Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	65/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Blender
Entertainment Weekly	B+
Los Angeles Times
PopMatters	5/10
Q
Rolling Stone
Slant Magazine
Spin	6/10
USA Today

In a Perfect World... is the debut studio album of American singer-songwriter Keri Hilson. It was released on March 24, 2009 through Zone 4, Mosley Music Group and Interscope Records. Originally planned for a 2007 release, it was pushed back numerous times into 2009, amid her label's budget issues and minor single releases. The production on the album was handled primarily by Timbaland, Polow da Don and Danja, among others.

The album debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 94,000 copies in its first week. On October 22, 2009, the album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), following shipments in excess of 500,000 copies in the United States. Upon its release, In a Perfect World… received generally mixed to positive reviews from music critics. The album earned Hilson Grammy Award nominations for Best New Artist and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration during the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards ceremony on January 31, 2010.

"It’s my way of saying nothing in the world is perfect and no person in it is, either. None of us are exempt from certain hardships and heartbreaks. It was really important for me to write songs that women can relate to from real situations. I didn’t want to do an album that painted myself as perfect because no matter how things look, no one is. I called it that with the ellipses – dot dot dot – because it's an incomplete statement. I wanted to talk about how nobody's exempted from the realities of life and all those things."

Hilson spent most of her teenage years working with producer Anthony Dent, as a songwriter and background vocalist for the likes of Usher, Ludacris, Kelly Rowland, Toni Braxton, Ciara and Polow da Don. After graduating from high school, Hilson attended Oxford College of Emory University and Emory University in Atlanta for three years and studied a course in theater. She continued working as a songwriter and background vocalist during her schooling years. Hilson eventually stopped working with Dent, and began working more with Polow da Don. She also became a member of the songwriting and production team, The Clutch. Together, they wrote Mary J. Blige's "Take Me as I Am" (2006), Omarion's "Ice Box" (2006), Ciara's "Like a Boy" (2006), The Pussycat Dolls' "Wait a Minute" (2007) and Britney Spears' "Gimme More" (2007). In 2006, Polow introduced Hilson to American rapper and producer Timbaland, who then signed her to his record label, Mosley Music Group. In November 2006, Hilson was featured on American rapper Lloyd Banks' single, "Help", for his album Rotten Apple (2006).

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