Ester Dean has penned tracks for everyone from Rihanna and Nicki Minaj to Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, but her songs don’t always end up where they’re supposed to. Her 2009 solo smash, “Drop It Low” featuring Chris Brown, was originally intended for another R&B songstress.


“‘Drop It Low,’ honestly, was for Ciara, but she didn’t come get the song. And then Britney [Spears] wanted it,” the hitmaker told the Los Angeles Times. “During the demo [Polow Da Don] kept telling me, ‘You’ve gotta believe it’ as I was singing it. A week later he asked if I wanted to hear my new single.”

The 24-year-old singer-songwriter is parlaying the single’s success into her upcoming debut, with songs like the Euro-flavored “Gimme Money” and pop ballad “Hero” already in the can. But if another artist happens to come along and like what she’s got, she isn’t averse to passing off a hit.

“Look, these songs are for me, but I ain’t stupid,” she explained. “If somebody wants them, they can have them.”

Dean is currently seeing success on the chart with songwriting credits on Rihanna’s “S&M” and “What’s My Name?” as well as Katy Perry’s “Firework.”