MUSIC REVIEW

CHECK OUT THIS REVIEW OF KERI HILSON’S DEBUT ALBUM & TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK. IS IT FIRE OR BURNED OUT??

Keri Hilson- In a Perfect World

"I got a lil' bit of thug in me," boasts Timbaland protégée Keri Hilson in the intro on her long-awaited debut. Lil' is the operative term: Hilson works up a sweat trying to come on like a hardboiled diva — promising to "get on my worst behavior" in the blippy single "Return the Favor" — but her precise, nimble R&B singing is a generic sound, carrying little menace or other stamp of individuality. Hilson has other skills, though. She's a member of the songwriting collective the Clutch, and the album's 14 songs — from the Polow Da Don-produced bumper "Get Your Money Up" to the simmering slow-jam "Make Love" — are uniformly excellent. Hilson's halfway there — she just needs a lil' more personality.