Keri Hilson's 'We Need to Talk' marks her return to music after a 15-year absence

NEW YORK (AP) — The last time Keri Hilson put out an album, Barack Obama was in the second year of his first term as U.S. president, the iPad was released and Instagram was brand new.

“On some days, I’m like that was just a blink away. But for the most part, yeah, it feels like a long time because I’ve been waiting. I felt stagnant, I felt stuck for a while, and conflicted,” said the two-time Grammy-nominated artist. “I’m very much approaching this like I’m starting over because that’s how it feels to me. I’ve lived nine lives since I last released … I’m a whole different person.”

Hilson, the 42-year-old R&B star known for late 2000s hits like “Knock You Down,” featuring Kanye West and Ne-Yo. and “Pretty Girl Rock,” released “WE NEED TO TALK: LOVE” on Friday. It's her third album, following 2010’s “No Boys Allowed,” and is the first of a trilogy set for release this year. Led by the sultry single “Bae,” the nine-track album delves into romance and introspection.

“I feel resolved, both with the art and within about stepping back into the light. So, I think that resolve kind of had to be found before I felt confident enough to release the body of work and also unleash myself to the world again,” explained Hilson, who said she’s never stopped recording. “There were songs in my past that I felt were political moves, songs I didn’t really love that I had to sing … I didn’t want to feel like that this time around.”

One of those songs was a leaked remix to her popular 2009 single “Turnin Me On” featuring Lil Wayne, which peaked at No. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100. Lyrics included a diss fans perceived to be aimed at Beyoncé.

Hilson, who had yet to drop her introductory album, “In A Perfect World,” which debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard Top 200 and No. 1 on Top R&B albums, claimed that she was forced to sing the lines, “She can sing / But she need to move it to the left, left,” assumed to reference Beyoncé’s “Irreplaceable.” She says she was threatened her album might not be released if she refused.

Last week, Hilson trended on social media following an interview with iHeartMedia’s “The Breakfast Club” after recalling the incident. While she has talked about it several times in the past, during that interview, the singer publicly named those involved, including producer Polow Da Don who she was signed to. She did not name singer-songwriter Ester Dean. However, after social media users tagged Dean in posts, she later identified herself.

The ending of a decadelong relationship, a lack of control over her career and the intense, never-ending backlash from the BeyHive triggered depression and led to her retreat from music.

During her time away, the Georgia native embarked on a journey of healing that included therapy, journaling and spiritual retreats.

“There were some perspectives that I needed to uncover ... untruths, beliefs that I kind of picked up or inherited about myself,” said Hilson, who shifted to acting.

Her comeback has included very selective press, avoiding what she describes as “new media” outlets such as social media-driven platforms, saying monetization can reward the promotion of gossip or incentivize the creation of lies. The salacious blog culture of the 2010s was a driving force in fanning the flames of her perceived beef with Beyoncé, who has never publicly commented on the situation.

Hilson “can definitely operate and navigate within the realm of R&B. She has a fan base,” said Keithan Samuels, founder of the popular website RatedRnB.com. “Her core fan base has matured … she can navigate within this new era of R&B where there’s a lot of diversity and sound.”

Crafted with unofficial writing camps and records created throughout the years, “WE NEED TO TALK: LOVE” finds Hilson delivering vulnerable and flirty lyrics over a wide range of R&B sounds. Writing on all but one song, she avoided current R&B trends that developed during her absence, citing individuality as a key to her early success. She also believes algorithms have created a culture of musical homogeny, rather than creativity.

There are quintessential “Ms. Keri Baby” songs like the fun, Pop&B styled “Somethin (Bout U),” but there’s also the introspective “Naked (Love),” and “Say It,” in which she expresses, “I won’t say I love you / ‘til you say you love me.”

“I’m very ‘girl boss’ in my life, right? When it comes to relationships, I prefer to be a lady. I prefer to be approached. … I prefer for the man to say ‘I love you’ first. I just prefer for a man to lead,” said Hilson. “I’m really a damsel – without the distress.”

The bedroom mood is set on the sexy slow jam “Scream,” while the bright “Whatever” floats with beautiful stacked harmonies.

“I feel like it’s something I would have written for Whitney. And I actually wrote a song for Whitney that she never was able to record,” said Hilson, who began her career as an in-demand writer whose credits include songs for Chris Brown, Mary J. Blige, Jennifer Lopez and Britney Spears. “This reminds me of a Whitney Houston record, where I think she would be now.”

Samuels of RatedRnB.com says this project is evident of the newfound control Hilson has over her career.

“It’s definitely not, to me, an attempt to have this commercial comeback … it feels more personal,” said Samuels. “The other two albums, I feel like were more catered to what was current then.”

Hilson says she’s still open to writing for other artists and giving away songs that may not fit her current musical era. She also has a new Lifetime movie, “Fame: A Temptations Story,” co-starring Keshia Chanté, premiering April 26 at 8 p.m. EDT. Hilson says acting is now an equal part of her career.

Though Hilson may be cautiously re-emerging musically, fans are welcoming her return. After The Breakfast Club interview, fans flooded her with sympathy and positivity, possibly due to a combination of her finally telling her side of the story in detail, as well as the passing of time. Some fans said they forgot about the incident or were too young to know about it.

“I just control what I can control … I control what I allow to bring me up or down. These are realizations that I’ve had since I’ve been away,” said Hilson. “I feel unburdened … I’m not projecting too much of the past onto now, and all of that is freeing.”

Follow Associated Press entertainment journalist Gary Gerard Hamilton at @GaryGHamilton on all his social media platforms.

Keri Hilson poses for a portrait on Tuesday, April 8, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Gary Gerard Hamilton)

Keri Hilson poses for a portrait on Tuesday, April 8, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Gary Gerard Hamilton)

Keri Hilson poses for a portrait on Tuesday, April 8, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Gary Gerard Hamilton)

Keri Hilson poses for a portrait on Tuesday, April 8, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Gary Gerard Hamilton)

Keri Hilson poses for a portrait on Tuesday, April 8, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Gary Gerard Hamilton)

ADEN, Yemen (AP) — Southern separatists in Yemen said Saudi warplanes carried out new airstrikes Saturday on a military camp in the port city of Mukalla and other areas where their forces are stationed, as Saudi-backed forces moved to retake the city.

There was no immediate Saudi comment. It was the latest direct intervention by Saudi Arabia, which in recent weeks has bombed the separatist Southern Transitional Council, or STC, and struck what is said was a shipment of Emirati weapons destined for it.

The Saudi strikes hit Barshid Brigade camp west of Mukalla in Hadramout, one of two governorates seized last month by the STC, according to the group’s AIC satellite news channel.

Yemen has been engulfed in civil war for more than a decade, with Iran-backed Houthi rebels controlling much of the north and a Saudi-led coalition supporting the internationally recognized government in the south. But coalition member the United Arab Emirates also supports the separatists, who call for South Yemen to secede again from Yemen.

The latest Saudi strikes came a day after the separatist movement announced a constitution for an independent nation in the south.

Last month, the STC moved into Hadramout and Mahra and seized an oil-rich region. That pushed out allies of the Saudi-supported National Shield forces, a group in the anti-Houthi coalition.

After Saudi pressure and an ultimatum from anti-Houthi forces to withdraw from Yemen, the UAE said early Saturday it had pulled out all its forces.

The tensions in Yemen have further strained ties between Saudi Arabia and the UAE, neighbors on the Arabian Peninsula that have competed over economic issues and regional politics, particularly in the Red Sea area. Ostensibly, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have shared the coalition's professed goal of restoring Yemen's internationally recognized government.

An official with the STC told The Associated Press on Saturday that more than 100 Saudi airstrikes struck multiple locations across Hadramout over the past 24 hours, resulting in deaths and injuries. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to brief the media.

Mukalla residents Ahmed al-Faradi and Salem Maadan told the AP the city was now controlled by the Hadramout Tribes Confederacy and the National Shield forces.

Col. Ahmed Baqatyan, a military commander in the Hadramout Tribes Confederacy, said that striking the Barshid Brigade camp was necessary because it sits on the route to the southern port city of Aden. He said clearing the camp of STC forces was aimed at preventing them from regrouping and launching a return to Mukalla.

Meanwhile, Yemen’s Transportation Ministry, aligned with the STC, condemned Saudi airstrikes late Friday it said targeted the international airport in Seiyun, “exposing the airport to serious risks that could damage its infrastructure, hindering its operation and the resumption of flights.”

Earlier on Saturday, Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry said it plans to hold a conference in its capital, Riyadh, to bring together all southern factions in Yemen "to discuss just solutions to the southern cause."

Saudi Arabia was responding to a request for dialogue from Rashad al-Alimi, head of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, the ruling organ of the internationally recognized government.

There were no immediate details about the proposed conference.

The anti-Houthi coalition was showing other signs of strain. Clashes erupted on Friday between National Shield forces and the southern forces in Hadramout and their allies, killing at least eight people, paramedic Ahmed al-Ketheri told the AP.

Hilal Khashan, political science professor at the American University of Beirut, said that when Saudi Arabia and the UAE began a military operation against the Houthis a decade ago, the Saudis were interested in controlling the mountains of Saada, while the UAE wanted to capture Aden because of its importance as a gateway to the Red Sea.

Khashan said the situation got out of control in recent weeks when the UAE-backed STC started capturing areas in Hadramout that border the kingdom.

“For the Saudis that was a red line,” Khashan said, adding that the Saudis felt that they were being “held captive between the Houthis in the north and the UAE in the south.” They ”decided to stop the UAE from its regional expansionism," he said.

Khaled reported from Cairo. Associated Press writer Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this report.

Supporters of the Southern Transitional Council (STC), a coalition of separatist groups seeking to restore the state of South Yemen, hold South Yemen flags during a rally, in Aden, Yemen, Friday, Jan. 2, 2026. (AP Photo)