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Keri Hilson tears up as she explains hiatus from music – VIDEO


Singer-songwriter Keri Hilson could not hold back tears as he narrated how she suffered a seven-year bout of depression which stunted her career.

Hilson, who is in Nairobi for a show tonight at the KICC made the revelation on Thursday during a press conference.

She took a hiatus from music despite the success of her 2009 debut album In a Perfect World, two Grammy nominations that same year, and the virality of her hit single Pretty Girl Rock from her No Boys Allowed follow-up.

“It is important to express yourself through your pain. That is what it is meant for. That honesty, that pain, that truth. I remember a lot of days I was just incapable, I paid over Sh10 million ($100,000) of studio time and a lot of days I would pull and didn’t go in. I couldn’t go,” she said fighting back tears.

INSPIRE SOMEONE

“I kept pushing and I did some of the best work that I have ever done at the time and it got easier and the lesson was that, that’s why we are here to do, to be inspired and inspire and to be honest and I’m not here do music that paints me perfect I’m not here to do that.”

She said that was here to inspire someone.

The 35-year-old said that many factors weighed down on her, especially the end of her 11-year relationship.

“I was crying before the stage. I was crying on the stage. I was crying after the stage,” recalled Hilson.

“I was barely keeping my makeup on through the tears…It was just dark. When ‘Pretty Girl Rock’ was at the top of the charts, I was bearing the weight of some personal and professional mistakes and they just weighed so, so, so, so heavy on my spirit.”

MOUNTAINTOP

She went on: “I just wasn’t myself although I was at the mountaintop of my life really, the trajectory of my dream, at the pinnacle. I was severely unhappy.”

But it gives back to you as well so anyone out there dealing with mental illness or depression, get out there and just do your part to change the world and help others feel good. It really does make you feel good back.

The Grammy-nominee will perform at the KICC during Terminal Music Weekend.