" It always felt like I was going through some door that only a humanity could really validate me through . "
When it comes to longevity as a young entertainer in Hollywood , there are n’t many who liken toKeke Palmer . The multi - hyphenate artist has been working in the industriousness for nearly two ten , doing everything from starring in her ownNickelodeonshow and delivering laurels - worthy picture carrying out , to debuting as the first Black woman to playCinderellaon Broadway , and host her very own talk of the town show . Her creativity is measureless , which is why she ’s never bond herself down to one outlet of expression .
Well , Keke just append managing director to her name ! The fresh mother lately released her second studio albumBig Boss , accompany by a ego - directed film of the same name to go along with it . The visuals are an honest and personal geographic expedition of Keke ’s experience influence in a male - master industry , how she almost lose her way , and the inspiration she discover within herself to keep follow her aspiration .
KeyTV
What’s the significance behind the album/film’s nameBig Boss?
It ’s because that ’s how I sense . I ’ve been through a lot in this industry to get to a point where I kind of know what it takes to be a boss . I know what it takes to kind of own my space and rescue the way that I want to render . The confidence that it ’s taken me to get here was not built from a big situation . It was built from a circle of trials and tribulations . Ultimately , it ’s what ’s allowed me to say , " Yeah , I can own this table . I can sit at this mesa . I screw my time value . "
The visuals chronicle your early years in the music and entertainment business, and we see you struggle through staying true to your identity, pressure to do certain things that were against your beliefs, etc. Why did you want to tell your story in this way?
It was my manager . He was like , " Hey , you should do a visual . I ’ve seen you do euphony and you also act , that should be a part of the storey that you tell . Show every aspect of who you are as an entertainer . " I think for years masses made me find like , specifically in euphony , that I had to be this specific version of what an artist was . But the reality is I do n’t just do medicine . I do music . I ’m a boniface . I ’m an actress , and all these thing , so I just commence compose . What you reckon is what slow came out onto the Sir Frederick Handley Page . I did n’t even live that that was a story I want to tell apart . I have in mind , it authentically just get coming out of me and became what it is today .
Is there a time that really stuck out to you where someone was telling you to change something about yourself and you refused?
I intend , there were so many times , I do n’t know if there was one specific here and now that remain firm out . It also does n’t go on like that , like someone saying , " Hey , hold on being you ! " It ’s really one thing after another like , " maybe you should sing like this , " or " you ca n’t be doing these kinds of songs , " or " how come you never do whatever , whatever ? You should be doing what ol' girl is doing . " It ’s like a bunch of different moments like that where ultimately somebody is say you ’re not secure enough .
These outside voices would try to dictate the type of artist you should be, whether it be your looks or your sound. That pressure was put more on you in your music versus your acting. Was there ever a time where you felt like stepping away from music or the entertainment industry altogether?
Yeah , and I did many , many times . But I always found my way back .
There were a lot of powerful quotes that stuck out to me in your film, one in particular being, “Feeling trapped in your own skin. Waking up knowing exactly who you are and everyone looking at you seeing something different.” What did you do or what kind of advice were you given to help you hold onto your essence?
It take a lot of just , like , clock time , man . I have a really good reinforcement system and my kin has always really been there for me . When thing are really heavy , I had positive voices around me that encouraged me and made me feel valued , and the importance of me being me . I reckon it ultimately came from me knowing that there ’s never run to be anybody easier to be than me . And if I ’m surrounded with love and with hoi polloi that are further me to succeed my own voice , I do n’t feel so inadequate as I do when I ’m around multitude that keep say me that I ’m not enough .
So I recall , for me , a lot of that was changing the narrative , or changing the environment , and going where the beloved is , like my mom says in the movie . There are always gon na be people who mean you’recornyand not good . I mean , even when you calculate at Prince andMichael Jackson . Prince was like , " Michael Jackson , really ? " But everybody else was like , " I love Michael Jackson ! " There ’s always gon na be somebody that does n’t think you ’re coolheaded enough . So it ’s important for you not to pay tending to the interpreter that are tell you , " You nurse ! " pay up attending to the voice that ’s telling you , " Keep going ! "
Male dominance is a theme also seen throughout the film. How has working in a male-dominated industry affected the way you navigated your career?
I guess it bear on it a lot in term of what I felt like I had to do , who I feel I had to work with , who I feel had to give me sign - off , just all of that . I felt like it was also confusion upon these other people O.K. me alternatively of me getting the support to create my own agency . Everything was always like , " You need to get in the studio with them . " It always felt like I was go through some door that only a valet could really validate me through . It was really tiring . If it was n’t producers , then it was some executive … it was always somebody like that . That was just my experience . I ’m sure other people have had unlike experiences , but mine was very much so that . I was just drain by it all . It just got to a period where I was just like , " How can I get out of this and memorize how to make it through whatever this political quad is ? "
And , of line , I receive my mode , but I believe when it descend toBig Boss , that ’s something I wanted to showcase . Even if you ’re not in the music manufacture , I recollect a lot of people finger like that in their respective field . They feel like there are so many other vox that are more valid than mine that I take to formalize my own . And now , here I am in situations talk to people that I do n’t even really value to that degree … but I take them to tell someone else that I ’m crucial ? I hate it here .
There was another great quote in the film that came right after you walked away from an uncomfortable situation with male peers you thought were your friends in the industry: “I’m so tired of being made to feel like my womanhood is some defect used against me. That everyone can see and expose me for.” Can you breakdown the meaning behind that quote?
I felt like me being a adult female was always this matter ! If I was a man , I would be cuttin ' up with y' all . But because I ’m not a military man , I ’m walk around here like I ’m a damn leper or something ? It was almost like how I showed in the film , it feel like me being a woman was seen as a weakness , or take in as not cool , or something that ’s not valid in some regard . It was like my gift only went so far because at the end of the day I was a charwoman . That ’s how I felt . Even if no one said those existent words , that ’s how it feel . It felt like it was a defect and that it was being used against me , because it would be something that other people would utilize as a way to defraud me .
You brought up #MeToo in the film and because you’ve also publiclyspoken outabout about sexual harassment in the industry during the #MeToo movement, I wanted to ask you about change. During a previous interview with theBreakfast Club,where you detailed an alleged sexual harassment incident withTrey Songz, you said people don’t initially believe Black women when they speak out. Do you feel like that’s changed at all since the movement’s inception? That could refer to women speaking out in general and/or specifically Black women speaking out.
I do n’t . I do n’t retrieve it ’s changed too much . I still get trolled about that , every now and then . I think most people do support me and I experience that , but ultimately it stems from a place of misogynism . That will never go off . And yes , I mean there ’s colorism and also racial prejudices that act a part . Absolutely . I imagine there ’s propaganda against disgraceful woman not being seen as damsels in any place . We kind of have been over - sexualise in the media to the item that hoi polloi have a severe time seeing us as innocent . You know what I mean ? Even as vernal as 15 and 16 , Black woman have become sexualized so that people have a hard time , like , believing they ’re innocent in any scenario . There ’s been full propaganda in the paired effect of women that are of a lighter complexion or of another acculturation , where they have not been sexualise in the same way . So , multitude maybe do n’t even always realise the judgment that they ’re putting on Black fair sex in comparability to other woman is deep rooted from years and age of propaganda that ’s started in slavery .
So , I think that ’s the number . How we have to loosen that is specifically teach about propaganda in school and in classes , before people can actually right their wrongs in their train of thought . So , it ’s changed a small chip . I suppose people that do the research and read where their prejudice are coming from , but people that are just take thing at side value ? Yeah , they ’re gon na always usually don that a mordant woman is not innocent .
Reflecting on the past in this way can be therapeutic, but also triggering. Was there any part of the film that you were hesitant to put in there?
I just wondered if mass would know who I was refer to with the role , because everything was very much precise . Every scenario was drawn from material experience . And so I wondered , are the great unwashed going to attempt to connect the point of who and what this is mirroring ? Or at what point in my career and my medicine that this was from ? Or who was give ear around me at that time ? That part made me inquire , but other than that , no .
Speaking of characters, can we get into these celebrity guest features? I love how they’re all notable child actors. How did you go into choosing the guest stars and picking which roles they’d play?
I got ta say , I bring with a really great cast film director . It was Pamela M. Staton and she was amazing in helping casting these roles . When I was telling her what I was look for , she ’d helped us zero in on these guy cable . The fact that they are also former child entertainers , I consider it would be coolheaded to have somebody that could also share that experience with me . They ’re familiar faces and they fit the role . I definitely had references for what I want them to await like and how it mirror itself in my life . I felt like they fit those really well . And they ’re all friend of mine . I ’ve known them for old age .
Do you want to give people a hint on who they represent or what part of your life they represent, or do you want to keep that part of it a mystery?
I mean , I do n’t desire to call them out [ jape ] . I do n’t need to be like this is _ _ _ _ and this is _ _ _ _ . Like , that is brainsick [ laughs ] . But if people want to approximate and endeavor to put two and two together , then I ca n’t stop them from doing that .
Near the end of the film, you’re speaking to a group of girls and you remind them to hug themselves. What’s something you do to remind yourself to be gentle with yourself?
Give myself a breaking . And what I mean by that is I literally genuinely give myself a break . If I ’m overwhelmed by the email or overwhelm by everything that ’s going on , I just kind of say , " You have sex what ? Take the time you need to get yourself to a place where you have the capacity to really answer to this . " I really did n’t take it slow on myself . I do n’t I like to make myself palpate like it ’s a life or demise matter , which we all have the tendency to do . I just tell myself , " It ’s not life or death , " and if it ’s meant to be , it ’s pop off to be . If I need it to wait , then it ’s going to hold off . My well - being matters first — otherwise , I ’m not gon na be good for anything else . I just like taking the edge off by just telling myself , " It ’s all correct . It ’s gon na be fine . Take what you need . Do what you need . "
Coming up as a child actor/entertainer, what has been the most challenging and the most rewarding part about your transition into your adult career?
There have been so many rewarding import , so it ’s hard to say the most rewarding thing . But the most thought-provoking was probably build up the capital . I just do a stack of things on my own . For me , everything ’s about ownership and freedom , and I do n’t intend hoi polloi really understand how difficult that is as a creative . I think they assume that there ’s just tons and tons of money to go around . Or when you ’re signed to a recording label , why do n’t you get this and why do n’t you do that ? And it ’s like , man , everything costs ! And sometimes masses just do n’t have it .
Even if you ’re someone who makes " skillful money , " you still do n’t necessarily have the money you involve to produce your own project and release your own stuff , and write / direct your own things . That takes so much clip ! And you know Keke " Keeps a Job " Palmer — that ’s what get me here , because I was really working to build the finances , to be able to have the exemption to do what I want to do . So , I suppose that has been the most hard part to get to the place where I have the money to be able to do things my way .
Do you ever have moments where you look back on your career and you’re in awe of how far you’ve come? Like, “Damn, I really beat the odds!”
Absolutely ! One thousand percent and I ’m thanking God every gradation of the room . And that ’s the biggest affair I hope multitude take off from this film , as well as my huge , Brobdingnagian gratitude . Even through the ups and down feather , I ’ve been able to find my way back , because his weaponry have always been open to me . That is my testimonial to how God has never forsaken me .
And what do you hope viewers take away from your new music and film?
To put themselves first and to be their number one , and big , jockstrap , as it come to espouse their dreams . And never give up !
Be sure to check out Keke’s directorial debut with her filmBig Boss, which is streaming exclusively onKeyTV. And listen to her new album of the same name on all music platforms.
