Keke Palmer Breaks Down Nickelodeon Years, Navigating Her Sexuality & "NOPE" Breakthrough

Oh my gosh, I hate misogyny.

I hate the patriarchy.

You're done! You're done! You're done!

And that's always been my thing.

Like I've always been like, Man, I wanna do stuff

like what Will Smith does.

You know, I wanna be able to be that

person that's bringin' you

the cool, funny comedy and kickin' some ass.

Let me get a chance, let me in. You know what I'm saying?

In the words of Taylor Swift,

If I was a man, I'd be the man.

Hey, you guys, it's Keke.

I'm looking back at some moments

that helped shape my career and my identity.

This is Becoming Keke Palmer.

Alright, first clip.

[upbeat music]

Go over there, and read the quotation that's on the wall.

Read it aloud.

[Keke chuckling]

Our deepest fear is not that we're inadequate.

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

We ask ourselves,

Who am I to be brilliant,

gorgeous, talented, and fabulous?

Actually, who am I not to be?

Okay, so that was a clip of me

in Akeelah and the Bee

in the scene where I read the

Marianne Williamson quote.

It was so important for the director

for it to be in the film,

and for Dr. Larabee to say it to Akeelah

because it speaks on how playing small

does nothing good in the world,

about how you have to let your light shine,

and you have to fight against your insecurities

because not only is it right for you to do so,

but it allows other people to see what's possible.

But I think for me personally,

which is why my parents were really so critical

of the kind of roles that I played as a kid,

was that it was also teaching me, the actress,

the same thing that the character was learning,

which was to continue to let my light shine.

I think it was hard for me as a kid

to understand, but really the impact I started

to realize years later.

The influence of a movie like that existing,

I think is something that you realize impacted you

as you become an adult.

Even now when I'm watching it,

it's that deep-rooted in me, that quote.

It's like a part of my world and my life,

and honestly a part of the foundation of who I am.

Next clip. Oh!

This is So Uncool, my first album from 2007.

First of all, Mama's hair and Mama's look is eating.

Okay? Mama was only 13, but she was still givin' a look.

Hair is boufanted.

She's giving you body-ody-ody with the hair,

and she's giving you some

with the little blouse and the shoe.

[Interviewer] So many hits from album.

Especially Bottoms Up.

Come on, Bottoms Up! Ms. Keke P.

So I was working with Toby Gad.

He's an incredible writer and a creative.

I really didn't realize just how dope Toby was.

Again, the music industry had really just-

Was takin' me through so much, chile,

that I was just kind of drained.

And it drained my belief in myself.

When my mom was always saying,

You should write your own music.

And you, she was encouraging me,

and Toby was the same way.

And I was like, Okay, fine.

And then me and my sister, we sat down,

and my sister Loreal,

she really put her pen to paper

with this one right here.

Really just spilled it out.

And I started rapping it.

I'm like, Hey Ms. Keke P look at,

and we just started playing around,

and it was what music making should be.

But when I look back on it now,

I think the reason why

that song is so great,

is because it was made

in a scenario where I was encouraged.

All of those situations,

however hard they may have been,

really did contribute to me becoming

the artist that I am today,

and that I was always meant to be.

[upbeat music]

[studio audience laughing]

Baby boom.

Oh my gosh, this is like the ending

of the pilot episode of True Jackson, VP,

and this is when my life changed.

Honey, when True Jackson, VP hit the scene,

I will never forget.

I was at Universal Studios and I ended up

with hundreds of people surrounding me.

It was honestly a little bit traumatic,

'cause I was just like, Oh, shit.

My life just changed, and the way people saw me,

it was just so different.

I mean, obviously, Nickelodeon is a huge brand.

Having my own show on that network, it just really...

It was my real introduction into being famous, you know?

And it was just like a whirlwind.

Identity was a mess at this point

because my identity was really made up

of what everything everybody wanted me to be.

And so many of those things I actually am,

you know what I mean?

I did wanna be a good kid.

I did wanna make sure I was respectful and polite.

I did wanna be professional and disciplined,

and x,y, and z, but there were just so many crazier stakes

to me being that way more than anybody else.

I mean, at the end of the day,

I was the financial breadwinner of my family by this point.

We had to turn into a family business

because my career took up everybody's lifestyle.

All of that made me feel like

I had to be what everybody else needed me to be.

There was not really any time

for me to think about being anything else.

It felt too selfish.

Is that a lawnmower?

What's happening? [Zayday screaming]

Help me! Help me! Help me!

Help me! Are you screaming?

Help me!

Or are you singing? Help!

This a nice neighborhood.

Good ol' Scream Queens.

I really do feel like Scream Queens

was before its time a little bit.

You know, Ryan Murphy has an incredible way

of doing satire, so much so to the point

that I don't think people even always realize

that it's like a high level of humor in that way.

It knows what it is.

It's so interesting.

I just remember people saw me as a child entertainer.

I dunno, I think I was just figuring out

what my new voice was for the next chapter of my career.

And I was like, I wanna do more of comedy.

So I started doing improv

when I started working on the show.

I feel like Scream Queens is one of those shows

that has a cult, you know, a fan base.

You know? And when it was on,

I don't know if everybody got totally into the camp,

but Scream Queens is appealing to the community

just because of the aesthetic.

I think we love a good aesthetic honey.

I think it's just one of those things

that the girls that get it, get it.

Next clip.

♪ Boy I'll just leave you alone ♪

♪ I don't belong to ya ♪

This is the music video

for I Don't Belong To You.

The outfits were very much doing

that old school R&B.

It was like really purposeful with this aesthetic

because the verses of it were very bluesy, you know.

♪ I done told ya ♪

♪ I done showed ya ♪

Now you wanna act like I tricked you.

Ooh! So I really wanted to tap

into that old school vibe.

Isley Brothers, you know, we riding in the Cadillac,

I got my fur coat on.

This is the vibe.

Many different layers went into this, right?

I don't belong to you the music industry, right?

I don't belong to the entertainment industry

in terms of their ideas of me.

I'm gonna be my own person.

I'm gonna do my own thing.

I'm gonna make my own rules.

On the personal end of it,

that was me, Keke,

having been dating and you know,

always, you know, being attracted to women,

but also always feeling like the respect

that I was expecting in relationships with males,

it was just like,

I felt like the guys was always thinking

that they had held all the cards,

where it was like, Okay, if you wanna date other people

then I'm gonna date other people.

Like, but now that you know

I'm not totally tied down to you,

now you wanna play games with me,

well understand honey, I don't have to deal with you.

I can go over here with her.

I got millions of buckets to choose from, sweetheart.

So you ain't stopping what's going on with me.

So if you gonna act up, I'm about to link up with her.

We out, we're done.

And so that was the vibe I was in

of just like not being bound in any aspect of my life.

I'm not bound in my sexuality.

I'm not gonna let nobody control me.

I'm not gonna let nobody stop me,

tell me who I gotta be with what I gotta do.

And I'm not gonna let anybody tell me

what I gotta do with my career.

I don't belong to none of you.

And so that was kind of like what I was going

through all around.

Like I was, I was fed,

your girl was fed up.

From her head to her toes.

It was all real.

And you know.

And ultimately what I was saying was

I'm gonna be happy period.

I'm going to be happy. I'm gonna go where the love goes.

If that makes me this,

if that makes me that,

I really give don't give a shit.

'Cause I really just wanna do me.

And so that's, I remember so much after this video,

'cause people kept saying,

So are you coming out?

Are you saying something?

I'm like, You mothafucka's still didn't get it.

I'm just doing me.

I'm doing me.

And I think that, you know,

hopefully I think that people are coming around

to that reality when it comes to the queer community.

I'm not that person that's like,

This is the statement,

and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

It's more so like, Yeah, get into it.

You see it. Why the hell do I need to declare you

who's laying in my bed?

That, doesn't that sound crazy?

So, who are you sleeping with?

[Keke laughs hysterically]

Unless you feel like doing it in a very bomb video.

That video ate down still to this day.

Next clip.

Hey, these are my sisters.

Not my sisters, coming in there

looking like Vultures.

Honey, this is the beginning

of the second act for Miss Keke Palmer, honey.

I know I was only like 22 or something there,

but at that point I had been

in the industry for like 10 years plus.

So for me, this is like my second act

really coming into gear honey,

this is, this is hustlers baby.

This is after Scream Queens.

This is my music career.

I've continued to evolve.

I was growing, I was gaining more confidence

and producing and doing my own stuff,

producing my own dance videos.

My digital personality was growing

because I started again being fearless

in like what I wanted to put out there,

and being my own voice

and not waiting for anybody to really tell me anything.

And through that, I got a lot of opportunities.

Like, I mean, the director of this,

she watched some of my interviews.

And I hate to say it, I hope I don't sound ridiculous.

I don't know who this man is.

And really was like,

you know, I saw your personality, and wanted you for this.

So it was a point in my life where I was really seeing

that being me and following my instincts

and really like, again, being true to myself

and not being brave and owning my identity,

and exploring my identity,

I think is is like what led me

to what this was,

which was a great opportunity and again,

connected me and put me in rooms and places

that only pushed my career forward.

So this is me now.

This is me at the launch party for my network,

KeyTV, which I launched last November.

I found so much freedom in digital,

and also like sponsorships

and getting encouragement from brands.

And I think I just wanted to create a space,

a community that allowed other people such as myself,

young millennials, GenZs,

and particularly people of color

to get the same kind of eyes on them,

and kind of bring those same kind of opportunities.

Because there's so many amazing

black content creators that aren't getting

the same brand deals and opportunities or even just eyes.

I'm really looking forward to continuing to stretch

in this industry, but in different ways.

You know, I loved my opportunity to direct,

I direct The Edible Always Wins for KeyTV,

but my directorial debut was actually the movie,

Big Boss, which is also my album visual.

I wrote it, I directed it.

And it was just great because you know,

when you're in front of the camera as an entertainer,

it's a lot of energy,

it's a lot of eyes on you.

When you're behind the scenes,

you get to kind of be,

I get to be that introverted aspect of myself,

and I get to give that extroverted person

a bit of a break.

And I think that's good.

You gotta switch gears in life.

You can't just keep beating the same drum.

Next clip.

Hey Miss Lady. Hello. How y'all doing?

[Keke laughs]

My name is Emerald, that's OJ,

and we are your animal wranglers today

with Haywood Hollywood Horses.

I mean, this is the pinnacle of what I mean

is that next, was that next chapter.

and it all started with, started with digital,

but it started with Scream Queens,

Scream Queens all the way up through to,

you know, Hustlers, and all that.

And just what I put into producing, you know,

talk about KeyTV, and just all these different things

that I think brought me to this point of

this character where I got the opportunity

to just encapsulate so many different

I think skills of mine like that I've been,

that I've been sharpening for years.

And I think that it was just such a blessing opportunity

that Jordan wrote a character that allowed me to

do all the things,

like from drama, comedy, identity,

character development, and just everything that could be.

I mean, I just feel like Emerald is one

of the most amazing characters I've ever played

because she has so much to give.

You know what I'm saying? That was the thing about Jordan.

I said, this is a character that only men get to play.

And that shit pissed me off so much!

Oh my gosh, I hate misogyny.

I hate the patriarchy.

You're done! You're done! You're done!

I really love that Emerald

she got to be better as you know,

she did the the stuff,

and that's always been my thing.

Like I've always been like,

Man, I wanna do stuff like what Will Smith does?

You know, I wanna be able to be that person

that's like bring you the cool,

funny comedy and kickin' some ass.

Like let me get a chance, let me in.

You know what I'm saying?

In the words of Taylor Swift, if I was a man,

I'd be the man.

You understand?

So, woo.

This the movie right here, baby.

Ah, thank you so much for hanging

out with me and taking a walk down memory lane.

This has been, Becoming Keke Palmer.