After penning songs for numerous artists, including Beyonce, Ciara, Usher and Britney Spears, 26-year old singer-songwriter Keri Hilson finally got to make the transition from behind the scenes to forefront artist with the release of her debut album, In A Perfect World....Despite the backing of super producers Timbaland, Polow Da Don, and Danja, this transition didn't come easily due to the commercial flops of, "Energy", where she rehashes the memories of a fizzled relationship, and, "Return the Favor", which was never truly given the chance to succeed due to its poor promotion.
"Turnin' Me On", immediately follows the bass thumping intro, where she boast, she's "about to get it poppin", and despite being the key to her success and her album finally getting an official release date, you still can't help but feel that the track is lacking something. Aside from the beaming swagger, which at times reaches a level of self-indulgence, and the Lil' Wayne feature, the track comes across very generic and further proves that the preference of quality is no longer a key factor.
The Keyshia Cole and Trina assisted, "Get Your Money Up", is another track that fails to deliver on many accounts, but I'm sure that won't stop females from hailing it as their next anthem, should it see release. That said, Keri does manage to outshine the substandard vocal delivery of Keyshia Cole and annoying rhymes of Trina.
"Knock You Down", effectively manages to set itself aside from the majority of the album, mainly due to the intriguing features of Ne-Yo and Kanye West. The production is really savvy and Keri full utilizes the abundance of her features without allowing them to surpass her, and avoids delivering another blunder.
"Slow Dance", has an old-school vibe that rages on the effects of Prince, while "Make Love", is a passionately sexy thrill that shows the songstress seducing you with very little effort.
"Intuition", flaunts her woman's intuition as she declares, "It would break my world if you ain't true to me, but I'm not the silly girl I use to be", and makes the point that she knows her man is going to mess up, while "How Does It Feel", seeks revenge from a cheating or self-obsessed man by turning to another source of comfort.
"Alienated", is a nicely put together track that sees the songstress taking a stab at rapping, as is, "Tell Him the Truth", where contemplates whether to tell the truth about a secret that could single-handily cause the demise of her relationship.
The awkward, "Change Me", which features Akon, is pretty much self-explanatory by the title, but you can't help but feel it's out of place, while the ancient, "Where Did He Go", brings the album to a close.
One of the great benefits about Keri's struggle is that it presented her with the opportunity to get fully acquainted with her voice, so she knows exactly what it is capable of doing and refuses to stray outside of its range.
Unfortunately, the trouble is you just don't feel like this is who Keri authentically is, but instead like Timbaland, with the help of a few others, is just trying to create a replacement to fill in the gap that his been placed in the music industry since the untimely death of Aaliyah.
Overall, Keri's world is a solid effort filled with hot beats, but lacks originality and fails to deliver anything that will have lasting appeal or be remember five years down the line.
3.5 out of 5
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