Teairra Mari

The lovely Teairra Mari previewed her upcoming album At That Point (Fo Reel/Asylum/Warner Bros Records) for a media crowd at Legacy Studios in midtown Manhattan last night.

The 21-year-old songstress describes the R&B album as being “very near and dear to me”.

Teairra spoke to the audience candidly, saying “I never thought I’d release another album.” She described being dropped from Roc-A-Fella Records after the release of her 2005 debut, Roc-A-Fella Presents: Teairra Mari. “It’s the life I asked for and I got it. Unfortunately I got both ends of it, very early.”

Teairra received a phone call on her prom night in 2006 from Roc-A-Fella executives, where she was told that due to low unexpected album sales from her first album, the label decided to drop her as an artist. At last night’s session Teairra fondly described the late Shakir Stewart, who worked at the label at the time but didn’t have the power to save her contract, as “always being in my corner”.

Kiki, Teairra Mari and Boss Lady at her listening session

Check out the tracks from At That Point:

“I Know It’s You” (produced by Joachim Bynum)
Teairra says, “My manager originally didn’t like this track. About a year after we recorded it, he heard it somewhere (it leaked somehow) and he called me telling me how much he loved it!”

“Holla” (produced by Rico Love)
A song about female defiance, with lines like “I don’t want you to holla back” and “I’m giving you the deuces baby”.

“Sponsor” (produced by Z. Lewis, B. Muhammed, J. Phillips)
This is Teairra’s 2009 version of Destiny’s Child’s “Bills, Bills, Bills”. She explained that her and her girlfriends are all struggling college students and they’re all looking for a “sponsor” to get them through the hard times.

“Cause A Scene” featuring Flo-Rida (produced by The Runners)
An uptempo track that’s all about making noise. “I’m from Detroit, so you know I’m known to cause a scene,” says Teairra.

“Diamonds” featuring Kanye West (produced by Mad Scientist)
With the album’s biggest guest star (who knows the subject matter well), Teairra says this track is “about loving a man as much as I love diamonds”.

“Find My Way Back” (produced by Nephew)
Teairra describes this mid-tempo number: “I don’t want to say I always mess up situations, but sometimes I do, and I mess up good ones. This song is about finding my way back from that.”

“Hunt4U” featuring Pleasure P (produced by Rico Love)
“This one is about being in a relationship with someone and they begin to change”, Teairra says. “It’s about hunting for that sweet and humble person they used to be.”

“Automatic” featuring Nicki Minaj (produced by Rico Love)
Nicki Minaj brings the sexy on this high-energy cut that compares the best kind of love with drugs (“I’ll get you higher than a mutha”, Teairra sings). Nicki chimes in with brash lines like, “You know my coochie got ‘em lookin’ like Pookie“.

“Lights Go Down” (produced by Rico Love)
This one is basically a sweet, run-of-the-mill slow jam.

“Might Get Lucky” (produced by Rico Love)
Teairra jokingly describes this track as being all about “If you keep this up…then you might get lucky…get lucky meaning…’Automatic’!”

“Emergency” (produced by Rico Love)
On this cut (one of her favorites) Teairra attempts to capture the classic 1990′s feel of New York R&B (think Total, Faith Evans, etc).

“Operator” (produced by Rico Love)
This is one of the best tracks of the album, with a fun vibe that Teairra describes as being “similar to a 1970′s skate rink party”.

“Built For This” (produced by Oak)
The powerhouse final track that R&B albums are known for. We’ll leave it to Teairra to describe: “As I said, I didn’t think I’d get a second opportunity to record an album but I did – and I’m built for this. I want to show young people that the only person who can stop you is you.”

Listen to “Cause A Scene” featuring Flo-Rida:

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At That Point is out on November 17. Teairra Mari will be on a national promo tour in support of the album this fall.

Image Credit: Meeno

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