Keri Hilson may have spent 15 years out of the spotlight, but that doesn’t diminish her musical legacy.
However, we can’t fully understand how we got to her grand return after all this time without looking back at her reign and realizing how Hilson grew to such prominence before backing away from the limelight.
It all began with her 2009 debut single, “Energy,” which served as the lead single from her debut album, In A Perfect World….
“That was the song that they chose to come first,” she explained. Though never specifically naming who made the choice, the visual for the critically acclaimed record was directed by Melina Matsoukas. It was the video that stood out most. “Halle Berry was our inspiration for the boxing scene stuff and some of the fashion choices […] I think we nailed it.”
Despite that moment being more of a blur, the most vivid memories Hilson has from her early days stem from her time working with Kanye West.
“I had Kanye as my leading man in the ‘Make Love’ video. It was just a teaser […] He walked up to me during filming and at some point off-screen, but he said, ‘So how’s your album going?’ Just two artists talking. And I say, ‘It’s going great, but the only thing missing is you,’” she recalled.
Admittedly, the Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter felt she was “on a cliff for a good four seconds”— since she assumed he’d decline her proposition. Much to her surprise, West replied, “Well, why can’t I be on it? What’s the issue? I’ll do a verse. I’d love to.”
The downside to his immediate yes was that her album was being mastered at the same time, but they stopped for Ye. “I didn’t know if [he] was really going to come back to do the verse,” Hilson confessed, but sure enough, he showed up.
Initially, she thought he’d throw a verse onto “Alienated,” but he ended up making “an incredibly long verse on ‘Knock You Down.’” Hilson admitted, “We had to chop it up, and he was pissed. He was pissed. Because the song can’t be five minutes long, you know what I mean?”
The current version of the Grammy-nominated single is five minutes and twenty-six seconds.
Nonetheless, she did tease that she may release the full version now. “I probably could. I probably should. I break rules now,” she quipped before praising Ye’s genius. “Kanye is a brilliant, brilliant artist. He’s a brilliant musician. He’s good at what he does. What I like about brilliance is that you’re unafraid […] and genius comes with a certain…confidence.”
Hilson noted that at the beginning of her career, there was “a lot going on” and “it was nonstop.” She gleefully reminisced on how “Pretty Girl Rock” was “almost entirely” Ne-Yo’s “brainchild,” how she somewhat freestyled “Slow Dance”— later likening it to Prince’s “Adore” — and how the magic of “Superhuman” came to be.
Piecing together classics like those as well as “Tell Him The Truth,” Fabolous’ “Everything, Everyday, Everywhere,” Avant’s “4 Minutes,” and Chris Brown’s “Young Love” all led to the making of WE NEED TO TALK. Hilson even admitted that she reunited with Ryan Leslie on the final “scene” of her album.
So, for her, this is all just the start of a new reign, but this time as a veteran. The first installment, LOVE, is out now, but even after REDEMPTION and DRAMA are out, Hilson hinted that she has “several albums worth of music right now.”
Watch Keri Hilson’s full Then And Now episode above. Also, check out our interview with her.