Art imitates life for songstress Keri Hilson in her latest Lifetime film, Fame: A Temptations Story.

As character Cherish Jordan, Hilson steps into the role of one half of a singing sister duo The Jordan Sisters, alongside Keshia Chanté, who plays Roxy Jordan.

“I would say that I am informed by my character Cherish Jordan in the obvious way because we both are famous, also because I have a sister, and I know and understand the dynamics of sisterhood,” Hilson told Blavity’s Shadow and Act. “I would also say that there are some not-so-obvious woven threads, although they’re motivated by different things. She wants certain things out of life and has a certain way of going about it. I want certain things in life, but I approach them in a different way. I’m more surrendered, and she’s more methodical and calculated. There are some similarities, and also some differences.”

Like her character, Hilson has also experienced the loss of her father — something that she said she had sort of compartmentalized before having to draw on those emotions during the opening scene of the film, during which she and her co-star paid homage to their on-screen father in a moving tribute performance.

“Anytime I have to tap directly into the loss of my dad — like I won’t even talk about it long right now because I don’t wanna mess my makeup up — like, it’s really difficult to talk about still,” she said. “As you’re acting, sometimes it’s a direct connect, like oh my character’s father died, I think this isn’t the first time that happened actually. I remember filming prior, a movie, and my mother died, and I had to sit on the front pew at the funeral, and that was ridiculously tough. That was so hard to do because I remember being on that same pew in church and having the emotions, so this was kinda the same, having to pick yourself back up after filming the scene and be smiley and laughy, happy, replace your makeup, and film something else. It’s kinda hard to shake off. So if I ever seemed somber when I’m not supposed to, it could’ve been the day we filmed that scene.”

She added, “That is a similarity that she and I share. I guess I kinda tucked that away, I tried to forget that, but it was a part of the reason that I took the movie, because I wanted to honor my father through a character that was also honoring her father.”

The biggest misconception about fame

With the film telling the cautionary tale of the woes that come with fame, Hilson said the biggest misconception that she’s learned from being in the game since the age of 14 is that people believe that fame makes you happy or that it can be fulfilling.

“People look at it kind of like the way they look at being rich,” she said. “They’re like when I become blank, I will be happy, I will be … whatever that is for them. Like, I’m gonna be content. I’m gonna be, you know, and you really can’t say because life will life no matter what. Look at people who go through serious turmoil in their career. It was once me, you know what I mean? You can be famous, and it can be a gift or a curse, in a sense.”

“You can make mistakes,” she said. “There are things you can overcome, obviously, but some people never get that opportunity to redeem themselves. I just think people have to look at it a little more realistically. Fame doesn’t prevent life from happening. Fame doesn’t prevent you from getting in your way at times,” Hilson continued. “Fame doesn’t prevent others from creating or presenting obstacles for you. If you can’t handle criticism from your family members or your mom or something, then you might not want to be famous. It’s constant criticism, constant critique. Sometimes it’s constructive, sometimes it’s destructive. You have to have that thick skin.”

She added, “Obviously, there are lots of perks and I’m grateful. I could never speak ill of my life journey, because the bright side is that I get to touch people. I get to do exactly what people did for me when I was coming up, listening to music. The tears I cried, the shows I felt chills at, and the lyrics that touched me in my soul. So, the fact that I’m able to do that now is like, that’s great, but you gotta keep your value, your real why, not the money, not the popularity. That ain’t it. It’s really about your heart. It’s about the posture of your purpose and your why.”

Returning to music after being away for over a decade

After taking a 15-year hiatus from making music, Hilson has returned with her third studio album, We Need to Talk: Love. It’s the first of a three-part story that she’s telling about love, drama and redemption. 

“I feel that it’s something that I wanted to inject into the world,” Hilson said when asked why she wanted to start with the emotion of love. “We’re gonna go on a tide. It’s going to have to take on different colors, but I felt that love is the supreme color. Love is all colors. It’s just so beautiful, and I think the art of loving is underrated, understated and underexpressed, especially in our industry.”

We Need to Talk: Love is also the first project released under Hilson’s imprint Audible Art Club, which is a testament to the current era that she’s in as sort of a Keri Hilson 2.0 after having taken the time off to retreat, live life and learn about herself through the continuous process of healing.

“When I was first out, I was so young. I had been in the industry since I was 14 years old, and so that was over a decade of me giving my fullest dedication to this art, to this craft, to this industry,” the “Pretty Girl Rock” crooner said. “I learned who I am. I learned who I’m not. I learned who I wanna be. I learned who I don’t want to be. I healed some things. I processed a lot of things. I was in therapy, I was journaling, I was on spiritual retreats.”

She added, “I was digging. I really was interested in rising within before presenting to the world some unhealed, unwhole version of myself. I am most excited that the fans are excited. I think that’s the part that you can never assume, that anybody waited this long or that anybody is still drawn to what you present. That is just a really cool, mind-blowing thing. To be gone that long is such a risk — like 15 years, and to have the reception this project is getting is just unreal. That’s the type of stuff that makes me cry because it’s like, how?”

Fame: A Temptations Story, premieres on Lifetime on April 26, at 8 p.m. ET.