NYT pans the Keri Hilson album

“In a Perfect World ...”

(Mosley Music Group/Zone 4/Interscope)

Two years ago Keri Hilson was the sweet-voiced singer on “The Way I Are,” the bizarre song — part soul, part industrial, part rap — that turned the superstar hip-hop producer Timbaland into a pop star in his own right. Singing light lyrics of devotion while buried under sheaves of synthesizers, she barely registered, though, sounding more like an automaton chirping out notes and sentiments on command.

But can you blame her for being a bit chilly? There is no less sexy a duet partner than Timbaland, who, in the vocal booth at least, has no sense of subtlety, rapping in a broad, jolly gurgle. The unfortunate pairing is reprised on “Return the Favor,” which appears on Ms. Hilson’s debut album and encapsulates the record’s shortcomings.

Ms. Hilson is clobbered on all sides by ornate production — largely by Timbaland and Polow Da Don — throughout this album, which favors texture and rhythm over melody or feeling. Sometimes, as on the slinky single “Turnin’ Me On” (featuring Lil Wayne), the busyness coheres, with Ms. Hilson neatly gliding among the song’s many layers. And she may need the crutch; she is a careful, slight singer.

But she’s often inventive, approaching the beat from odd angles and picking unexpected moments for rhyme. She also does much of her own vocal arranging. As part of the writing-producing collective the Clutch, she’s helped shape songs like Omarion’s magnificently gothic “Ice Box” and Usher’s squealing “Red Light.”

Knowing how best to frame other singers, though, hasn’t helped Ms. Hilson make better decisions for herself. Her sharpest moments are also the least frequent ones here: the uncluttered ones. The excellent “Slow Dance” sounds like a mid-1980s Prince ballad, sparkly and psychedelic, and the album’s high point, “Alienated,” is an alluring cloud-covered plea to an ex in which Ms. Hilson alternates between singing and a sort of whispered rap. (It also inspires some of her quirkiest lyrics: “I’m here wishing you would stop by my place/but the only time we talk is on MySpace.”) Notably, these are two of the only songs here not produced by Timbaland or Polow Da Don. Giving Ms. Hilson room to breathe, these producers — King Solomon Logan and Cory Bold — clearly see something in her other than decoration, something she has perhaps yet to see in herself. JON CARAMANICA