R&B singer Keri Hilson has largely been absent from the music world since the turn of the last decade, instead focusing on film and TV roles rather than a follow-up to her 2010 sophomore album No Boys Allowed. Now, 15 years after the release of her second full-length project, Hilson is back with her long-awaited third studio album, We Need to Talk: Love.
Hilson confirmed the album’s impending release last month with the single “Bae” sampling Hurricane Chris’s 2007 hit “A Bay Bay.” Taking a step back from the music world was necessary for Hilson following the success of “Pretty Girl Rock,” her last single to make a splash on the Billboard Hot 100 more than a decade ago. She confessed to People she was “depressed” as her career reached new heights with “Pretty Girl Rock”’s success.
“I was just not okay. I was not well; I needed a break,” she said. “Fame was a beast for me, and I fell into a really dark place. I needed to step away for a moment. I thought it’d be just a one-year moment, not a 14-year moment, but it turns out it was necessary. I really can’t regret it. I, as a human, needed that time.”
It got to a point where Hilson considered leaving music altogether. “I just wasn’t sure of it anymore. The industry was changing. I love making the art, I love doing music, I love making music, I love performing music, but I didn’t love everything that came with it. I didn’t love the heavy criticism. It’s just not like the old industry now, and that, to me, felt like a threat.,” she admitted. “You have to let rock bottom occur to rebuild. So that’s what I did.”
Now, Hilson has regained her confidence as an artist and isn’t afraid about putting herself out there after all this time. She alludes to this inner struggle in her new video series WNTT to accompany the album. “I just don’t want to put me, my life or my art into the hands of people who don’t give a f**k about about me,” Hilson said honestly. “And the thing is, I don’t fear being human. I love being human in my own hands. I fear being human in their hands. And it’s like, I want to be in the game. I want to be at the top. But I still want to feel like I belong to myself.”
The new LP is just the opener for a trilogy of albums Hilson has planned. We Need to Talk deals with love while the forthcoming projects center around drama and redemption. Giving her fans lots of new music was her way of making up for lost time. “I’ve been gone for so long. I wanted to give enough to satiate my fans,” she told People. “Once I became clear on how I wanted to present this album, the story I wanted to tell became love, drama, redemption. It’s also a parallel to my career — loving music, encountering drama and feeling redeemed, finally.”
Hilson is set to perform alongside share the stage with other R&B and hip-hop stars at Girls Night Out in Bridgeport, Connecticut on April 26 and in Providence, Rhode Island on May 9.
