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On Wednesday, April 9, 2025, Ester Dean shared an apology note on Instagram about her role in co-writing the Keri Hilson verse in a 2009 diss track aimed at Beyoncé and Ciara - Turnin' Me On (remix). Calling it "childish" in the post, the songwriter wrote:
"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."
Further in her note, Ester Dean added:
"I've worked with and supported many women since, but that doesn't erase the moment. I'm sorry for my part in it. Growth is real, and so is this apology."
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Born and brought up in Muskogee, Oklahoma, Ester Dean is a singer-songwriter and record producer who moved to Atlanta to pursue a career in songwriting when she was 20. According to songwriteruniverse.com, Dean made her first artistic breakout in 2009 with her buzz single, Drop It Low. The track featured Chris Brown's vocals and earned the 40th position on the Billboard Hot 100.
Ester's #1 on the list came later that year, with Rihanna's global hit Rude Boy. Dean has since written for several chart-topping hip-hop artists, including Drake, Beyoncé, and Kelly Clarkson, to name a few.
Ester Dean's apology statement comes in the wake of Keri Hilson's The Breakfast Club interview
Ester Dean's apology about co-writing the remix of Turnin' Me On comes in the wake of Keri Hilson making headlines for her statement about being forced to sing the track. In a recent appearance on The Breakfast Club on April 9, 2025, Hilson was asked if she regretted releasing the diss track, to which she agreed. She also said that she wasn't the writer behind the song, only the singer, saying:
"Those are not my words."
Hilson clarified that she didn't want to sing it after hearing the lyrics for the first time and tried to fight the producer, Polow da Don, over it. Hilson went on to say that she was forced to sing the track, with her career being threatened over it. She shared that she also recorded her own version of the song, which was more appropriate with the theme, but wasn't released.
"I was young, I was super young. I felt I had no power, I felt I had no choice, but I did record my version which had nothing like that. It was on subject. The song is about men," Hilson added.
In the 2009 diss track Turnin' Me On, which took a dig at Bey's 2006 single Irreplaceable, Hilson sang:
"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."
Keri Hilson also claimed in The Breakfast Club that after the diss track was "leaked," she protected Ester Dean without revealing her name on the show. Both Hilson and Dean are signed to Interscope Records.
