Few artists have had the almost sudden rise in popularity as Teezo Touchdown has. Coming out with his first piece of music on streaming only back in 2019, he has spent the last 5 years building up not the largest, but one of the most passionate fan bases in alternative music.
Since the beginning, Teezo has been an artist that refuses to be labeled. While his first song, "Slice" may just be your basic psychedelic trap cut that any aspiring rapper would put out, his following singles would showcase his versatility. Some singles continued in more of a rap lane, and some of them were much more indie/r&b inspired. Most importantly though, they all showcased Teezo’s uniqueness. Whether that be his strange vocal inflections that range from the Midwest emo accent to his natural Southern accent, there’s something about each song that makes it feel like no one else could have made it, at least the same way. Teezo Touchdown would keep releasing singles for roughly another year and only nine singles in, Teezo Touchdown somehow landed a feature on Tyler, the Creator’s last album, CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST, specifically the song "RUNITUP." Going in, I, and I’m assuming most people, had absolutely no idea who this was, but leaving the track, I was pleasantly surprised. He only does the outro, but he delivers his vocals with his signature punkiness that scratches a certain itch in my brain. Following this, it seemed like Teezo really found his footing. His next single "I’m Just A Fan" is a great precursor into what some of his future music would sound like. Indie pop with just enough pizazz to make it more interesting than what other artists in his lane were making. The way he dressed certainly contributed to his rise too.
As far back as 2020, Teezo had been rocking one of the most interesting styles in music. He dressed sort of punk and vintage, which isn’t uncommon for someone in his lane, but something that is uncommon in general is having your hair be made of nails. Like, the nails used for construction. That was his hair. This is honestly one of the most genius self-marketing strategies I have ever seen. If you saw just one picture of him, it garnered immediate interest. I remember seeing TikToks he made back in 2021, explaining how he gets his hair done, but he would leave it just vague enough to where you would still be confused. It was genuinely one of the smartest marketing tactics I’ve seen in music. (After blowing up in 2023, he ended up getting rid of the nails, and I think he rocks less sharp and pointy wigs now.)
Following the substantial increase in popularity he had attained, he performed at some festivals including Lollapalooza (where I actually saw him at!) Sadly, I only knew "RUNITUP," and I didn’t care for the rest of his songs, and I remember rating it a 4/10. 2022 was a pretty quiet year for him, as he only really had some features here and there. However, 2023 was Teezo’s breakout year. In the beginning of the year, he landed two notable features, one on a Don Toliver album, and the other on Lil Yachty’s psychedelic rock album Let’s Start Here. While both may not be as big as his Tyler, the Creator feature, they are still pretty successful in their own right.
After this, he officially started his debut album rollout with the single "Familiarity," a song about making a name for yourself and living out your dreams, which was quite fitting for the stage of his life he was about to embark on. After this, he released the single "5 O’Clock," which is the first time I really paid attention to Teezo’s solo music. I liked this song so much, I ended up making a fake music video for it, which Teezo himself actually noticed and commented on! (Still one of the best days of my life, even though he asked me to send it to him, which I did, and he never responded again.) Teezo actually does this kind of thing a lot – Not the not responding thing, but the interacting with his fans! If you follow him on social media, you will see how much this guy does it. In interviews, he shows off a phone he has that he says is specifically for fans to call and talk to him if they want to. Whenever he releases a new song, he consistently reposts anyone who uses that song in their Instagram stories or videos or anything. Besides my own music video, I’ve seen him comment on other fanmade videos and artwork. He just seems to be a very down-to-earth guy! This could all be an act, but until I’ve heard that he’s secretly a terrible person, I am going to choose to believe he’s just a cool guy.
Continuing along in his discography, his next big feature would be on Travis Scott’s last album UTOPIA. This is an undeniable step up in the amount of eyes that will be on you than any other album he had been featured on up to this point. It helps that he absolutely killed his feature, even though it may be short. After this feature, he began to rollout his next album. He released a ton of promotional videos for this next album, titled after a question he would receive a lot on social media due to his interesting hairstyle– How Do You Sleep At Night? I don’t want to turn this into an album review, so I am going to keep it brief, but this is one of my favorite albums I have heard in a long time. It is the perfect blend of being extremely corny, while also being genuinely fun to listen to. He experiments with a ton of different genres here from rock, to bedroom pop, r&b, punk, funk, rap, and even an EDM song at the very end. This sounds like it would make for an excruciatingly bad album, but in my opinion, he does it all to a pretty good level. Even though Teezo keeps the album pretty unserious, he manages to land some heartfelt moments on this album. The tracks "Daddy Mama Drama" and "Impossible" give me chills every time. Also, do not even get me started on how good the song "UUHH" is. That song has done irreparable damage to my personality, it just makes me so happy. He uses this auto-tuned, pitch-corrected vocal inflection on the song, and many others, that just has the most addicting place in my brain. The one song on here that does not work for me at all is "Too Easy," as it is trying to be some stadium-rock banger, but it just falls flat on its face for me. However, the album is a great showcase of the amount of potential that Teezo has as an artist.
Despite my love for this album, it sadly came out to mixed reception. Some people just think Teezo is too corny, which is understandable, but the key to his music is to just not take him too seriously. Even after this mixed reception, Teezo would earn his largest co-sign yet, with recently defamed rapper Drake. On Drake’s latest album For All The Dogs, Teezo would land two features! One is a proper credited feature on the song "Amen," and the other is uncredited on the song "7969 Santa." In my opinion, he absolutely carries both of these songs, and I think that’s the general consensus online from what I’ve seen. Even if he had done badly on these songs though, him even being on this album is such a massive co-sign. He went from having almost no crowd at Lollapalooza 2 years prior, to making his way onto 4 big studio albums, while making his own album, in the same year.
This perseverance is something that has also led to the rise of Teezo. He touches on it a lot in his music. On the song "Impossible" off of his debut album, the chorus is him asking “Who said that it would be impossible?” The verses are all about people telling you that you can’t do something, because you’re too old, not smart enough, or not strong enough, and the message is about telling the naysayers no, and doing what YOU want to do. It’s messages like that that make Teezo such a fun artist to be a fan of. He is the pinnacle of chasing your dreams, and believing in yourself, even when no one else does. At the time of writing this, he is only 31! In an industry that places such a strong emphasis on getting big at the youngest age possible, he is an outlier in the best way possible. Teezo Touchdown’s future is looking better than it ever has. He released the deluxe version of How Do You Sleep At Night? in January, and it contained 3 absolutely amazing tracks. "Third Coast" is one of my favorite songs of the year, and it will inevitably be in my Spotify Wrapped in a couple of months.
Now, he is in the midst of starting his sophomore album rollout, and I cannot wait. Even if you are not a fan of his music, I think it’s impossible not to be a fan of him just as an icon. Keep your eyes on Teezo Touchdown in the future!
