You’ll get every version of Keke Palmer on her new album, Just Keke. There’s “You know it’s your girl!” Keke, “Sorry to that man” Keke, and, yes, even “A Kiki” and the Bee.
The multihyphenate is standing on business and fully taking control of her narrative through the project, which comes in the aftermath of her public breakup and falling out with the father of her child, Darius Jackson. In case you somehow missed all the social posts and headlines at the time, allow me to catch you up to speed: During a girls’ trip to Vegas in 2023, she was casually serenaded by Usher in a stunning sheer outfit, which prompted a series of social posts from her ex that shamed her version of motherhood.
Naturally, it prompted Keke to get some things off her chest in the studio. Days after she graced the steps of the Met Gala, she dropped her side of the story with her Usher-sampled single, “My Confession.” Dear reader, the song is only an introduction to what she unveils on her latest visual album, which also happens to be the second project under her independent label, Big Boss.
Keke shares her deeply personal journey through love, motherhood, fame, and self-discovery across 18 tracks through sharp and vulnerable lyricism and iconic imagery. There are also loads of references laced throughout the project, including Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s inner monologue on Insecure, Whitney Houston’s “It’s Not Right but It’s Okay,” and, yes, even those of her own.
Ahead of the album’s release, the artist caught up with Cosmopolitan to chat about basking in the freedom of owning her story and telling it on her terms, how motherhood plays a role in her future endeavors, and, of course, a potential musical collab with her One of Them Days co-star, SZA.
You featured real social media posts, text messages, and court docs in the lyric video for “My Confession,” and the music video takes place in a church. The track only scratches the surface of how open you are throughout this album. How do you navigate turning real-life headlines into art without letting them define you?
You can’t stop people from thinking what they want to think from the headlines. Owning it is already a moment of reclamation within itself. It has more power when it becomes a narrative of others to say about you than the narrative you create for yourself. This is my storyline. You don't get to author my story for me—I author it myself.
Now, what you do with that is on you, but at least I know where I stand, and I can mark this moment, era, and experience with the tonality that I see fit. That’s what this project was for me. “My Confession” is literally the tip of the iceberg in terms of all the depths to which I go about this whole moment in my life.
I’m sure working with one of your close friends, Tayla Parx, on the track helped. How did you tap her for this project? What was it like creating with someone who knows you so well, especially when diving into such personal territory?
I’ve known Tayla since I was nine, and we’ve been best friends since our families moved to California at the same time to be a support system and help us pursue our dreams. Me, her, Leon Thomas III, and Ariana Grande all grew up together in the child entertainment world. We never worked together on music, and I feel like now was the time because I was ready to go back to those places only she could get me to go.
Going to that place with her was very emotional and triggering because we went through a lot, trying to make it in this industry so young. It was tough. I then experienced something very difficult after having my son, with the public fallout and all that drama, which made me not just confront what that meant to me, but the other parts of myself that were fragmented in my life through my trauma. Now, I want to integrate it, and I have to integrate it because I have a son, and he needs me to grow—not just through what happened today, but what happened yesterday. Working with Tayla is a perfect representation of the integration of all of that.
I know you also have a lot of love for your One of Them Days co-star, SZA. Did you confide in her or show her any songs while making the record?
I didn’t, but I would have loved to share it with her! She’s on tour—I’m not gonna be like, ‘Yo, listen to my music right now.’ When we were working together on One of Them Days, she would share music with me ’cause she was getting ready to come out with her most recent project. I loved hearing it because it was always so amazing, and I felt like I was getting a little inside scoop.
You definitely had the tea! Do you think you’d ever work together musically?
There could possibly be a little collab from us, because she has always spoken so highly about my voice. She's like, ‘Girl, I’ll have you know, I have a vision for you.’ Y'all know, not only does she have a voice, but she has a mother-freaking pen.
All of the above sounds so exciting, and I need it immediately...
Maybe we’ll have something at some point cooking up, ’cause I love her down and we’ve got One of Them Days 2 coming out. So who knows...maybe it’s a song for that. Maybe we make a killer soundtrack.
You already know I’m keeping an eye out for that, but for now, we get to relish in Just Keke! On the album cover, you’re a doll who’s perfectly posed, but self-aware. What was the inspiration behind that? It made me think about the idea of being controlled, but you’re taking control of your narrative with this project.
You’re a hundred percent dead on, that was the inspiration for it. Underneath the performance, there’s a real voice that is trying to be heard, and I wanted to introduce that thematically, because the album is that glitch being exposed.
That undercurrent and pressure underneath the intense smile lives the truth and the real person who’s performing from a place of survival. Ultimately, at the end of the project, she performs from a place of intentionality that reveals the true her. I’m the dramaturg. This is my story, and I’m no longer a puppet—and, really, I never was. I needed to be seen as that to make my way through. That’s where a lot of the references like MGM, Vaudevillian, Disney, or Barbie come from. I did what I had to do, and now I get to be who I want to be.
You’re a multihyphenate in every sense, but one of the most important titles you hold is mom. As seen in the visual for “Ripples,” I can tell family is a big part of your life. Did motherhood play a role in how you approached this project, and do you plan on sharing this project with your son, Leo, when he's old enough?
Oh my gosh, yes! Leo, by the way, watches it now. The other day, he was in front of me and he was singing “Tea, Boo.”
When you know that someone is watching you, it pushes you to show up for yourself the way you would want them to show up for themselves. I’m thinking sharper, trying harder, investing greater, and following through more than I even thought I could follow through. I already thought I was at the highest level, but he showed me places where I could grow from, and I owe all of it to him. I’ve said it in my book, Master of Me, and I feel the same way about Just Keke: he brought me back to myself and taught me how to foster and love that inner child that’s been there and waiting for me to say “hey” again.
Parts of this interview have been edited and condensed for clarity.
