New rule: All top-40 artists must be at least one platinum album and three top-10 singles into their careers before they even consider touching the auto-tune switch.
The infamously overdone trend still works for household names like Rihanna and Kanye West, but the same can not be said when your name is Keri Hilson, and your biggest claim to fame is guest starring on a Timbaland track back in 2007. Explicitly running your voice through a vocoder on the first three singles of your already-delayed debut album may be a sure shot to topping the charts but is no way of establishing yourself as a legitimate R&B singer.
The problem inherent to Hilson’s debut album, “In A Perfect World…,” is its utter lack of imagination, especially given Hilson’s track record in the music industry that show signs of actual musical prowess. Her history traces back to 2001 as a frequent collaborator with Timbaland and a prominent member of production crew The Clutch. Both were responsible not only for Hilson and Timbaland’s 2007 top-10 hit “The Way I Are” but also the writing and production of her debut in its entirety.
Alongside The Clutch, Hilson has made a career out of writing songs and singing backup for Britney Spears, Ciara and Usher, but “In A Perfect World…” sounds like a collection of leftovers her clients wouldn’t have considered twice. It’s not that any of these tunes are unlistenable or unenjoyable, but Timbaland’s beats sound like second-rate hand-me-downs, and not a single hook poses the threat of working its way into your ears enough to firmly wrap itself around your head.
Every lyric comes from the 21st century R&B playbook: There’s I-don’t-need-a-man girl power (“How Does It Feel”), empowerment through affluence (“Get Your Money Up”), dance floor-themed sexual innuendo (“Slow Dance”), and the indisputable swearing off those same haters who seemed to have taken their toll on literally every hip-hop artist in the history of the universe.
Despite the mess of overdone themes Hilson delivers, the biggest cringe-inducing line comes from Ne-Yo, guest starring in “Knock You Down” and recalling that, before falling in love, he “used to be commander and chief of (his) pimp ship flyin’ high.”
Additional guest appearances from Lil Wayne, Kanye West and Akon may not be their most inspired yet but are at least entertaining, even if they only help push “In A Perfect World…” that much closer to radio anonymity.
The album’s most interesting track, “Return the Favor,” is a series of back-and-forth come-ons with Timbaland that recall the pair’s earlier duets, “The Way I Are” and “Scream,” off of Timbaland’s “Shock Value.” Hilson has undeniable chemistry with Timbaland, but when compared to “Promiscuous,” Timbaland’s all-too-similar duet with Nelly Furtado, Hilson sounds more like the other woman rather than long-term collaborator.
“In A Perfect World…” is a sleek and passable R&B collection, but, clocking in at 60 minutes, not a single cut is worth returning to for repeat listens. The album comes off as so run of the mill that a mix of filler from the latest Beyonce, Rihanna, Ne-Yo and Lady Gaga discs could produce something just as solid and consistent.
Hilson has no doubt sold herself short by riding on the same passe trends she’s helped create for other singers, and in turn, taking no risks for herself. If she has any desire to make herself the chart-topping frontwoman she deserves to be, the next time Hilson stumbles upon anything as infectious as Britney Spears’ “Gimme More” (which she no doubt co-wrote and sang backup for), she ought to save it for herself.
E-mail awolf@media.ucla.edu.