The "Turnin' Me On" remix ended up being the most controversial song in the career of Keri Hilson, as the Ester Dean-co-written Beyonce diss track was something she was never really able to escape from. As such, Hilson's recent claims about the track during her recent interview with The Breakfast Club surprised many fans. Basically, she said that she never meant to diss the Houston superstar and instead had to use lyrics her producer pressured her to spit, which is what led to all the diss drama that also involved Ciara, allegedly. The woman who helped her write the song, the aforementioned Dean, recently took to social media with an open letter telling her side of the story.
"I wasn't in the room with Keri writing this together," Ester Dean said of Keri Hilson's Beyonce drama. "I didn't know her personally. She was already a star. I was just a writer trying to earn my place. I did my job and left. Keri came in another time and wrote her own verse. [...] For the record – I didn't work with Beyoncé until years later when I signed to Roc Nation as a writer. There was no 'plot.' No 'beef squad.' No secret industry mission. Just writers writing. Artists being artists. People trying to win."
When Did Keri Hilson Diss Beyonce?
"It’s a regret. But not in the way people think," Keri Hilson expressed regarding the Beyoncé controversy. "That’s a song I actually didn’t write. Those are not my words. [...] 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."
Meanwhile, Keri Hilson believes Ester Dean slightly misrepresented their situation, as Hilson rewrote various of Dean's lines back in 2009 when the "Turnin' Me On" remix dissing Beyoncé dropped. Overall, both artists seem to be on the same page, but not enough for either to take accountability for the firestorm the song caused. In reality, it seems like both fell victim to larger structures and motivations that were not their own.
