Change You Can Believe In!

I am filled with hope, and this has nothing to do with the fact that I am catching up on a month's worth of This American Life Episodes and just finished the Inauguration Show one. Yes, Barack Obama is pretty cool. But more importantly, Keri Hilson might actually have a hit on her hands.

You don't think you know her, but you actually do. She's that lady on Timbaland's grammatically-incorrect "The Way I Are," and Keri Hilson is totally okay with reminding people that the song really is the only reason people might have an interest in her: her video for "Return the Favor," actually begins with a clip of "The Way I Are" that song to jolt the memory of unsuspecting R&B fans.

Anyways, the big deal is that her song "Turnin' Me On" is actually in the Top 40 of the billboard charts. What's annoying is that she had to prostitute her music by getting Lil' Wayne to jump on the track and drop an auto-tuned verse comparing female anatomy to carnivorous aquatic creatures. This is where I would make a joke about that movie "Teeth," but I won't. You're welcome.

"Turnin' Me On" is the third video she's released in support of her album, In A Perfect World. The problem is, her album hasn't come out yet.

Are you having deja vu as well? Because this reminds me of what happened to lead Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger (hey, it's easier than "Blagojevich"), who also tried to go solo by doing exactly what she did before, minus the five other back-up dancers that make up the rest of the band. Scherzy made it to four forgettable singles on iTunes before she coughed up a press release explaining how she had a change of heart and how dropping her solo album to focus on PCD's sophomore effort, Doll Domination, was of her own volition.

I wonder how many A&R reps it took to make Nicole Scherzinger swallow her pride.

I am worried that Keri Hilson is headed down that path. There's a big difference, though: Scherzy's singles basically all sucked. "Whatever U Like" was the only one that had promise, but it turned out to be a total rip-off of Kelis's "Blindfold Me" from 2006's Kelis Was Here. Fool! Nobody does it better than Kelis. And what is with these rap producers making identical beats? Where is the creativity?. Polow Da Don, the producer responsible for those two songs, also made the beat for "Turnin' Me On," so maybe he's not all bad.
But anyways, the rest of Scherzy's singles -- Baby Love, Supervillain, and Puakenikeni (Akon gets her in touch with her Hawaiian roots, in case you're wondering) -- are complete and total wastes of megabytes.

Keri has the goods, though. First of all, she's been a songwriter for some odd number of years, and is responsible for one of the greatest pop songs of the millenium, Britney Spears's "Gimme More," which makes her a winner in my book.

Second, her three singles could take down Nicole Scherzinger's entire catalogue any day of the week. Blindfolded, too. Take a look for yourself:

RETURN THE FAVOR (featuring Timbaland -- of course!):



ENERGY:



TURNIN' ME ON (featuring Lil' Wayne):



I have to say, though -- the parts where Keri's in the pink dress in the "Return The Favor" video look nearly identical to Rihanna's own pink-dress moments in "S.O.S." Gosh, I have such a good eye for these things. At least she didn't copy a Pussycat, though.