Teyana Taylor opens Long Time with a line that lands like a slap, not a sigh, setting up a confrontation instead of an introduction.
From the first moment, she lays bare a wound she’s clearly been living with, not just nursing.
Released June 4, 2025, as the lead single for her upcoming album Escape Room, it marks her return after a five-year hiatus, and she doesn’t just show up. She storms in, fire at her heels.
Teyana Taylor’s Long Time is a fierce breakup track that explores emotional burnout, delayed closure, and self-reclamation following a relationship that lingered too long.
Produced by Rico Love and The Runners, the track kicks off with a choked-back “Oh no,” like the moment you realise you stayed too long in a place that kept shrinking.
What follows is a beat that pulses like a bruise, paired with echoing vocal loops that feel like you’re trapped inside the memory she’s trying to leave
“How you gon’ punish a punisher? You out here stressing your blessings, boo.”
She leads with an accusation wrapped in swagger. It’s not just a break-up song—it’s a character assassination dressed in silk.
She calls out a partner who couldn’t recognise her loyalty as a gift, flipping the blame on someone who took her resilience for granted.
“You know I bring out the best in you, turn into fame while I’m sexing you”
This line is deliberately raw. She acknowledges her role in their rise, reminding the listener of the intimacy that fuelled something bigger than just love.
“When you ain’t right, I go left with you, but now there’s nothing else left to do”
Here, she surrenders. It’s the exhaustion of bending so much you lose shape.
If there was still any doubt this song was autobiographical, it fades in this line—a weary exit.
“I kept you inspired / I lent you my fire / You let me get tired”
It’s a brutal trio. Taylor isn’t just pointing fingers; she’s cataloguing the slow erosion of her spirit.
It’s the energy transfer that happens when one partner burns while the other just basks.
“And the truth is, I didn’t end when it was over / Baby, it’s been over a long time”
Possibly the most devastating line. The relationship didn’t end when it ended—it just faded into a hollow routine. The chorus becomes a delayed reaction to the damage.
“Should’ve been walked out this bitch a long time”
She repeats it, with each loop stacking emotional weight. It’s not remorseful; it’s liberating.
The repetition is not just for rhythm—it mimics how we talk to ourselves when trying to convince our hearts of what our heads already know.
“Baby, it’s been over”
She strips the production down here, letting the line echo. It’s less sung, more exhaled. The break is intentional—a moment of clarity that feels like standing in silence after slamming a door.
The chorus returns, almost mocking in how true it rings now. With the production swelling behind her one last time, she closes the loop—and the door.
The video is cinematic, filled with fire and blood and high-fashion vengeance.
Teyana moves through the wreckage with intent—heels clicking, flames behind her, but never distracting from the direction she’s already chosen.
From locking LaKeith Stanfield in a room to being rescued by Aaron Pierre in a glossy noir sequence, she lets the fantasy run parallel to the narrative—healing isn’t linear, and sometimes it needs a little theatre.
The song clocks in under two minutes but feels massive. The first half pulses with club-ready defiance.
The second half edges into ballad territory, soaring but scorched. She blends genres the way she blends roles: singer, director, storyteller.
This release feels less like a comeback and more like a declaration—a moment that rewrites the rules rather than seeking validation.
Teyana’s visual storytelling has long drawn praise, but Long Time shifts the spotlight back to the rawness in her voice and the precision in her pen.
Long Time reminds us she’s both. The video plays like a standalone short film. The song feels like a confession left on a loop.
And for fans watching her divorce from Iman Shumpert unfold in real time, it plays uncomfortably close to the bone.
She’s not just back. She’s rearchitecting the stage she was once left off of. And she’s been done. For a long time.
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Teyana Taylor Long Time Lyrics
Intro
Oh, no
Verse
How you gon’ punish a punisher? You out here stressing your blessings, boo
You know I bring out the best in you, turn into fame while I’m sexing you
I did the crimes on the run with you, taking the charge, I’m confessing too
When you ain’t right, I go left with you, but now there’s nothing else left to do
Pre-Chorus]
I kept you inspired (Inspired)
I lent you my fire (Fire)
You let me get tired (Tired)
And the truth is, I didn’t end when it was over (Over)
Baby, it’s been over a long time
Didn’t end whеn it was over (Didn’t end when it was ovеr)
Now the door is closed for closure
Chorus
Should’ve been walked out this bitch a long time (Long time, long time, long time)
Should’ve been walked out this bitch a long time (Long time, long time, long time)
Should’ve been walked out this bitch a long time (Long time, long time, long time, long time, long time, long time)
Bridge
Baby, it’s been over
Baby, it’s been over
Baby, it’s been over
Baby, it’s been over
Outro
Should’ve been walked out this bitch a long time (Long time, long time, long time)
(Long time, long time, long time)
(Long time, long time, long time)
Should’ve been walked out this bitch a long time
