NEW YORK (AP) ā A sheer dress silhouetting a black body suit, Usherās signature crowd interaction and a tweet from her childās father: that concoction created a nearly two-week social media frenzy starring Keke Palmer back in 2023. Now, has channeled that experience into her new album, āJust Keke.ā
āIt was tough ā¦ I didnāt even realize I was in such grief,ā said the 31-year-old about the fallout of her extremely public breakup with her ex, Darius Jackson. āI get to put that same emotion into a song, and I get tell ā¦ whatās going on in a way that it can translate.ā
Following 2023ās āBig Boss,ā her third solo studio project, out now, is an 18-track visual album conceptualized and directed by Palmer and her team. Tayla Parx, whoās written for Alicia Keys, Justin Bieber and Dua Lipa, handled the bulk of the writing and executive produced with Palmer. The storyline follows . But her vulnerability about her well-publicized relationship drama is the albumās throughline.
āThatās what artistry is ā¦ mine is about transmutation, said Palmer, whoās usually mum about her romantic relationships. āI have to address something that I would never address, especially nothing on an intimate level ā thatās just so not me. But I knew that I had to because now that itās become public, itās become a part of my work, and I have to respond to it as such. And that just caused me to have to grow.ā
While attending Usherās popular Las Vegas residency in 2023, the Emmy winner danced closely with the music icon during his routine audience interaction segment. Social videos of the interaction prompted a viral tweet from Jackson, her ex-boyfriend and childās father, criticizing her attire, writing, āItās the outfit tho.. you a mom.ā
While he was quickly admonished online, the conversation eventually moved beyond social media to articles and think pieces tackling subjects ranging from patriarchy, womenās attire, and having children before marriage.
Standout tracks on āJust Kekeā include āMy Confessionā ā a tongue-in-cheek interpolation of Usherās hit "Confessions, Pt. II" ā as well as the previously released "125 Degreesā and āOff Script.ā She passionately belts out her love on the ballad āUnless Itās You,ā while āMisunderstoodā finds her asking, āDonāt you see me throwing out a lifeline? / You too busy pinning me the bad guy / Maybe we aināt doing what we should / or maybe weāre just misunderstood.ā
āWhat the project, I think, speaks to as well is just like reclamation,ā said the āNopeā star, admitting the album could reignite criticism about her personal life. āIām just Keke, hate it or love it. This is me, this is my story, this is how I see things, I see my life ā¦ the whole point of it, too, is making peace with just saying what you got to say and letting it be that.ā
While Palmerās mic is still hot, sheās extremely booked and busy on Hollywood lots: a sequel to āOne of Them Days,ā and she stars with Eddie Murphy and Pete Davidson in āThe Pickupā from Prime Video in August. The āAkeelah and the Beeā actor will lead Peacockās upcoming TV adaptation of Mel Brookās āThe āBurbs,ā and sheāll join the team on āSpaceballs 2ā with original stars Bill Pullman and Rick Moranis, the latter a reclusive ā80s and ā90s star whoās since largely stayed out of Hollywood.
Palmer says sheāll judge the success of āJust Kekeā not necessarily by sales or Billboard charts, but by potential opportunities that arise, whether itās creating and directing visual albums for other artists, helming her own musical and comedic variety show, or even embarking on her own world tour.
āIt could look like so many things, and Iām open to all of them,ā said Palmer. āAs long as I know that I put my all into this, I know I canāt lose.ā
___
Follow Associated Press entertainment journalist Gary Gerard Hamilton at @GaryGHamilton on all his social media platforms.
Gary Gerard Hamilton, The Associated Press
