Teyana Taylor transformed into a sexy fembot for the television debut performance of “Long Time” at the 2025 BET Awards on Monday night (June 9).
While the show’s host Kevin Hart was too busy pretending to be Usher by trying to feed Tisha Campbell and Tichina Arnold cherries while wearing a fuzzy red coat, Kerry Washington stepped in to take over his duties at the Peacock Theater at L.A. Live. “It’s her first BET performance. She’s in a class of her own,” Washington announced before Hart interjected with a quip: “If it’s her first performance, it sounds like we popping her cherry!”
But nothing seemed that sweet once the lights dimmed. Women dressed in all-red held burning bouquets of roses on the smoky stage, while Taraji P. Henson — who floated in a high-necked white gown with burn holes at the bottom — delivered an impassioned monologue about how a relationship left her in ruins, but she would rise from the ashes like a phoenix.
Three robotic female dancers then appeared before the Harlem-bred multihyphenate floated above the stage looking like Japanese illustrator Hajime Sorayama’s famous sleek fembots while performing “Long Time.” The pulsating club track served as the perfect sonic backdrop for her and her dancers’ glitchy choreo.
“Long Time” is the lead single from Taylor’s upcoming fourth studio album Escape Room, which is due in August via Def Jam. This marks the end of her five-year musical hiatus: Taylor hasn’t dropped an album since 2020’s The Album.
