Keri Hilson: Britney Is The Most Dedicated Artist I've Worked With

During a recent interview, Keri Hilson, the mastermind behind ‘Gimme More’, revealed that Britney is by far the most dedicated artist she has ever worked with. According to Keri, Britney, who was heavily pregnant with Jayden, ‘was the size of a house’ but would still spend hours on end in the recording studio laying down tracks for her album ‘Blackout’:

“I don’t know if I could be as dedicated as she was. “Having to stand up for hours in her condition and sing? I never would have guessed how normal she is.”

Keri goes on to say that Britney would use her time in the studio as an “escape” from the intense media scrutiny she was put under at the time:

“She was catching so much hell from all corners, but she left it all outside the studio and came in ready to work.”

Source: Rated Magazine

Britney Spears' Collaborators Promise New Album Will Be Her Real Comeback

The following italicized article is from www.mtv.com:

Britney Spears' performance at last year's VMAs was a bad omen for her subsequent release of Blackout, it stands to reason that Brit's new album may be as promising as her successful appearance at the 2008 VMAs. And the producers of her new work in progress assure us that's the case.

"You always want to give her something she can feel intrigued by, because she's done so much," songwriter and producer Sean Garrett told MTV News. "She's had some incredible albums. She's been through so much, so you want to do things that will raise her eyebrows as well as her fans', so we're going to work really hard to give her something exceptionally special."

The singer has been popping in and out of recording sessions in Los Angeles and Las Vegas all summer, and she's been lining up a steady stream of collaborators for the new album, including Rodney Jerkins, Nate "Danjahandz" Hills, Keri Hilson and even Lil' Jon.

Getting Spears' music back in the clubs is a priority, Garrett said, but he's also working on giving her songs with a longer shelf-life than your average dance track.

"This time, we're going to try some different sounds," he said. "We're really trying to push the sound limits. We're definitely going to make sure it's hot, you know, great songs that fans will go crazy over, but I'm not just [aiming to] 'stay in the clubs.' If it's a ballad, a midtempo, fusing techno with hip-hop or whatever it is, what matters is that it has some sounds we've never heard before."

While Garrett wants to push Spears sonically, Hilson said she wants to push the singer lyrically and get some more meaningful songs on the album.

"Of course, everybody's giving her party smashes, and I've heard some of them, and they're great," Hilson said. "But I think we can dig a little deeper this time. I want it to feel a little more real and organic. That's where I want to go with her."

Hilson is due to sit down with Spears in the next week to get on the same page. "We need to figure it out," she said. "Sit down, have a conversation, and see what she's feeling at the moment, and take a bird's-eye view of that."

Beyond that, Hilson doesn't want to overplan her writing sessions with Spears. "Songwriting is one of the most unorthodox things in the world," she said. "Songs come from all sorts of different ways, places and times."

Garrett, meanwhile, is going to play his cards close to his chest for this project. "What's smart to do is not to tell anybody too much about it while it's happening," he said. "Don't tell anybody. Everything is so predictable these days, because the information is right there and no one is keeping secrets anymore. Remember how Michael Jackson used to be mysterious? That's what superstars should do."

And though Brit's collaborators won't spill the details, they will express confidence that we'll like what we hear, once we hear it.

"I'm sure it'll be great," Hilson said. "She's very focused."

"It'll be her real comeback," Garrett said. "At the end of the day, it's about the music, and this is incredible music."

Source: MTV

Keri Hilson On Britney

After writing four songs for Spears' Blackout, Hilson developed a nickname for Britney: "One-Take Jake." "With Britney, I need to get as much of any song done as I can [before she enters the studio]," says Hilson. "She likes to record quickly, partly because she doesn't like to stand up for too long."

Source: Rolling Stone

Britney Spears is no 'Puppet', says Keri Hilson

The following italicized article is from www.showbizspy.com:

Britney Spears is not a "puppet" strung along and directed by label higher-ups, says R&B star Keri Hilson.

Hilson -- who wrote Spears' smash hit single Gimme More, and has been recruited to work on her upcoming album -- insists Britney is a "bright" girl who makes her own decisions.

She says, "She really isn't the puppet that people make her out to be.

"She has an opinion and she's a very, very bright girl."

Hilson says Britney is "a pleasure to work with" and finds being in the studio with the star "refreshing".

"I got to step outside of what I normally do," Keri says. "I'm not normally this huge pop writer...and Britney, she's special.

"I can't say that she's guarded, but I understand why she doesn't want to talk about certain things and I respect that about her.

"[She] never mouth[s] off," Keri says. "She's a very, very sweet person, takes direction very well."

Keri, who's putting the finishing touches on her own album, In a Perfect World, also has some words for the Toxic hitmaker's army of critics.

"Right now she's dealing with life," she says. "She's just dealing with life. Leave that girl alone."

Source: Showbiz Spy

Keri Hilson on Britney Spears

The following italicized article is from www.rap-up.com:

Keri Hilson is one busy lady. In addition to prepping her debut album In a Perfect World…, the singer/songwriter has been recruited to work on Britney Spears’ forthcoming sixth studio album. Hilson previously contributed to the pop star’s current album, 2007’s Blackout, penning the hit “Gimme More,” which reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Rap-Up TV spoke with Timbaland’s protégé on the set of her Rap-Up cover shoot about her experience working with Spears.

“I can’t say that she’s guarded, but I understand why she doesn’t want to talk about certain things … She really isn’t the puppet that people make her out to be. She has an opinion and she’s a very, very bright girl,” Hilson said. “In the studio, [Britney’s] a pleasure to work with. [She] never mouth[s] off,” she added.

Rap-Up TV was first to break the news about Spears working with producer Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins on her upcoming album. Watch that clip here.

Source: Rap Up

Keri Hilson: Britney's Not a "Puppet"

The following italicized article is from www.ok-magazine.com:

Britney Spears is asking Keri Hilson to give her more hits.

The R&B star, who penned "Gimme More" for Britney has reunited with her to work on the 26-year-old's upcoming album, a process she dubs "refreshing."

"I got to step outside of what I normally do," Keri tells Rap-Up TV "I'm not normally this huge pop writer...and Britney, she's special. I can’t say that she’s guarded, but I understand why she doesn’t want to talk about certain things and I respect that about her."

What's important to know about the Britster is that she is not a "puppet" strung along and directed by label higher-ups, Keri says.

"She really isn’t the puppet that people make her out to be," she adds. "She has an opinion and she’s a very, very bright girl."

In the studio, the hitmaking duo has never run into any problems as Britney is "a pleasure to work with." You won't find any diva behavior in there

!"[She] never mouth[s] off," the 25-year-old says. "She's a very, very sweet person, takes direction very well."

Keri, who's putting the finishing touches on her own album, In a Perfect World, also has some words for her colleague's critics.

"Right now she's dealing with life," she says. "She's just dealing with life. Leave that girl alone."

Source: OK Magazine

Britney: ''Very Normal, Says Co-Writer

The following italicized article is from www.x17online.com:

Britney Spears' life may seem glitzy and glamorous - but according to one of her collaborators, it hasn't gone to the pop princess' head!

Keri Hilson, one of the songwriters working on Brit's upcoming record, characterized working with Britney as being "completely normal" during a conversation with Extra backstage at F'N MTV yesterday. "You wouldn't think that - but [she's] very normal," Hilson said. "We just have girl talk and bang out a song, just like any other artist I would work with."

Keri also dished a few details about Brit's next album, confirming that she'd be working with Danja and "the rest of Timbaland's crew", and that she'd already started working with Britney in both Vegas and LA. "I'm excited," she told Extra. "We're going to bang it out this time!"

We're certainly pumped to hear it - after all, the last time Keri and Britney collaborated on a song, they came up with "Gimme More"!

We wanna hear this album so bad!

Source: X17

New Britney Album Details!

She produced Britney's hit single "Gimme More" -- now singer/producer Keri Hilson is opening up to "Extra" about working on Britney's upcoming CD!

Source: Extra TV

Danja Q&A

Keri Hilson was saying because Britney wouldn’t open up about her own personal experiences, it made it tougher to write for her. Did you find that it made it harder for you as well?

It wasn’t hard for me in the creative process with Britney because I was totally left to do pretty much whatever I wanted to. If she felt it, she was gonna ride with it. If she didn’t, you’d see it in her face. I don’t think she needed to open up. She did have one record where she’s mentioning certain things, but it’s in a clever kind of way, not necessarily pouring her heart out. We’ve known Britney for entertaining, dancing and giving you a sexy record, getting you moving. And that’s what we did. Unfortunately, she’s in the state that she’s in, but the music speaks for itself. In the studio she was dancing, laughing in the booth. She gave the right type of energy. That’s all that matters.

Did it disappoint you that the public didn’t respond as well to her VMA performance as they did to the actual “Gimme More” song?

It didn’t bother me until nine months down the line. I was like, "I wish she could’ve really nailed that performance ‘cause that really would have set it off." It was still top five [on the Billboard] Hot 100. I didn’t think the performance was really that big of a deal. She looked a little spaced-out. To me it looked like she was completely nervous. She hadn’t been on stage in I don’t know how long. During the performance, I was watching like, "Just give me that one pop to let me know you back." And it never happened. I was rooting for her regardless.

At the end of “Gimme More,” you were talking on the record. What prompted that?

[Laughs.] I just felt like I needed to say something. People haven’t really seen me or heard my voice, and that was one of my first solo productions. So I definitely had to stake my claim. There's a lot riding on my future, because people think I’m around because of Tim and they don’t really know what I’m capable of. After we mixed that record, I just knew that record was crazy. Period. We got all these hit records and I haven’t got any on my own. Well, here’s one.

Has all the drama overshadowing Britney’s project and Duran Duran's lackluster sales had any affect on you?

It definitely weighed on me. At one particular point last year, I felt like, "Man, I did all this work, and it ain’t pop like it’s supposed to pop." I was down for a little bit. It wasn’t that I wasn’t proud of my work. It’s just things with the business that sometimes happen that affect your music. You could put your all into the music, and it’s some executive decision that ruined it. I don’t count it as a failure. It’s just a lesson learned. In the Britney case, every producer, songwriter or arranger on that record did their thing. The record label did their thing. That was just something uncontrollable on her part. Duran Duran [is] an old group, [and] a lot of people are not familiar with them. Not saying that it’s over for them. It’s just a matter of reintroducing them.

Source: Rhapsody