Keri Hilson recently revealed on the “R&B Money Podcast” that while working with super producer Timbaland on her first album, she helped pull him out of a deep depression.
According to the R&B singer and songwriter, Timbaland was at a low point in his career when they first met, and he was thinking about quitting the music business, but the work they did on her solo debut album got his creative juices flowing and pulled him out of that depression.
When I first met Tim, he was talking about leaving the industry.
He was so depressed. He was sleeping and snoring in the studio, laying on the couch, he would stroll in, didn’t want to be there, talk his sh*t, em, hardly satisfied, you know what I mean?
But, we were… I could cry about this. So there was one song I did that turned things around.
And it was called ‘They Don’t Understand.’ I actually wrote it about… something personal. And, it was kind of about being shelved, actually.
And it was called ‘They Don’t Understand,’ so being counted out, right, underdog, right?
And so Tim… I was still living in his house, and every morning I would hear that song play for like… He would be on the treadmill, or his elliptical for, like, no less than an hour, but some days it’ll be 3, 4, hours to that song on repeat the entire time.
It drove me crazy!
But, like what it meant to me was, like, my, like, the epitome of my favorite producer ever, you know, being inspired by something that I had said.
An expression that I did, like, now the track was jamming too, but, like, he really loved that song.
He really loved it! I can’t believe it didn’t come out. I don’t know what happened, but at this time, so, that was part of him gaining his mojo.
He had gotten… He was out of it, and he, you know, his body and his mannerisms and everything was showing.
Everything showed it, right? And, um, if you ask him during that, at least that one, and he has said this publicly.
Who was responsible for, you know, he has credited us working to him getting out of his, cause he just thought it was over.
He was in a musical slump. He didn’t know where to go, he didn’t know…
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Earlier in the interview, Keri revealed that after meeting Timbaland, he flew her out to Miami so they could start working on some music together, and during that time, she lived with him for a while.
She also said her solo debut album was shelved for four years before it came out.
Watch the clip of the Keri Hilson interview from the “R&B Money Podcast” below.
Keri signed to Timbaland’s Mosley Music Group in 2006. They made many hits together, but one of their biggest international hits (Australia, Germany, England, Ireland, Norway, and the United Kingdom) was a song called “The Way I Are.”
Also Read: Keri Hilson Applies Pressure On Instagram: ‘Ask Yo Daddy’
Watch the “The Way I Are” video below.
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