Teedra Moses Celebrates Twenty Years of Complex Simplicity

R&B singer-songwriter Teedra Moses finally visited Boston for the first time in years and as a huge fan of her music, I could not have been more thrilled to purchase tickets as soon as I found out. Raised in California, Teedra Moses grew up in the church as her mother was a gospel singer. She held a love for gospel music that influenced her own music. In 2003, Teedra Moses would release what would later be her most famous and recognizable hit, “Be Your Girl.” In 2019, the song was remixed by artist KAYTRANADA, gaining notoriety and internet popularity for both of the artists. She has also collaborated with other R&B, hip hop artists like Durand Bernarr, Rick Ross, Anthony Hamilton, and Eric Bellinger.

Her debut album that she both wrote and performed, Complex Simplicity, was released in 2004. This year she celebrated the album’s twentieth anniversary by kicking off a commemorative tour at numerous City Wineries and one non-City Winery venue. The venue was a seated dining area with an elevated stage and we sat right in front of her making the experience intimate and unforgettable. Her setlist was explicitly comprised of songs from the album and she performed almost the entire album. Twenty years later and I was blown away by the fact that her vocals sounded exactly the same live, if not better. Her stage presence was so mesmerizing and genuine. She was such a beautiful soul on stage dancing around, interacting with the audience, belting out lyrics, and vibing to the music. There were a few hiccups in the sound and production which led to some frustrations but she persevered, giving the audience an incredible performance despite dealing with these issues.

The performance opened with her sweet and sappy love song “Caught Up.” The song has a catchy, smooth beat that hyped up the crowd for the performance. She followed with the song “Caution,” that she wrote about captivating a lover. The crowd roared along with the chorus and the vibes in that room were unmatched! The next song she performed was her collaboration track with rapper Jadakiss, “You’ll Never Find (A Better Woman).” This is one of my all-time favorite songs by Teedra Moses so I was particularly ecstatic. Sadly, she skipped over the song's silly opening lyric “Oh Cat Daddy,” and went straight into the action. Her performance of the song was captivating and fulfilled something in my life when my ears heard it live. I could not comprehend how she sounded just as angelic as the original track despite now being in her late forties.

Teedra explained to the audience that she wrote this album during a darker time in her life when she just had two kids with someone who did not want children. She wrote the life she wanted to live into her lyrics and manifested a future she desired with her songs. Twenty years later she is living that life which can be accredited to the success that Complex Simplicity has garnered. She performed her title track “Complex Simplicity,” inviting the audience to shout along to the song’s empowering, opening line “Life is just complex simplicity, thug it out.” The song is about living your life to the fullest and resisting the things in life that try to drag you down. Teedra Moses reminded her audience that even though life can be complicated, messy, and mundane, it is up to us to make the most of our time by focusing on all the pleasurable and joyous parts of life.

Teedra Moses continued strongly with the songs “Rescue Me” and “Take Me” which are both songs about sparking or rekindling a flame with a love interest. The performance of “Rescue Me,” was extremely powerful and showcased Teedra’s amazing vocal range. “Take Me” features a verse with R&B singer Raphael Saadiq which was performed by J. Black who is Teedra Moses’ long-time friend, collaborator, and one of the background singers at her show. It was so cool to see the two of them sing together in real life after listening to their previous bodies of work together.

The crowd erupted when the instrumentals introduced the song “No More Tears.” This song remains close to my heart as an empowering anthem about not putting any more time into being upset about the negative experiences that you can not change. The crowd sang along with Teedra, “happy, sipping, puffing, passing, relaxing with my family, no more tears for you!” She hyped up the crowd with her song, “You Better Tell Her” which, in her own words, is for all the “sophisiti-ratchet” ladies out there who have experienced someone else trying to claim their man.

Teedra finished the show off with the two most popular tracks from Complex Simplicity, “Backstroke” and “Be Your Girl.” Teedra allured and enchanted the audience with the sensual sounds of “Backstroke.” She left the stage after that but returned upon audience demand to perform her encore. She sang both versions of “Be Your Girl,” the original track and the KAYTRANADA remix. The first was the original version which was then sped up and an altered beat to become the KAYTRANADA remix version. I loved that she both paid homage to the original song while acknowledging the remix that is part of the reason she has grown so much as an artist.

My overall reflection on the performance was that it was phenomenal and satisfied my life craving of seeing Teedra Moses perform live. I wish she could have performed more songs especially off her other pieces of work. However, since this tour was dedicated to twenty years of Complex Simplicity and it is the album that has propelled her music career, it makes sense that the setlist was entirely comprised from it. The concert was short and sweet wrapping up after about an hour of live vocals and instrumentals. Teedra came out to the venue’s lobby after her performance for a mini meet & greet, autograph signing, and photos. It was amazing to see her up close and personal in all her glory! If you did not make it to the show but want to experience the joys in life of Teedra Moses’ live vocals check out NPR’s Tiny Desk with Teedra Moses that was recently uploaded to their YouTube channel.