Back during Diddy’s MTV Making the Band era, we’ve seen a bunch of groups start strong and fade as the years pass. Danity Kane was the most recent MTB group to disband until today, it was announced by Willie Taylor to KarenCivil.com that his former R&B group Day26 was the latest to part ways. The reasoning is in a grey area, with numerous factors playing a role, including possibly the fact that all five members (Mike, Rob, Brian, Que) met during a competition and we’re forced to play on the same team rather than choosing to do so. History has shown that artists being on reality TV just to have their group break up midway through their careers haven’t done well, but the case might be slanted in the case of Willie Taylor, the Chi-town R&B crooner who aligned with the other four members on August 26, 2007, in front of a packed crowd in the heart of New York City. Now, he’s about to re-introduce himself –literally–not as the “Day26 singer,” but as Willie Taylor, the solo artist by dropping a mixtape near the end of this summer entitled the Reintroduction of Willie Taylor followed by his yet-to-be named debut solo album. After recently dropping the fun- summer instagram anthem for the ladies entitled, “Instagram Ya Body” featuring his little cousin Jeremih, Taylor is here to prove to the fans he’s ready to shine on his own, minus his former group. KarenCivil.com caught up with Taylor as we spoke about his newest projects, including his newfound love for the big screen, the influence R. Kelly has on his music, his ability to create a song from even the most random topics, hence, Instagram, and of course, the Day26 situation and when they had really parted ways months prior.

Interview by Michael Nguyen

Before I get to the music, I noticed your Twitter bio says, “Actor.” Is that something you’ll put right up there with the music, or just a side thing?
At first it was just a side thing and then I got a couple roles. I did a movie called “Note to Self” with Christian Keyes. At first, I was just doing it because they asked me to and I auditioned, but now I really found a love for it so I think it’s serious. I have an acting coach and I’m pursuing more roles and I consider myself an actor now.

Do you ever worry you’ll end up in like a Justin Timberlake-type scenario where acting just overtakes your music career?
No because music has always been my first love. It’s like my first child and then acting came on a little later. I will never let it overtake it but I will definitely pursue it.

Who’s your favorite actor?
Ah man, I have a lot of them but definitely Will Smith and Denzel Washington.

Are you going to do something similar to the father/son situation with Will and Jaden Smith by having your son Kavion in some roles, too?
He’s a talented kid but I don’t want to pressure him to do anything. Right now we’re just taking it step by step but if he finds a love for it, then of course I’ll bring him in.

Has the number of followers on your instagram gone up since Tuesday?
Oh yeah. The numbers are retarded. They keep going up. The views are really good. We had a whole lot of good and some bad. The negative comments came from people who hadn’t even listened to the song and judged it by “Instagram” being the title. People need to open up their minds because I’m a creative writer. I’ll write love songs but I want to create things where you don’t normally hear about and turn it into a song. To me, I think every thing is a song because when you listen to it, you’ll figure out that this dude is really creative. That’s how I’ve always been and that’s what I want to bring to the game.

Basically, you’re saying you can create a song out of anything.
Anything. My first mixtape was “Sextape” and I did “Knock it out the Park,” which is taking baseball into a sexual world. It’s with everything. Instrgram Ya Body is like telling your girl to take a picture because she’s so beautiful and she wants to share it with the world. There are all types of records that I want to make because those are the records I feel are missing in today’s R&B. I idolized R. Kelly. He’s really good at taking topics you normally wouldn’t hear and turn it into a dope record. I think that’s just creative writing.

Like you said with taking pictures, you got to be careful with who you send those pictures too, right?
Most definitely. [Laughs]

Who are some of your favorite people to follow on instagram?
Man, I have a lot. I don’t have favorites but there’s a lot of people on there. One thing about women is that women like to be appreciated and complimented. When you see a woman and she’s putting up a bunch of pictures –women love the site and they’ll go ridiculous on there. When they look good, they’ll put it out there. The comments pour in. “You’re so beautiful,” “Wow!” you know, women like that. When you give them that attention, you’re getting closer to that woman.

What makes Jeremih the perfect complimentary guy for the record?
First off, he’s my little cousin. We’ve been in the studio making a lot of different records. This is the first one we actually released. I thought it would be dope because he has an incredible flow and I’m a fan of him as well. When I reached out for the record, he liked it and we went in on it. We had a lot to say, a catchy hook and it’s something we feel can make women feel sexy and comfortable to.

Are we going to see more from you guys?
Most definitely. I actually did a record with him on his mixtape, which is like a letter to the fans, which is a dope record. His mixtape is going to be incredible as well. We have other records in the works and I’m working on my solo album as well. That will be something we’re putting together in the works and you’ll definitely see more collaborations.

I was actually going to ask you about that. So the solo album is next up on your list?
Yeah. It’s my mixtape that will be out in August and then following that, I’m going to drop the first single to my album.

Do you have a target release date for the album?
Nah. I don’t have a target date as of now. I’m just going to make the mixtape as hard as I possibly can and then I’ll let the fans tell me when I should put the album out. If it’s in high demand, and I need to get out more music right away, then that’s what I’ll do. I’m recording everyday so I’ll never be in a position where I’ll never have the music. I’ve always been a writer and I’ve always been recording on a daily basis. I got music. I got a good 3-4 albums right now but I want to make sure I can put out the best music possible to represent my brand.

How do you decide which tracks make it onto the album when you have such a wide variety to choose from in your library?
A lot of my music is like my children. I would love them all the same. I have a real strict team that I bring to the house and have them sit down and listen to the records. They’re fans of me but at the same time, they’re truthful. They’ll tell me what’s cool and what they like. My team, my yes men know that if it ain’t on their list, then they’re ready to roll. I really trust that team. If it gets past them, then I know I got something.

That new album, is it going to be a lot of that baby-making, R&B slow jam type of sound?
I’m going to keep it open. People have to understand who I am but they can’t put me in a sexual box. I don’t want to be in a sexual box because I write about everything. I write about real-life stuff, real emotion, and fun stuff like the “Instagram” record. I write about a lot of stuff so I’ll keep it open and broad. Of course, I’m never going to stray too far away from the sexual music because that’s deeply rooted inside of me. Trust me when I tell you that the Re-Introduction of Willie Taylor will have some incredible sexual records on it.

You mentioned R. Kelly earlier. Are a lot of your sexual/love records going to have that R. Kelly influence?
Most definitely. I’m from Chicago, so we heard some R. Kelly music that the world hasn’t even heard. I mean R. Kelly is the king out here. We listen to him a lot growing up. It’s R. Kelly influenced but at the end of the day, it has a twist since you never want to be strictly compared to someone and you want to bring your own stuff to the table.

And what about the wifey? Is she cool with the sexual lyrics, and music videos with video chicks?
Of course. She understands my craft. She met me while doing this and she understands –I wrote a couple records for her group back in the day. She understands the whole madness behind Willie Taylor.

So what’s the situation right now with Day 26?
As of right now, no. We’re all doing the solo thing. I wish everybody well. At the end of the day, in every interview I do, I tell them that Day 26 is by far one of my favorite groups. I think the talent in that group is amazing. It’s too bad certain things in the group couldn’t happen and we had to part ways. Will we get back together? Who knows? It’s all in the air but right now I’m just focused on this Willie Taylor movement.

So now it’s all about moving on from the past.
Most definitely.

When did that become official?
It became official a couple months ago but we couldn’t really speak on it. We couldn’t say much because we had to make sure everything was in order to speak on it but now it’s okay to talk about it. It’s not a bad situation, but it’s a situation that happens all the time. It’s one of those things we couldn’t change.

So what’s your relationship right now with the other three guys in the group? Are you still cool with them?
The majority of the group, yeah. I’m cool with most of the guys.

Follow Willie Taylor on Twitter

Special thanks to Ra-Fael of TwoRsEnt