Keri Hilson Reveals She Was “Forced” To Diss Beyoncé On “Turning Me On Remix,” Ester Dean Apologizes For Penning It, Gets Dragged On Social Media
Written by djfrosty on April 10, 2025
Source: Getty Images / Keri Hilson / Beyoncé / Ester Dean
In 2009, Keri Hilson did the unthinkable and took a shot at Beyoncé on the remix to her smash hit “Turning Me On.” In 2025, she is now claiming she was forced to sing the song that Ester Dean wrote and is now apologizing for.
We have long forgotten about Keri Hilson coming for the queen years ago, but here we go again, revisiting a moment that definitely should have never happened.
Keri Hilson is gearing up to release her new album, We Need To Talk, which features her latest single, “BAE. “Ironically, the singer/songwriter is doing a lot of talking.
During a recent interview on The Breakfast Club, Hilson revealed the backstory to the shenanigans that took place 15 years ago at the height of her career. She gave the morning show the details of the song’s shady lyrics and revealed she was “forced” to get in the booth and spit those eye-rolling-inducing bars that many believe led to her career losing steam.
Keri Hilson Regrets The Moment
“It’s a regret. But not in the way people think,” Hilson DJ Envy and Charlamagne Tha God. “That’s a song I actually didn’t write. Those are not my words. I was on tour, [and] Polow [Da Don] wanted me to do a remix to ‘Turnin’ Me On.’ He produced the record. Because I was on tour with Lil Wayne, I wasn’t able to lay anything down. He had been on me for a couple of weeks, [saying] we need to do a remix.”
On the song, Hilson rapped, “Your vision cloudy if you think that you’re the best. You can dance, she can sing. But she need to move it to the left, left. She need to go have some babies. She needs to sit down, she fake. I ain’t turning it off, I’m stay turning it on. Go ‘head and tell these folks how long I’ve been writing your songs. I’ve been putting you on, just check the credits, h*e”
Hilson further explained how Polow Da Don invited Ester Dean, an unnamed songwriter at the time, to contribute on the record.
“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,” she explained. “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.”
Ester Dean Outs Herself As The Song’s Writer
It didn’t take long, but Dean revealed herself as the writer on the record, responding to a commenter who speculated she was the contributor, “And did! It was a hit!”
While Dean was initially proud of the song’s accomplishments, she would later take to her Instagram account to apologize for Beyoncé’s bashing lyrics and their impact on Hilson’s career.
“I submitted a lot of verses for that remix –– one got picked, and it was co-written with Keri. Looking back, it was childish and didn’t age well. I see how it hurt people, especially women and I take full accountability,” Dean wrote in her IG Stories post. “I’m sorry for my part in it. Growth is real, and so is this apology.”
Hilson has interacted with Beyoncé since being forced to diss her on the song, revealing to the morning show that Cowboy Carter crafter introduced herself to her and was gracious. “I appreciated it. I feel like she understood what happened, what had transpired and there was a bit of healing in that moment when we met. I take her as a very intuitive kind of soul, as am I.”
As you can imagine, social media has thoughts on the matter. Ester Dean is catching most of the flack. You can see those reactions in the gallery below.