to be on the cover of every magazine I would be. And I truly believe that, I just never had the desire for that. The initial thing was I just wanted to make an album and I just wanted somebody that I love to hear it and like it. Now I can say I wrote a song for Mary. J. Blige. You can’t tell me I ain’t made it! [Laugh]That’s making it to me.”
I honestly respect her choice, as well as understand that some people rather have the music over the fame. Teedra Moses makes great music, and she doesn’t need any glossy magazine covers to be the talented artist that she really is. Her debut album Complex Simplicity is a true classic that will never age, and sadly there are millions who have no idea just who this woman is or how much her music touches the soul.
In the meantime, musically, she’s my favorite little secret.
To read the entire interview, click here.
Complex Simplicity is one of my favorite albums of all time. She's too talented for mainstream, and she won't water it down to become a super star. And that's fine if that's how she really feels. As long as she keeps pursuing music, I'm happy for her.