Teairra Marí

Like her album title boldly suggests, Teairra Maria Thomas is At That Point. The sultry twenty one-year-old singer, known to her fans as the one-time Princess of the Roc, has reached that stage in her blossoming career where her maturity, life's journey, and the sheer force of her determination have climaxed into a collection of evocative songs, ranging from the ultra sexy to the classically timeless. Teairra Mari may be young, but she's far from inexperienced.
"I'm at that point where I've experienced growth, I feel better about myself, and I feel that I can do anything. I just feel good," Teairra Mari declares. "I feel like I'm not gonna turn back, there's no way possible on Earth that I'm going back, whether its Detroit or to the beginning of my career. Not in a bad way, but in a way where I'm saying I'm only moving forward. I'm at that point. At that point where I know what it takes now to move forward."
With a strong foundation, that includes a Top 10 hit on the Billboard R&B charts with the hip hop tinged "Make Her Feel Good" and the accompanying videos ("No Daddy," et al) that garnered rotation on BET and MTV, progress shouldn't be a worry for Teairra Mari. The Detroit native burst onto the scene in a major way in 2005 with her debut album, Roc-A-Fella Presents: Teairra Mari. She was hand-picked by Jay-Z to be the new female face of the historic rap label. The move was one of the first executive decisions the iconic rapper made when he assumed presidential control at Def Jam Records.
"In high school I always told my friends, their mothers, their fathers that I was gonna be famous before I turn 18 and before I turned 18 I got my first record deal and I was doing my thing. I held good to my promise and that's what I have to keep doing in life, setting those goals in my life for me to reach."
The brassy singer was soon heralded by music critics. All Music Guide wrote her "pouty delivery and assertive lyrics" reminded listeners of a young Teena Marie. As a rising star she was featured on the cover of seminal urban magazine XXL.
However, as the music industry began to wane during the onset of the digital age, Teairra Mari found herself on the end of a swift cost-cutting measure when she was released from her recording contract. To make matter worse, she received the notice on her prom night of all days. Confused, the starlet was embarrassed by the public rejection and although she remains friends with Jay-Z and her former label mates today, she confesses that she was crushed at the time.
"I was so young that I didn't know business from personal relationships," she readily admits now. "I didn't know the difference. When I came in to the game and everyone opened up in a personal way, I got attached to that. It was fun, but it was a business, too."
Teairra regrouped back home, in East Detroit, with the help of the two women who molded her; her gospel-touting grandmother who raised her since she was 6 weeks old on a steady diet of Motown Soul and her scrappy birth mother, who had the singer when she was only 15 and whom Teairra describes as a "hustler." The two females reinforced the lessons they taught their daughter when she was growing up in the hard-luck neighborhood. It was during this period that she connected with music industry veteran Cudda Love, who managed multi-platinum rappers Mase and Nelly in the past.
Their paths had crossed before when Teairra's career was first getting started. Once they reunited in Los Angeles, their musical chemistry clicked as if they'd been working with each other from day one. Teairra quickly relocated to California and soon buzz singles like the Pleasure P-assisted "Hunt 4 U" and "Diamonds" featuring Kanye West were crafted.
"This world is a place where you have to show people. And you have to keep showing them. I know people counted me out. But I'll always keep in my head that quitters never win and winners never quit. Those are two great reasons for me to keep going. I don't want to prove any detractors right. I want people to know this is in my heart and this is not something I decided to do just because someone decided to give me a track. This is something I wanted to do my whole life."
She packs a lifetime of influences, from Tina Turner to Michael Jackson to Sade, on her sophomore set, At This Point.
Working with a small team of writers and producers, such as Rico Love (Usher, Ciara, Beyonce), and collaborators like Lil Wayne-affiliate Nicki Minaj, the album showcases the full breadth of the young woman that is Teairra Mari: bold, dashing, flirty, vulnerable and defiant.
"Built For This," with its staccato drums and blaring horn, is the anthem for the young singer's travels, within and outside the rigors of the music industry over the past four years. "Automatic" is her sassy, head-nodding track featuring Nick Minaj that's custom-made for a hot lady's night on the town. The Rico Love-penned "Lights Go Down," co-written by Teairra Mari, is a sensual, slow burner that highlights her honey-smooth vocals.
"I'll let my hair down and we'll do some things that are incredible/pull me in close and put your hands all over my body," she sings over the piano-backed number.
"That's a very sexy record. It's a song you can make babies to," she says, laughing. "Which is what I was brought up on, from Adina Howard to Jodeci. I know how to make a baby making record."
Other standout tracks include the sprightly "Emergency," her call for help after falling for the wrong type of guy and the bouncy "Operator," the New Edition-inspired number where she longs for a detached lover.
"I want people to know I make mistakes. I'm the type of girl, I didn't always have a mother to teach me on this journey, she says . "So I'm on this journey of life and I don't always know which direction to go, but I'm gonna try to be the best person I can be and try to go in the right direction. If not, I'll regroup again. Nobody is perfect. But we're all just trying to find a way."
She's certainly at that point now where she's found it.