Hilson was born in Decatur, Georgia. She attended Tucker High School in Tucker, Georgia. During her adolescence, Hilson studied piano and singing, and she joined the girl group By D'Signe when she was 14. She became a songwriter and backing vocalist while in high school, and she attended Emory University, where she majored in theater. Hilson began songwriting in 2001 and would go on to write tracks for Britney Spears, Ciara, Usher and Ludacris. In 2004, she was featured on Xzibit's single, "Hey Now (Mean Muggin)," on which she received her first official credit as a guest vocalist. In 2006, Hilson signed as an artist with Timbaland's label, Mosley Music Group and appeared on a track on Diddy's Press Play. Hilson was also featured on "Help," the second single from Lloyd Banks' Rotten Apple; the single peaked at number 77 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. While Hilson was working with Polow da Don in a studio, he asked her, "What producer do you think could take you where you want to go as an artist?" She replied with Timbaland, who was in search of a black female solo R&B artist. After singing for Timbaland over the phone, they began recording at The Hit Factory the following weekend. In 2007, Hilson made several appearances on Timbaland's solo effort Shock Value, including on the singles "The Way I Are" and "Scream". "The Way I Are" reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the U.S. She performs the song along with Timbaland and OneRepublic on the soap opera One Life to Live in October 2007. Furthermore, she was featured on the track "Lost Girls" on Zone 4-labelmate Rich Boy's debut album and its second single "Good Things" and was credited as a writer and backing vocalist on Britney Spears's album Blackout. Hilson also played the lead role in Usher's music video for "Love in This Club", and appeared as one of the female leads in Ne-Yo's music video for "Miss Independent". After several pushbacks, Hilson's debut album In a Perfect World… was released in March 2004. The record debuted at number four on the U.S. Billboard 200 and number one on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart with first week sales of approximately 94,000 copies, and earned generally favorable reviews from music critics who noted it a "seductive debut CD full of slick, radio-friendly cuts." Eventually certified gold by the RIAA, the album spawned five singles, including leading single "Energy" and "Knock You Down," a collaboration with Kanye West and Ne-Yo that entered the top ten of the majority of all charts it appeared on. A reissue of the album, including previoulsy unreleased songs such as the German number-one hit "I Like," recorded for the film Zweiohrküken (2009), was released in certain parts of Central Europe during the first quarter of 2010. In the meanwhile, Hilson continued appearing on single releases by several other artists throughout 2008 and 2009, including Plies' single "Medicine," Fabolous' "Everything, Everyday, Everywhere," Nas' "Hero" and Sean Paul's "Hold My Hand." While most of these songs enjoyed moderate success on the charts, a duet with singer Chris Brown, entitled "Superhuman," emerged as the highest-charting Hilson feature during this period, reaching the top twenty in Ireland and New Zealand. Hilson is currently working on her second studio album, which is expected to be released during second quarter of 2010, involving main production by Polow Da Don and Timbaland again.