TIME 100: Teyana Taylor and GloRilla Amongst 2025’s Prime Influencers

When TIME journal unveiled its extremely anticipated TIME 100 most influential listing for 2025, the music world instantly took discover. This outstanding listing, is admired and revered all through Hollywood for highlighting the largest and brightest stars.

Among the many groundbreaking artists, political figures, and cultural leaders shaping the long run, two names stood out within the leisure class: Teyana Taylor and GloRilla.

Each girls signify completely different however equally highly effective sides of the music business — one a multi-hyphenate artistic drive redefining artistry and storytelling, the opposite a breakout rap sensation who continues to dominate charts and alter narratives. Their inclusion on TIME’s prestigious listing will not be solely a celebration of their private achievements but additionally a mirrored image of the place music, tradition, and affect are headed.

TIME 100 Most Influential: A Snapshot of the Cultural Pulse

Yearly, TIME releases its TIME 100 most influential listing, spotlighting leaders, innovators, and disruptors shaping the world throughout politics, know-how, activism, and the humanities. The “Subsequent” class specifically highlights rising stars and cultural forces set to outline the subsequent era.

“This listing is about greater than celeb — it’s about influence,” mentioned TIME editor Sam Jacobs within the official announcement. “It’s in regards to the artists and thinkers who usually are not solely on the forefront of their fields however who’re shaping the dialog itself.”

In 2025, alongside names like Tate McRae, Becky G, and Rema, Teyana Taylor and GloRilla are acknowledged for his or her distinctive contributions to music, illustration, and the cultural zeitgeist.

Teyana Taylor: The Multi-Hyphenate Artistic Powerhouse

From her early days as a teenage performer signed to Pharrell Williams’ Star Trak label to changing into one of the dynamic artists of her era, Teyana Taylor has constructed a profession outlined by creativity and reinvention.

Born in Harlem, New York, Taylor first gained consideration as a dancer and choreographer earlier than launching her personal music profession. Her breakout album, VII (2014), showcased her sultry vocals and basic R&B influences, whereas Okay.T.S.E. (2018), produced by Kanye West, solidified her as one among R&B’s most genuine voices.

However Taylor’s artistry extends far past the studio. She’s an achieved director — helming music movies for artists like Lil Durk, Latto, and Monica — and an acclaimed actress, just lately starring in A Thousand and One, which earned reward on the Sundance Movie Competition. In 2025, she’s additionally producing Oscar buzz for her position in Paul Thomas Anderson’s upcoming movie One Battle After One other, proving that her vary is aware of no bounds.

What really units Taylor aside is her capability to embody the trendy definition of affect: multidimensional, fearless, and unapologetically herself. Whether or not she’s breaking style norms on the purple carpet, championing Black motherhood, or curating reside experiences that mix music and visible artwork, Taylor continues to push the boundaries of what an entertainer could be.

“Affect isn’t nearly what you do on stage,” Taylor advised TIME in a current interview. “It’s about the way you make folks really feel and the doorways you open for others.”

GloRilla: The Voice of a New Technology in Hip-Hop

On the other finish of the spectrum — however equally impactful — is GloRilla, the Memphis-born rapper who has change into one among hip-hop’s most enjoyable and essential new voices.

Born Gloria Hallelujah Woods, GloRilla exploded onto the scene along with her 2022 breakout hit F.N.F. (Let’s Go), a uncooked and unapologetic anthem of feminine empowerment that shortly grew to become a cultural phenomenon. Her follow-up singles Tomorrow 2 (that includes Cardi B) and Blessed additional established her as a rising drive, mixing street-savvy storytelling with mainstream attraction.

What makes GloRilla’s affect so vital — and her placement on the TIME 100 most influential listing so deserved — is her authenticity. In an period when viral hits come and go, GloRilla’s music feels rooted in lived expertise. She’s not simply rapping in regards to the tradition; she’s shaping it.

Over the previous yr, GloRilla has used her platform to advocate for girls in hip-hop, mentor rising artists from Memphis, and push for extra illustration of Southern rap voices in mainstream media. She’s additionally getting ready to launch her personal document label imprint, signaling a brand new part of her profession as each artist and government.

“GloRilla jogs my memory of the early days of Missy Elliott and Lil’ Kim,” mentioned one business government. “She’s not following traits — she’s creating them.”

Cultural Affect: Why Their Affect Issues

What unites Teyana Taylor and GloRilla — past their music — is how they’ve redefined what energy and affect appear to be for girls in leisure. They don’t seem to be simply performers however businesswomen, storytellers, and cultural leaders whose work resonates far past streaming charts.

For Taylor, that affect comes from her relentless pursuit of artistic management and inventive freedom. For GloRilla, it’s about breaking down limitations for Southern girls in rap and proving that authenticity sells simply as a lot as business polish.

Their recognition on the TIME 100 most influential listing underscores a broader shift in music: one which values individuality, illustration, and cultural authenticity over formulaic success. In some ways, Taylor and GloRilla usually are not simply on the listing — they are the listing’s future.

The Way forward for Affect in Music

The music business is evolving, and so is the that means of affect. As streaming algorithms, social media, and AI reshape how music is made and consumed, artists like Teyana Taylor and GloRilla remind us that human connection and cultural relevance nonetheless matter most.

Their choice to the TIME 100 most influential listing isn’t only a nod to what they’ve already achieved — it’s a prediction of the influence they’ll proceed to have in years to return. Each girls signify the subsequent chapter of music: boundary-pushing, genre-blending, and culturally resonant.

As TIME’s Sam Jacobs put it: “They don’t simply signify the way forward for music. They signify the way forward for affect itself.”

Representing Aspiring Entertainers In every single place

The TIME 100 most influential listing of 2025 captures a pivotal second in music and tradition. Teyana Taylor and GloRilla’s inclusion displays extra than simply their expertise — it displays their energy to encourage, lead, and redefine what affect means within the twenty first century.

From Harlem to Memphis, from R&B phases to hip-hop arenas, their journeys are proof that authenticity, creativity, and cultural influence are the true currencies of affect. And as each girls proceed to evolve, one factor is obvious: that is solely the start of their legacy.