Keri Hilson Opens Up About Rumored Beef With Beyoncè and How It Affected Her Career
Keri Hilson exploded on the music scene in the late 2000s with songs like “Energy” and the Chris Brown-assisted “Superhuman.” She earned even greater fame with “Turnin’ Me On” and “Knock You Down” and went on to nab a couple of Grammy nominations for her work and talent. But unfortunately, her career seemed to go on a downward spiral after a rumored diss about Beyoncé.
Hilson hasn’t released an album in over a decade and generally keeps a low profile. But she recently emerged to do an interview where she opened up about some of her past problems and the drama regarding the Lemonade singer.
Keri Hilson was accused of dissing Beyoncé early in her career
After releasing “Turnin Me On” from her debut studio album, In a Perfect World (2009), Hilson released a remix to the track where she sang lines that listeners believed were about Beyoncé.
“Your vision cloudy if you think that you da best, You can dance, she can sing, but need to move it to the left…” she sang. “She need to go have some babies, she need to sit down, she fake, them other chicks ain’t even worth talkin’ bout.”
Though she did not say names, fans believed the lyrics were aimed at Beyoncé due to the qualities Hilson named and the line about moving it to the left, which seemed to reference Beyoncé’s 2006 song “Irreplaceable.”
Hilson did not address the speculation, but she kicked the rumor mill into overdrive at the 2011 Soul Train Awards when she refused to hold the newest issue of Juicy Magazine after noticing Beyoncé and Jay-Z were on the cover. The Beyhive once again pounced on the moment and continued to criticize Hilson under the impression that she had shaded Beyoncé a second time.
Keri Hilson tried to move on, but fans wouldn’t let up
The backlash became so intense over the years that Hilson begged on Twitter for fans to leave her alone in 2013.
“It’s TOO much!! Please! Is everything I tweet gonna be ‘intentionally misinterpreted’ as a statement about someone/drama I know nothing about?” she wrote (via Life & Style Magazine).
“You have no idea what your hateful words could do to someone’s spirit. Years of verbal abuse from strangers all day long. Enough is enough! I’m here for MY FANS! I’m stronger than you imagine, but waking up/going to bed to your ugliness is just TOO MUCH, kids,” she continued. “I get it, OK? You can stop now. As far as WHATEVER your really mad about, I had my reasons. It’s been years! Just chalk it up to your ignorance of my reality and LET…IT…GO. As for my mistakes, God has dealt with me.”
Hilson tried to move on with her life and music career, but fans continued to drag her and let her know she was no longer welcome in the music world. The backlash eventually led to a depression that caused Hilson to step away from the spotlight. She hasn’t released an album since her second studio effort, 2010’s No Boys Allowed, though she has promised new music soon.
Keri Hilson opens up about the rumored drama with Beyoncé
In a recent interview on Out Loud with Claudia Jordan, Hilson took the time to clear the air about her rumored beef with Beyoncé. She suggested she had been pressured into putting out the song and that she did not have any problem whatsoever with the “Ring the Alarm” singer.
“Early in your career, you feel like you have to listen,” she began. “When you buck, they buck harder and they make threats. Those threats are huge ones. You don’t feel like you have a choice. I really didn’t feel like I had a choice… You learn to fight harder, but I didn’t have enough fight in me at 20, 21.”
She continued, “No one could ever compare to Beyoncé. … No one will, for a very, very, very long time and that was never my aim either. However, it was framed that way. It was written that way. Was not my lyrics, was not my writing, was not my doing. And then, I’m caught, like, do I tell the truth? Do I expose them early in my career? I’m super young, super new. This [is] my first album. It just soiled my whole dream.”
She went on to say that if she could go back in time, she would try to handle her career in another way. But at least, “Now I’m finally free from those characters and I’m able to control a lot more of my image, my perception, my character. It’s me. It’s really me now.”
For her part, Beyoncé has never directly addressed Hilson and the rumored track about her, though there is speculation that Hilson influenced her 2013 mean anthem “Bow Down.”
