Two years ago, Keke Palmer found herself going viral online, but not because of a new album or film. RNB Radar posted a video on X, showing Usher serenading her at his concert in a sheer dress. Her boyfriend at the time, Darius Jackson, left a harsh comment. “It’s the outfit tho… you a mom,” he wrote.
Her fans quickly came to her defense, but Palmer didn’t know any of it until the next day. “I was at a photo shoot and everybody was looking all weird,” she recalled to People. “I was like, ‘Are y’all good?’ And then I randomly was on my phone and I saw. It was so crazy. I didn’t want to engage with something that wasn’t reality and fan the fire.”
Two years later, Palmer has drawn on all the heartache, confusion, and growth to create her most personal album yet.
Keke Palmer Shares How Her Ex Reacted to Her New Album
“Just Keke” and is a 30-minute movie detailing her relationship with Jackson from falling in love through the two struggling to become co-parents. According to Palmer, the two have come a long way since the Usher concert, and she even shared the album with him.
“As soon as he listened to it, he was like, ‘I’m really proud of you,’” she recalled to People. “I think we both have grown a lot. Life is funny that way. Sometimes things happen, and they teach you about yourself, good or bad, and then you have to decide what to do with it.”
She’s also proud of the fact that, despite their issues, they’ve both been mature enough to know they need to be united for the sake of their son, Leo.
“At the end of the day, it wasn’t just me and him that was a part of the story, the real star of the story is my son and who he’s called us both to be,” she continued. “I do think we both, whether we did it perfectly in the moment or not, have risen to the occasion of being who he needs us to be. And if we don’t, we know what the outcome is.”
Keke Palmer Breaks Down the Three Acts of Her New Album: ‘It Starts With That Nostalgic’ Feeling
“Just Keke,” is broken up into three acts. “It kind of starts with that nostalgic, like, record scratch of ‘how did I get here?’” Palmer said on the “Way Up With Angela Yee” podcast. “So the first record you get is “Offscript,” and then, you know, ‘how did I get here?’ It transports you into the beginning, and that’s “125 [Degrees].” That’s the beginning of the second act of, you know, falling in love, and what that felt like.”
“And then we find our way to “Confessions,” where things kind of take a turn,” Palmer continued. “The energy has changed. And then we get to the final act where it’s like, closure is personal and singular in this regard. But then knowing that there’s always going to be a continuation because, you know, we have our child together.”
A large majority of the album addresses her past relationship. But “Ripples” is a song about the importance of generational wealth and strength. “My family is everything to me,” she told People about the song. “Whenever I’ve gone through anything hard in my life, I’ve just turned to them and remembered who I am.”
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