Never Would Have Made It

"Never Would Have Made It"Song by Teyana Taylor
General information
Featured artist(s)	Ty Dolla $ign (backing vocals) The-Dream (backing vocals)
Released	June 23, 2018
Recorded	Nov. 17, 2017-Jun. 23, 2018
Studio	Amangani Resort, Jackson, Wyoming
Genre	R&B Ballad
Length	2:39
Album	K.T.S.E.
Label(s)	GOOD • Def Jam • Universal
Writer(s)	Teyana Taylor • Tyrone Griffin Jr. • Marvin Sapp • Brittany Coney • Denisia Andrews • Terius Nash • Kanye West
Producer(s)	Kanye West
Track list
Previous	"Rose In Harlem"
Next	"WTP"

"Never Would Have Made It" (formerly known as "Let You Go") is a song by Harlem R&B artist Teyana Taylor that released as a part of her second studio album, K.T.S.E. (2018). The song is the seventh track and although not the final serves as the closing track to the main record. The song features additional vocals from The-Dream and Ty Dolla $ign over the bridge, the latter of which had collaborated with her on another track off of the record "3Way" in which he had also remained a hidden feature on.

The song features production from Kanye West as with every other song released for Kanye's Wyoming album run. The song is partially a cover of Marvin Sapp's 2007 song of the same name.

Production

The song features production done by Kanye West. As stated earlier, the beat heavily interpolates Marvin Sapp's 2007 song of the same name, "Never Would Have Made It" and even features a very brief vocal sample of the song. The song runs at a tempo of 108 BPM in the E key with a major mode and an alt-key of 12B and a time signature of 4/4.

Background

The song was initially made on November 17, 2017 between The-Dream and Ty Dolla $ign during the Wyoming sessions that had intended to be used by Kanye for his album at the time, LOVE EVERYONE, the song at this point entitled "Let You Go". It's unclear if Kanye had ever recorded for this beat, though the song was presumably shelved after the direction had shifted into ye later in 2018.

Though Kanye had no use for the song, he would show the beat to Teyana around January or February who had then shown it to her writers NOVA WAV and had them record a reference for it to bounce ideas on the first of the month. The song was again put on hold until April after this reference track had been recorded.

Kanye would tweak the production slightly and NOVA WAV would record another reference, this time being used. The song was originally intended to be two minutes longer with an additional verse about Teyana's daughter that was displayed in the NOVA WAV reference and as Teyana herself would state, though this verse had ended up being cut from final release. The beat was completely redone from scratch one last time before final release.

The song was met with an official release on June 23rd, 2018 as the seventh track to Teyana's Wyoming album, K.T.S.E..

Lyrics

[Intro: Teyana Taylor]
Never would have made it
Never would have made it without you

[Chorus: Teyana Taylor]
You are the highlight of my life
You are the sunshine in my night
Oh how, oh how, oh, how do I
Ever repay you

[Verse: Teyana Taylor]
Finally, I know what I want
I learned from my mistakes and my heartbreaks
The road to hell was paved with good intentions
No matter which way you, no matter which way you take

[Pre-Chorus: Teyana Taylor]
Never truly follow my heart
Made a lot of decisions based on everyone but me
But now, I'm strong enough to let it go
I'm wise enough to take control
My mama told me everything
My mama told me everything I know

[Chorus: Teyana Taylor]
You are the highlight of my life
You are the sunshine in my night
Oh how, oh how, oh, how do I
Ever repay you

[Bridge: Ty Dolla $ign & The-Dream]
Stand up, press forward, move on
Don't cry, we'll make it through the night
For sure

[Chorus: Teyana Taylor]
You are the highlight of my life
You are the sunshine in my night
Oh how, oh how, oh, how do I
Ever repay you

[Outro]
Never would have made it
Never would have made it without you
Mommy?
Yes?
Move forward