Keri Hilson Complex Magazine Interview

It’s doing very well. Especially given this industry—even though the business is hurting, the album is still achieving its projections. I’m proud of the album, but you can never expect how the world will receive you or your music.

So far, your biggest hits have been performed by other artists—Britney Spears, Omarion. Does that fact bother you at all?

No, it’s money in the bank. That’s my means of living. There’s two sides of me, and neither takes preference. One is just a dream that I fought long and hard for. Songwriting was my Plan B. My whole life, I’ve fought to just do this. I didn’t know that I’d be able to take off as far, or as fast, as I did, but I knew I had a talent and that I should pursue it, because there’s money in it. When I wasn’t able to perform, and lost the record deal, I took the path of Plan B, and now I love them equally. I can’t have one without the other. Even at my biggest, I want to be writing for other artists. Even at my peak—the highest I can be as an artist—I always want to be keeping my creative juices flowing, keeping money in the bank, putting my intellectual property out there

Your singles, “Energy” and “Turnin Me On,” are remarkably different from each other.

I was very wary of that. Years ago, I wanted to be like the girl Ne-Yo. You know, with the mid-tempo ballads—I come from the Babyface era. But that’s not trendy, that’s not hip-hop. These days, you have to play it a different way. “Turnin Me On” did things that “Energy” could not have done in this day and time.