Iman Shumpert says it’s “tough to watch” wife Teyana Taylor retire from the music career she’s worked so hard to build after feeling her efforts were underappreciated by institutional forces.
“It’s tough,” Shumpert tells The Post. “It’s tough to watch because I’m there. I see the work she puts in. I see the frustrations that happen with everyone not agreeing on an idea. I see the frustrations that happen when the rollout doesn’t go as planned because somebody drops the ball.”
Shumpert, 31, who is a finalist on the current season of “Dancing With the Stars,” which wraps Monday, has been married to Taylor, 30, since 2016. Taylor announced her retirement from music in December 2020, one month after ripping the Grammy’s for only nominating male artists for Best R&B Album.
“Y’all was better off just saying best MALE R&B ALBUM cause all I see is d—k in this category,” Taylor tweeted in November 2020.
In April of this year, Taylor —who is currently on her farewell tour — sounded off on Kanye West’s “G.O.O.D. Music” record label, stating she was “underappreciated.”
“I am going to feel underappreciated if I’m putting in 110 percent and my label is giving me … what, 10 percent of that,” Taylor said at the time.
“I put in a lot of work [and] I felt like the label wasn’t really hearing me and [seeing] me. I feel underappreciated. It’s not that I retired permanently, it’s more like, I don’t want to move another inch for a company,” she said.
Shumpert says he “understood” Taylor’s frustrations “probably a little more than everybody else.”
“I’ve seen how the blame is usually placed on the artist just because people have nowhere else to disperse their anger or wanting to hear and receive the music in a certain way. I understood her frustrations probably a little more than everybody else, so it does hit me a little differently,” the former Knicks guard said.
As to whether or not Taylor might one day reconsider and return to music, Shumpert said “that’s up to her.”
Shumpert, meanwhile, is gearing up for the Season 30 finale of “Dancing With the Stars,” hoping to hoist the Mirror Ball trophy with his dance partner, Daniella Karagach. Shumpert also addressed if there’s any awkwardness about putting an extended amount of time into a physical activity with a woman who is not his wife.
“I think that the styles of dancing that we do, there’s nothing really sexualized, so it’s not really an issue for me,” Shumpert said.
“I think that Dani being married, myself being married, there’s a lot of respect between us with even putting choreo in there that’s just not fitting to what it is. What I’m learning is that there are dances that you do just as friends. There are dances you do in frame with a woman that are not super sexualized. It’s just more so about enjoying yourself, enjoying the song that’s playing, enjoying the night.”
In addition to Shumpert and Karagach, Peloton’s Cody Rigsby and his partner, Cheryl Burke, are also competing in Monday’s “Dancing With the Stars” finale, as well as YouTube personality JoJo Siwa and Jenna Johnson, and Amanda Kloots of “The Talk” and Alan Bersten.
As for the experience itself with Karagach, Shumpert believes the “Dancing With the Stars” audience has “fallen in love with watching [them] perform as friends.”
“I think that Dani and I hang our hat on respect and trust and us understanding that it’s not either one of our brands to try to sell that for the people. It’s more about us learning these dances, doing them well, and giving a great show,” Shumpert said. “I think people have fallen in love with watching us perform as friends rather than see something that’s not there.”
The “Dancing With the Stars” finale gets underway Monday at 8 p.m. on ABC. To vote for Shumpert, you can text Iman to 21523 up to 10 times after the show begins.
