Ester Dean appears to have confirmed that she co-wrote the remix of Keri Hilson's hit song, "Turnin Me On," on which the singer dissed Beyonce back in 2009. She did so in an Instagram comment on Wednesday after Hilson discussed the making of the song during her new interview on The Breakfast Club. When one user claimed Dean wrote the track, she replied to confirm, "co-wrote but yes."
As for The Breakfast Club discussion, Hilson began by describing the diss as a "regret," but not in the way fans may think. “He [Polow da Don] had another writer in our camp at the time… He had her write this," she recalled. "He played it for me. Meanwhile I’m thinking I was coming in to write a remix to ‘Turnin’ Me On.’ Automatically, I was like, ‘I’m not saying that.’ That was my position. I’m an athlete. I am competitive. But I’m not nasty, I’m a finesse player. I don’t look at things like that. My album wasn’t out yet, I was told it’s not coming out if you don’t do this. I was super young. I felt I had no choice […] I’m still protecting everyone involved. I’ve been eating that for years.”
Keri Hilson & Beyonce Beef
Ester Dean comes clean today after the viral Keri Hilson interview about being the writer behind the infamous Turnin Me On Remix, that was meant to be a Beyoncé & Ciara diss record. Keri Hilson said it was Polow Da Don who forced her to record it and he leaked it. pic.twitter.com/OwQgATwcRS
— Black Culture News (@blackculturenew) April 9, 2025
The remix of "Turnin Me On" leaked back in March 2009 and it immediately made headlines as fans interpreted the lyrics as Hilson was taking shots at both Beyonce and Ciara. "You can dance, she can sing but need to move it to the left," she sang. Hilson previously confirmed she never wrote the lyrics during an interview with Fox Soul back in 2020. "Was not my lyrics, was not my writing, was not my doing," she said at the time. "Then, I'm caught. Do I tell the truth? Do I expose them early in my career? I'm super young, super new. This [is] my first album. It just soiled my whole dream."
The interview on The Breakfast Club comes as Keri Hilson is set to release her long-awaited third studio album, We Need to Talk, on April 18. It marks her first studio album since No Boys Allowed in 2010. She put out the lead single, "Bae," last month.
