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Teyana Taylor just dances as her workout: Get to know the star of Kanye West's video 'Fade'


UPDATED FEBRUARY 8, 2019 5:01 AM EST

Her fame wont be fade-ing anytime soon! Since the premiere of Kanye West's music video Fade at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards, the video's star Teyana Taylor has gone viral — even grabbing the attention of her industry peers.

Here are some facts to know about the 25-year-old dancing sensation.

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1. She doesn't work out at the gym.

"Dancing is my workout. I just dance. I almost feel like dance is so underrated in the fitness world," she told E! News. The dancer's moves have garnered the attention of a slew of A-list celebrities including Gabrielle Union and Jenna Dewan Tatum, who tweeted, "I have legit watched @TEYANATAYLOR in the Fade video 50x today. You kill it woman!! Nice @kanyewest."

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE 2016 MTV VMAS

2. She was on MTV long before the VMAs.

Back in 2007, Teyana appeared on the network's popular reality series My Super Sweet 16, which documented wealthy teens planning their over-the-top birthday parties. In her season four episode, the teen threw an '80s themed soiree that involved a marching band and her being paraded inside a box as a Barbie doll. On the show she said, "I talk a big game about how fresh I am, but now I’ve got to back it up by having the craziest, wildest sweet 16 Harlem has ever seen."

Teyana appeared on MTV's <i>My Super Sweet Sixteen</i>.
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Photo: MTV

Photo: MTV

3. Not only can she dance, but she can sing.

Teyana is signed to Kanye's Def Jam-affiliated GOOD label. The Harlem-based rapper-singer released her solo debut album VII is 2014, which debuted on the Billboard 200. Back in 2010 she contributed her voice to Kim Kardashian's husband's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Currently the artist is working on a new album and planning on dropping a new record soon, she told Vogue. Teyana shared, "I also remixed the Champions song with Kanye, Big Sean, Gucci Mane, 2 Chainz."

4. She had a baby less than a year ago — in her bathroom!

Kanye's muse, who is engaged to Cleveland Cavaliers player Iman Shumpert, welcomed her first child, daughter Iman Tayla Shumpert Jr., with the NBA star in December. Teyana recounted her daughter's unexpected delivery on Instagram writing, "On Dec 16th at 6:42am in our bathroom Junie decided she wanted to take her first breath into this world. She came out as a wonderful surprise to everyone! Not knowing I was in labor until I felt her head...it took two ten count pushes with my fiancé playing Dr and she entered this world into his bare hands!"

She continued, "Eyes full of tears and barely able to speak to the emergency operator @imanshumpert tied a pair of red headphones around the umbilical cord and the ambulance made there grand entrance 5 min later. She opened her eyes right away, gazed into mine and never cried! He handed her to me wrapped in our bath towel and wiped her face for me to see what LOVE really is. She has blown Christmas away! Our family is complete. Her blueprint will be unmatched. Welcome Iman Tayla Shumpert Jr. Mommy carried you. Daddy delivered you. #MeetTheParents we love you baby girl."

5. Despite her incredible physique, her diet isn't healthy...at all.

Unlike many in the industry who swear by diets or dine on kale, this beauty doesn't believe in healthy eating. "My diet sucks," the mom-of-one confessed to Vogue. "I eat pizza, fried chicken, macaroni; I don’t eat vegetables. But I dance!"

Photo: Instagram/@teyanataylor

Bonus: She wasn't the only member of her family in Kanye's video

Teyana was joined by her fiancé and their Instagram star, eight-month-old daughter nicknamed Junie in the Fade music video. "It’s almost like Junie is too cool for school," the proud mom told Vogue of her baby's role in the project. "She might be the coolest baby on Earth."

As for her steamy scene with her husband, she said, "[Kanye] didn’t put me in a position where I was with a male model or male actor. There was trust and comfort and protection because I knew I was with a person that I’m already becoming one with. To have that moment with him, only made that moment so much sexier, so much more genuine, so much more pure." Teyana added, "When I watched it, I felt the love because it was something that I shared with my husband."