<\/p>\n
Keri Hilson may have spent 15 years out of the spotlight, but that doesn\u2019t diminish her musical legacy.<\/p>\n
However, we can\u2019t fully understand how we got to her grand return<\/a> after all this time without looking back at her reign and realizing how Hilson grew to such prominence before backing away <\/a>from the limelight.<\/p>\n It all began with her 2009 debut single, \u201cEnergy<\/a>,\u201d which served as the lead single from her debut album, In A Perfect World\u2026<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was the song that they chose to come first,\u201d she explained. Though never specifically naming who made the choice, the visual for the critically acclaimed record was directed by Melina Matsoukas<\/a>. It was the video that stood out most. \u201cHalle Berry was our inspiration for the boxing scene stuff and some of the fashion choices [\u2026] I think we nailed it.\u201d<\/p>\n 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI had Kanye as my leading man in the \u2018Make Love\u2019 video. It was just a teaser [\u2026] He walked up to me during filming and at some point off-screen, but he said, \u2018So how\u2019s your album going?\u2019 Just two artists talking. And I say, \u2018It\u2019s going great, but the only thing missing is you,’\u201d she recalled.<\/p>\n Admittedly, the Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter<\/a> felt she was \u201con a cliff for a good four seconds\u201d\u2014 since she assumed he\u2019d decline her proposition. Much to her surprise, West replied, \u201cWell, why can\u2019t I be on it? What\u2019s the issue? I\u2019ll do a verse. I\u2019d love to.\u201d<\/p>\n The downside to his immediate yes was that her album was being mastered at the same time, but they stopped for Ye. \u201cI didn\u2019t know if [he] was really going to come back to do the verse,\u201d Hilson confessed, but sure enough, he showed up.<\/p>\n Initially, she thought he\u2019d throw a verse onto \u201cAlienated,\u201d but he ended up making \u201can incredibly long verse on \u2018Knock You Down.’\u201d Hilson admitted, \u201cWe had to chop it up, and he was pissed. He was pissed. Because the song can\u2019t be five minutes long, you know what I mean?\u201d<\/p>\n The current version of the Grammy-nominated single<\/a> is five minutes and twenty-six seconds.<\/p>\n Nonetheless, she did tease that she may release the full version now. \u201cI probably could. I probably should. I break rules now,\u201d she quipped before praising Ye\u2019s genius. \u201cKanye is a brilliant, brilliant artist. He\u2019s a brilliant musician. He\u2019s good at what he does. What I like about brilliance is that you\u2019re unafraid [\u2026] and genius comes with a certain\u2026confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n Hilson noted that at the beginning of her career, there was \u201ca lot going on\u201d and \u201cit was nonstop.\u201d She gleefully reminisced on how \u201cPretty Girl Rock\u201d was \u201calmost entirely\u201d Ne-Yo\u2019s \u201cbrainchild,\u201d how she somewhat freestyled \u201cSlow Dance\u201d\u2014 later likening it to Prince\u2019s \u201cAdore<\/a>\u201d \u2014 and how the magic of \u201cSuperhuman\u201d came to be.<\/p>\n Piecing together classics like those as well as \u201cTell Him The Truth<\/a>,\u201d Fabolous\u2019 \u201cEverything, Everyday, Everywhere<\/a>,\u201d Avant\u2019s \u201c4 Minutes<\/a>,\u201d and Chris Brown\u2019s \u201cYoung Love<\/a>\u201d all led to the making of WE NEED TO TALK<\/em>. Hilson even admitted that she reunited with Ryan Leslie on the final \u201cscene\u201d of her album.<\/p>\n So, for her, this is all just the start of a new reign, but this time as a veteran. The first installment, LOVE<\/a><\/em>, is out now, but even after REDEMPTION <\/em>and DRAMA <\/em>are out, Hilson hinted that she has \u201cseveral albums worth of music right now.\u201d<\/p>\n Watch Keri Hilson\u2019s full Then And Now<\/a> <\/em>episode above. Also, check out our interview <\/a>with her.<\/p>\n More from VIBE.com<\/strong><\/p>\n Best of VIBE.com<\/strong><\/p>\n Sign up for Vibe’s Newsletter<\/a>. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Keri Hilson may have spent 15 years out of the spotlight, but that doesn\u2019t diminish her musical legacy. However, we can\u2019t 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1962270,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[22647,24510,345999],"class_list":["post-1962269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-halle-berry","tag-kanye-west","tag-keri-hilson"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Keri-Hilson-Reflects-On-Mid-2000s-Reign-And-Long-Awaited-Comeback.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1962269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1962269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1962269\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1962270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1962269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1962269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1962269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}