Mýa on Self-Love, Independence & Reinvention

Keke sits down with the Grammy winner to talk “Ghetto Superstar,” “Case of the Ex,” “My Love Is Like…Wo,” her new album Retrospect, and the story behind her last-minute tour with Brandy and Monica. Mýa also reflects on how Prince inspired her creatively and influenced her journey toward becoming an independent artist and what she says to anyone claiming she “fell off.” Plus, Mýa and Keke get real about self-love, relationships, and redefining happily ever after. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Keke Palmer?

  I've been a fan of my next guest for as long as I can remember. She's R&B royalty, a Grammy Award-winning artist who has been part of the soundtrack to our lives for nearly three decades. From stepping into the game as a teenager to giving us iconic hits like Case of the X and Lady Marmalade, she has built a career that is global, intentional, and fully on her own terms. Now, she's back with her upcoming 10th studio album, Retrospect, and the single ASAP. Maya Malicia, get ready, because, baby, this is Keke Palmer.

• 1:04Keke Palmer?

  Today's episode is brought to you by the new drinks at McDonald's. Six new drinks, crafted sodas with cold foam, refreshers with popping boba and freeze-dried fruit, and trust, they are giving everything. Now, let's get into today's show.

• 1:21Speaker 01

  Maya!

• 1:22Keke Palmer?

  Kiki! Girl, I'm so happy to have you on the show. It's a long time coming.

• 1:28Speaker 01

  I am so happy to be here and so proud of you.

• 1:31Keke Palmer?

  Thank you. That means so much coming from you. It really, really does.

• 1:34Speaker 01

  So talented, so gifted.

• 1:36Keke Palmer?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 1:37Speaker 01

  So amazing, since day one.

• 1:39Keke Palmer?

  Thank you. Well, you know, we always have, everybody that comes to the show does the pre-show pull-ups. So I was excited, guys, because usually when people do these pre-show pull-ups, I'm not shading nobody, but I can't read the chicken scratch that they be writing. But Miss Girl over here is very legible, it's clear, okay, because I can actually read what it said. So Zodiac sign, I already knew this, Libra, period. Libra, I think aesthetics, you know, you always give it a look. I feel like Libras are known for that. Do you feel very close to your sign?

• 2:06Speaker 01

  Absolutely. You know, I was on ChatGPT this morning trying to figure all of this out that you're about to bring up, and, you know, it does a deep dive.

• 2:15Keke Palmer?

  It does. It can tell you the moon. Do you know your moon?

• 2:17Speaker 01

  Now I do, as of today.

• 2:19Keke Palmer?

  What is it?

• 2:20Speaker 01

  So, it starts with sun sign, which is Libra.

• 2:22Keke Palmer?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 2:23Speaker 01

  Moon is Cancer.

• 2:24Keke Palmer?

  Oh.

• 2:25Speaker 01

  And I'm a double, because my rising is also Libra.

• 2:28Keke Palmer?

  Oh my gosh.

• 2:29Speaker 01

  And I was born ten-ten, so perfectly balanced.

• 2:32Keke Palmer?

  What is the most Libra thing you think about you?

• 2:35Speaker 01

  Trying to achieve balance is always either the struggle or the goal.

• 2:40Keke Palmer?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 2:41Speaker 01

  And then, I would say, the destination that I finally get to. If it doesn't have balance, it doesn't make sense to me.

• 2:50Keke Palmer?

  Oh my gosh, which sounds, which is, I really actually relate to that. I have a Libra Mercury, so I'm also a very balanced person. I also believe in like, fair stuff. But it's like, you know, life is just not like that. So, very often, I'm on the other side and I'm like.

• 3:02Speaker 01

  Yeah. Diplomatic, all of that.

• 3:05Keke Palmer?

  Okay, so yes, I see you said your big three, boom, we know that. And then, what are you most grateful for today? When I read this, I'm like, this is so Maya, because it says life guides, but then in parentheses, it says, "The greatest gift, of course." And that is so you. I agree with that, life is the greatest gift. Um, a relationship or friendship non-negotiable for you? I mean, this is narcissism, jealousy, dangerous combination. And it's so true, because sometimes, and I like how we, you know, we say friendship too, because sometimes it's in the friendships, you know what I'm saying? And it can happen, I feel like, in our industry, a lot of times too, because the world of our careers can be so big, we can be very open sometimes to that kind of thing. Where people just kind of, you know, it's like, I'm not my career.

• 3:49Keke Palmer?

  You know, it's like, I know it's a lot of lights and a lot of stuff that's happening here, but like, it's so important, I find, to make sure that my friendships and the people that are close to me, don't let that tell them who I am. Or respond to that, you know?

• 4:01Speaker 01

  Or assume things about you because of it.

• 4:03Keke Palmer?

  Yeah, that's tough.

• 4:04Speaker 01

  The wrong things.

• 4:05Keke Palmer?

  Okay, every time. Um, what's a question you wish you were asked more interviews? I was excited about this. Are you hungry? Would you like to order some?

• 4:13Speaker 01

  Oh yes, you know?

• 4:14Keke Palmer?

  Now, wait a minute, because y'all, we supposed to have stuff in your little snack room?

• 4:17Speaker 01

  You did, it was loaded. It was loaded. But you know, sometimes you get a little dry-throated during interviews. And I know that food helps me just get by in life every day. It's the highlight of my day.

• 4:29Keke Palmer?

  And you like to cook, don't you?

• 4:31Speaker 01

  I love to cook, I love to snack. But it's like a part of my functionality. If I don't eat, or at least have a little soup or something hot, you know, I feel that I'm not delivering properly.

• 4:42Keke Palmer?

  Bad mood immediately.

• 4:44Speaker 01

  I'm a foodie.

• 4:45Keke Palmer?

  Hilarious. Okay, who is someone that you've met that made you feel starstruck? Which, this is an incredible name, Gregory Hines.

• 4:52Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 4:52Keke Palmer?

  I mean Gregory Hines, icon, amazing, incredible. Where did you guys meet?

• 4:56Speaker 01

  I was 10 years old when I met Gregory Hines outside of, I think, Jelly's Last Jam, when I saw my very first Broadway show in New York City with my mom. And also, the Macy's Day Parade was happening during that time, and I was a tap dancer, you know, amongst a big group of tap dancers during that time. And we went to go see his play, but he comes outside of the door, you know, to say hi to his fans and signs autographs. And I was so starstruck because I grew up watching Gregory Hines tap dance and act and sing. PBS specials, VHS and Betadates, I have it all.

• 5:33Keke Palmer?

  Oh my gosh.

• 5:34Speaker 01

  Archival footage that I would study.

• 5:37Keke Palmer?

  Wow.

• 5:37Speaker 01

  And so when I met him in person, I was starstruck and frozen.

• 5:41Keke Palmer?

  Incredible.

• 5:42Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 5:42Keke Palmer?

  Oh my gosh, have you, did you ever get to see him after you'd become the Maya that the world knows? Did you ever see him again?

• 5:49Speaker 01

  Yes, so he actually visited Washington, Washington DC, where I'm from, and visited a tap school that I was a part of. We got to perform with him, I think I was about 13. And then years later, I performed again as a tap dancer soloist, and he joined me on stage years after that, when I was 16, at the Smithsonian Institution. And I was just freestyling on stage, and he was in the wings. And, um, you know, I studied a lot of his steps. So I was pulling those steps out, and he came on stage and we started trading bars. In tap dance, we call that challenge.

• 6:26Keke Palmer?

  I love that trading bars, like, girl, yes.

• 6:29Speaker 01

  So that was a big moment for me. I was starstruck then, too.

• 6:33Keke Palmer?

  Oh my gosh, tapping is such a beautiful, I watch a lot of time the Chloe and Maude.

• 6:36Speaker 01

  Yes, those are my sisters.

• 6:38Keke Palmer?

  Oh my gosh, they're incredible, like, I watch them, and like, it's so, like, I'll try to think I can do it, but the way that you guys can hear rhythm and how you just move those feet, the sides, the back, the front.

• 6:48Speaker 01

  Well, you're musical, so you can do it.

• 6:50Keke Palmer?

  I'm gonna have to learn, okay? And then last one, what's a mantra you live by and why, one day at a time? I love this one.

• 6:58Speaker 01

  Yes, now that I'm older, that is just something that I must live by.

• 7:02Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 7:02Speaker 01

  We can be in a rush every day to try to meet this expectation that we either place over ourselves or that society sometimes has over our heads.

• 7:11Keke Palmer?

  Yes.

• 7:11Speaker 01

  And you can stress yourself out, lose out on health and sleep and life and family. So I just take one thing at a time and not try to rush into getting the goal accomplished. Sometimes it doesn't take a day or it just can't happen overnight, pacing.

• 7:29Keke Palmer?

  And that's what I was just actually saying to you a little bit two moments ago before we had got, before we even got started this interview is like, sometimes I've felt very like, I've always been so forward moving and, you know, I would say that I have a large capacity. I can take on a lot of things and because I can, I feel like I should, but I've been, as I've gotten older as well, started thinking, well, you know, just because I can, it doesn't mean that I should. It doesn't mean that I won't eventually, but like the pacing and one day at a time and just like being present, which I know we say it all the time, but it's really like, just like allowing yourself to like exist in the moment is so underrated. You know what I mean? But it really, when you do,

• 8:04Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 8:05Keke Palmer?

  time actually slows down in a weird way.

• 8:08Speaker 01

  Well, I look at you and you started so young and you grew up in this business, which often, I would say has a lot of people around us that also operate behind the scenes for what they specialize in. And a lot of that is about, oh, we gotta get it while we can, or we feel like, or they feel like we're gonna miss out on something.

• 8:28Keke Palmer?

  Yep.

• 8:29Speaker 01

  And it's not necessarily like that. What's for you will always be for you.

• 8:33Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 8:33Speaker 01

  Even when you say no, when you have to say no for your health or just family and shutdown time, it will always still be there for you, even though that was an opportunity you said no to. Um, I think that can keep us on the hamster wheel for so long. Yeah, it's okay to take care of you.

• 8:49Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 8:49Speaker 01

  And that's also another mantra of mine these days.

• 8:52Keke Palmer?

  Yeah, I really receive that.

• 8:53Speaker 01

  Got to do that.

• 8:54Keke Palmer?

  I really receive that. I wanna get even more into that, but I wanna go to the start from the beginning with you because you also started very young.

• 9:00Speaker 01

  Not as young as you.

• 9:03Speaker 01

  When I first saw you, by the way, just as this young girl with so much light and vibrance, vibrancy, I was like, that is a superstar. That is a superstar. I just saw it. I knew it then.

• 9:20Keke Palmer?

  Where was this? Was this in a movie? Akela. It was Akela and the Bee.

• 9:24Speaker 01

  The articulation, the energy, the voice, the tone, just all of it. You just embodied that girl.

• 9:32Keke Palmer?

  Well, girl, I knew I was a ghetto superstar because of you. Growing up where I'm from in Robbins, Illinois, that video, I, ghetto superstar, I watched it all. And it was like the song I would sing, you know what I mean? Because it's also the melody that we know. And so at family functions, they would be like, ghetto superstar. That is what you, so that is just like, for me, it's so full circle. Like, I love being able to get the opportunity to do this show and be able to meet and have real discussions with the people that I've looked up to for so many years. And you always have had, even though you're very beautiful, very sexy, you've always had such a wholesomeness, the purity that I think also the youth have always looked up to. You know what I mean? So as a young person watching people on television and stuff, you were somebody that had all the things.

• 10:16Keke Palmer?

  But it was, you had such a grace about you. You've always had such a grace. And so, yeah, for me as a kid, seeing that and, you know, seeing you do that and all your dancing and everything was always really, really inspiring. So that means, it means a lot to me when you say that, for sure. So you're from Washington DC?

• 10:31Speaker 01

  Yes, ma'am, and Maryland.

• 10:34Keke Palmer?

  Okay, now what was it like growing up? You were, I know you mentioned going to musicals, being in dance. How did growing up there shape your love for the arts?

• 10:43Speaker 01

  Well, there's so much culture in DC, so much talent.

• 10:47Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 10:47Speaker 01

  And we also have a huge music scene, whether it's jazz, whether it's R and B and soul, and our staple sound, go-go music.

• 10:53Keke Palmer?

  Mm-hmm.

• 10:54Speaker 01

  And go-go is not just music, but it's an experience when you go to the go-go. You know, it used to happen a lot in parks, outdoors. It still happens, but it's mostly indoors nowadays. But that's a staple sound for us and very influential for me. But watching my dad as my very first influence and introduction to music was the thing for me, whether it was in the studio, him recording, in rehearsals, like in our living room.

• 11:23Keke Palmer?

  Yep, yep.

• 11:24Speaker 01

  Or garage, neighbors complaining, all that. That was my influence. I saw him perform. He had me in the nightclub like I was 12, 13. He's like, "Go ahead and tap dance. If you want to sing something, go ahead." You know, so I was around all these wonderful guys and musicians that were like uncles. And my living room was lit. You know, it was joy. I would just dance and sing when they would come over. And they'd be over every week because my dad is a gigger. You know, he's on the road. He just had a show.

• 11:53Keke Palmer?

  Oh, my gosh. I love that. Shout out to Pops. And his music, what is his style and vibe?

• 11:57Speaker 01

  He does everything. Top 40, but R and B, soul, funk is the foundation of my living room. And my dad's music, he's a songwriter, recording artist as well. And I watched him actually press vinyl, produce his music and run his label independently. My mom would actually be the businesswoman behind the scenes, the accountant, the bookkeeper. And she's been doing that for me since 1997.

• 12:23Keke Palmer?

  Oh, my gosh. We love a money mama, a mama that know the coin. Shout out to Sharon too. She didn't even know a lot, but she figured it out.

• 12:31Speaker 01

  Ms. Teresa.

• 12:32Keke Palmer?

  I love that. So for you, it seems like music was a natural progression. I mean, was there any point that you thought maybe you wouldn't be an artist? Or you always knew like, "I'm gonna be singer, I'm gonna be dancer."

• 12:43Speaker 01

  The wild thing is my plans were to go to theater after college. And I wanted to do Broadway. Where it encompasses everything. Yeah. And that was the goal. And it just so happened the recording career happened first, you know?

• 12:57Keke Palmer?

  Yeah. So how did that happen? I mean, so you were going to school, you're dancing in school, you're always doing, you know, going with your dad to gigs, having fun at home. When did the professionalism aspect enter the storyline?

• 13:09Speaker 01

  Well, I started recording demos when I was about 14 in a basement studio. One of his musician friends, Stan. What up, Stan?

• 13:17Keke Palmer?

  What up, Stan? I love that.

• 13:19Speaker 01

  Real old school equipment, Casio keyboards and all that. And I just started getting acclimated to the studio just by myself as a 14-year-old. And then a year later, my parents invested $1,500 for a professional demo to be written and an original song of my own, you know? And that, I really, really enjoyed the process of having my own song versus doing covers. I was covering a lot of Isley Brothers songs and Shaka Khan when I first started. But that was so great. I started sharing it with my friends and so now I had a Maya demo. Right?

• 13:53Keke Palmer?

  Oh my gosh.

• 13:55Speaker 01

  There's this independent label, University Music Entertainment, UME, founded by Hawk Islam in Washington DC. At the time, they had the girl gospel group, Pure Soul, signed.

• 14:06Keke Palmer?

  Yes.

• 14:06Speaker 01

  As well as Drew Hill.

• 14:07Keke Palmer?

  Drew Hill, yeah.

• 14:08Speaker 01

  1997 Drew Hill hit. They're from Baltimore. And Hawk Islam at the time was looking for a female, young female artist that he could develop. And he was sort of like our mini Motown based in DC, you know? And he signed me independently and started investing.

• 14:28Keke Palmer?

  Tell me about the culture.

• 14:29Speaker 01

  My last year of high school.

• 14:31Keke Palmer?

  This culture, because I'm thinking Drew Hill.

• 14:33Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm.

• 14:33Keke Palmer?

  You know what I'm saying? We're in DC. We have this guy. You know, this is what year are we?

• 14:37Speaker 01

  96 when he came to my house to audition me sing live. And he had already heard the demo in his office when my dad, you know, took my bio and demo tape over there. But he came to my house after school and asked me to sing live a cappella. I sang, uh, Who's Loving You?

• 14:54Keke Palmer?

  Oh my gosh.

• 14:55Speaker 01

  Jackson Five, In Ball, Coat Your Soul, a couple nights ago. And Monica, Before You Walk Out My Life, sang those a cappella. He was like, we have a deal. And so I started taking voice lessons in DC with Kim Baker. And then went to college. After I graduated, University of Maryland College Park, was studying speech communications and dance. And I had to make a decision because I was back and forth between Philly every week, recording more demos for this potential album.

• 15:24Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 15:25Speaker 01

  As a part of his investment. On the train, back and forth to DC. And those demos were shopped to major labels. Some said no. Interscope said yes, but Interscope was not an R&B pop label. It was a rap and rock label. They were like, okay, we like this. We'll give it a try. And I was the test dummy. And I was not technically signed for that whole first album that came out. Until it worked. So on my second album, I officially signed to Interscope, but I was signed to Hawk Islam. So he developed all of us, invested in all of us, and had success.

• 15:58Keke Palmer?

  What do you remember about those early days with some of those people that you were on the label with? What was it like recording in the studios?

• 16:04Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 16:05Keke Palmer?

  What was that process? And I'm curious how much is different now?

• 16:08Speaker 01

  It was so wonderful because I felt like I was surrounded by family. It was a very nice family environment with older women. That I could look up to and brothers my age, slightly older through Drew Hill. Everyone was a vocalist and a performer. Everyone was a musician and a songwriter. So I was surrounded by talent that I could learn from like that. And I was actually in the studio with Drew Hill, recording my first album. They're all songwriters, producers and musicians. Everyone plays an instrument and they're from the church too. So you get the harmonies and they studied Jodeci, one of my favorites.

• 16:48Speaker 01

  But uh, just the good music from the nineties.

• 16:52Keke Palmer?

  Oh my gosh.

• 16:53Speaker 01

  It was all around us and we were all out here for Lydia Soul one year in 97. And Drew Hill had just popped on the scene with Tell Me.

• 17:01Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 17:01Speaker 01

  Tell me what you want. Yes, the excitement. And I hadn't just yet. I came out a year later, but I got to watch their success from the sidelines while I was in development and recording and learning. Yeah, that was really, really great.

• 17:20Keke Palmer?

  Was there anything that was overwhelming during that time about the industry coming in? I mean, that, that you were, you know, that was new to you?

• 17:29Speaker 01

  You know.

• 17:36Keke Palmer?

  This episode is brought to you by the brand new drinks over at McDonald's. Okay, y'all, these drinks are officially the outside drinks of 2026. I'm talking concert season, game day season, vintage market season, picnic in the park with a cute fit and a lover season. These drinks were built for any occasion worth showing up for y'all. The Sprite Berry Blast with Sprite Blue Raspberry and cold foam on top. That's your drink before the headliner hits the stage. The strawberry watermelon refresher with freeze dried strawberries with a little caffeine to keep the energy going is what you and your girlfriends are going to be sipping at the post brunch afters. Six new drinks total. Crafted sodas with cold foam and refreshers with popping boba and freeze dried fruit

• 18:20Keke Palmer?

  that go perfectly with even the chilliest of days and the hottest shenanigans. Before you pull up anywhere, I know you're stopping at McDonald's first because that's just the move now. New drinks now at McDonald's, baby, we outside.

• 18:36Keke Palmer?

  Okay, so the road trip is happening, alright? The snacks are packed, somebody already has the playlist ready, and you already know the music is about to be popping, okay? And the kids have been asking, "Are we there yet?" Since before we left the driveway. As someone who travels by car frequently with her child, I know what will make or break that trip is what you pull up to at the end of it. Because after me and Leo have been in that car for six hours, baby, we are not trying to arrive at just anything. We want to walk into a home. And that's exactly why I like booking stays on Airbnb. When you get to a place that actually feels like somewhere you can live, the whole energy shifts. Now we have a space to spread out, a kitchen where I can throw something together if I want to, a porch where I can sit, breathe,

• 19:21Keke Palmer?

  and come back to myself after that drive. That's the reset you need. The trip doesn't end when you arrive. It's just getting started. And when you book with Airbnb, that's when the trip really begins.

• 19:36Speaker 01

  I was a teenager during that time, and everything is new.

• 19:39Keke Palmer?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 19:40Speaker 01

  I really wasn't one to speak much. I'm an observer. And I'm probably still not that girl, unless asked. So I was on the sidelines, just observing how things work, how to conduct an interview, do radio drops, you know, the liners when you go to radio stations? All of the things, what a fitting was. I didn't really have much experience with that outside of, oh, dance competitions and recitals. But my mom would make all those outfits, so it wasn't a whole bunch of strangers. And all the energy, and all the opinions, and all of the critics, and all of the things. If social media were around back then, I'm not exactly sure if I had the capacity or bandwidth to handle something like that.

• 20:22Speaker 01

  That is a lot for someone that's just learning themselves as a young woman and transitioning into womanhood, fresh out of high school.

• 20:30Keke Palmer?

  Sure.

• 20:30Speaker 01

  You know, in a very insulated environment where you don't have freedom. And so you're learning in front of the world while everybody's watching you. So thank God that social media was not out then.

• 20:40Keke Palmer?

  I think it's cool that you said that, though, because I think a lot of people feel that way now.

• 20:44Speaker 01

  I feel that way as a grown woman.

• 20:46Keke Palmer?

  You know what I mean?

• 20:47Speaker 01

  I watch everything I do because... There's the world, the globe is connected to you.

• 20:53Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 20:53Speaker 01

  And anything you say or do is amplified, but can also be taken the wrong way. Soundbites can be made, captions, and it can be very misleading and dangerous when you go outside and can be caught outside.

• 21:06Keke Palmer?

  Yes.

• 21:07Speaker 01

  For something that's misconstrued. So it's a dangerous place out there, but the world is full of love at the same time.

• 21:13Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 21:13Speaker 01

  And I have to remind myself, but yeah, that could be overwhelming for any young person.

• 21:17Keke Palmer?

  Yeah, I always say that because you know, people often are like, you know, you grew up in front of the TV, blah, blah, blah. It's like, but now, everybody does.

• 21:24Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 21:24Keke Palmer?

  Because the TV is the phone screen. So it's like, you know, you had a page when you was 12 or 13.

• 21:29Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 21:29Keke Palmer?

  Good luck with whatever you said. You know what I mean? Because they gonna bring it back up and find you.

• 21:33Speaker 01

  And the thing about that time, I was a student, fresh out of high school, but I'm still a student. Because this business is ever-changing, technology is ever-changing. I gotta get my 16-year-old niece to teach me how to use certain parts of a phone, like certain apps. I'm like, what is going on? I cannot keep up.

• 21:51Keke Palmer?

  No, seriously, seriously.

• 21:52Speaker 01

  And I'm learning for the, from the younger generation now.

• 21:54Keke Palmer?

  I mean, the Gen Alpha, they teach me everything every day.

• 21:57Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 21:58Keke Palmer?

  Them kids is bad. Now, your first Grammy nomination was 1998 with Ghetto Superstar. And your first win was with Lady Marmalade.

• 22:07Speaker 01

  You know, I didn't even know that. I didn't know that Ghetto Superstar was...

• 22:11Keke Palmer?

  You would have to be achieved so much.

• 22:13Speaker 01

  I feel like I'm just beginning, but I did not know Ghetto Superstar was nominated. Was that his album or the actual single?

• 22:19Keke Palmer?

  Yeah, it was a single, yeah, Ghetto Superstar, 1998.

• 22:22Speaker 01

  I did not know.

• 22:23Keke Palmer?

  How were you approached for that record?

• 22:26Speaker 01

  Okay, so Interscope, through Universal Music, they would often do a lot of soundtracks as the distributor. And they brought that to my realm as this R and B slash pop artist to sort of establish me.

• 22:41Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 22:41Speaker 01

  Back then, soundtracks, and probably now, they had that coin.

• 22:45Keke Palmer?

  Yes, and they need more of that now. It actually is missing. I wish it was back.

• 22:49Speaker 01

  And they would always have a major single that would launch or simultaneously release with the soundtrack to promote the movie.

• 22:57Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 22:57Speaker 01

  And that was the thing back then, so. We had several opportunities to jump on lead singles for soundtracks from The Rugrats to Bullworth for Ghetto Superstars.

• 23:07Keke Palmer?

  Go!

• 23:07Speaker 01

  Lady Marmalade. I mean, there are others as well. Free with the bait soundtrack with Jamie Foxx. And they were lead singles where music videos were funded. And it wasn't a risk because it wasn't coming from your budget as the artist.

• 23:21Keke Palmer?

  Yes.

• 23:22Speaker 01

  It was their budget. And it was all great because you got to make these cool, fun videos that were very cinematic or even cohesive, I would say, with the film. Especially Take Me There.

• 23:32Keke Palmer?

  Girl, that Rugrats, girl, that, but how was that filming? Girl, I look, "Take me there. I wanna, I wanna go there." Girl, that video, that moment, like, it was, again, like I'm saying, it was like R&B was pop, but it was pure and it was wholesome. It was something the kids could love, the grown folks could love. We had the picnic. We all, "Ay, it had much to think about yesterday." Like, it gave just, there was so much joy.

• 23:56Speaker 01

  So much joy.

• 23:57Keke Palmer?

  What do you remember about shooting that video or just doing that song?

• 24:01Speaker 01

  Jamie King was the choreographer. I showed up from somewhere, I think in Europe. I flew in from a promotional tour, flew in the night before the shoot, learned the choreography on the set. The next day we shot. And that xylophone was so fun because I remember the movie, I think it's called Big.

• 24:18Keke Palmer?

  Mm-hmm.

• 24:19Speaker 01

  And he was dancing on the piano keys, and I've always wanted to do that. And I felt like a big kid. But I wasn't alone because Blackstreet was there. Teddy Riley produced the record, icon, legends.

• 24:32Keke Palmer?

  Love Teddy Riley.

• 24:32Speaker 01

  Mace was a part of it. So you had R&B and hip-hop. It was awesome.

• 24:37Keke Palmer?

  Oh, my gosh, that is just so freaking cool. I mean, and then you also got to perform with Patti LaBelle, obviously because of, was it Lady Marmalade, which was insane. I'm sure you loved that. Or was this at the Grammys that you guys performed?

• 24:48Speaker 01

  Surreal, yes.

• 24:48Keke Palmer?

  Yes, yes, yes. So what do you remember with that, with the performance and being on stage with her and working with her?

• 24:55Speaker 01

  Well, we first saw Patti, I think it was center staging in Burbank, maybe. In rehearsals, because we're gonna rehearse, you know? Miss Patty, gotta come with it. And she walked in and we were just silent. We were like, this is real. The queen has arrived and she's gonna sing with us? We were kind of frozen for a minute. And then rehearsal, the music starts, and we're still pinching ourselves because we gotta show up.

• 25:26Speaker 01

  And this is her song originally, so we gotta do it correctly.

• 25:29Keke Palmer?

  No, seriously.

• 25:30Speaker 01

  You know?

• 25:30Keke Palmer?

  And I heard that this was with Pink and Christina Aguilera, they were on there too. I heard they was fighting for the lead singing part. Do you remember any of that?

• 25:37Speaker 01

  I don't, because we actually cut our lead separately, but we were all present when we cut our backgrounds. That's what I do know.

• 25:44Keke Palmer?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 25:44Speaker 01

  We were all there, Missy was there, Rock Wilder was there.

• 25:47Keke Palmer?

  Cause the div is be going in here.

• 25:49Speaker 01

  Yeah. I mean, I hadn't seen any of that. I wasn't a witness to any drama, so I don't know what that is or what it's about. But we did have a lot of fun.

• 25:59Keke Palmer?

  That is so cool. And Patty was, I mean, I never, I don't think I've ever met Patty LaBelle, but she do be making them pies. I know that.

• 26:06Speaker 01

  And I do too. I make my pies as well. Yes, Patty's pies.

• 26:11Keke Palmer?

  Okay, now, one of my absolute favorite songs of yours is Case of the X. I mean, it's just like, come on, it's a classic. You performed it, obviously, at the BET Awards.

• 26:20Speaker 01

  Oh, yes.

• 26:21Keke Palmer?

  Twenty twenty five, actually, you know, which was dope to see that again. When did you realize how big that song was? Did you realize it then? At the time?

• 26:29Speaker 01

  Honestly, recently, when TikTok was born, because there were so many different people that had broomsticks doing these nostalgic challenges. I didn't know it was really a thing, because I didn't have that opportunity with social media to see the effect. So folks from my generation started pulling their broomsticks out, some with their parents, and doing the choreography and rolling around on their carpet like it was sand.

• 26:54Keke Palmer?

  Hilarious.

• 26:55Speaker 01

  Oh, there was impact made. That's kinda cool.

• 26:58Keke Palmer?

  No, for sure. I mean, when you wrote that song, when that, so how did that song come about? Was it just a make believe story? Was it something that you're pulling from your life?

• 27:07Speaker 01

  The interesting thing was, I was in Atlanta, working at Red Zone Studios with Shakespeare and Candy. They wrote several songs for Destiny's Child and so many others. Shout out to Candy, I was on tour with her, um, two years ago.

• 27:22Keke Palmer?

  I love Candy.

• 27:23Speaker 01

  Planes of RV Tour with Escape and SWV, but yes, amazing songwriter. But we were in a studio there, working on something else for my second album. And through the walls, we heard this beat coming from another room, Tricky Stewart's room. Tricky! And we hijacked the beat because it belonged to a rapper.

• 27:45Speaker 01

  And Tracy Hale, Tab, and maybe another songwriter. They wrote that record.

• 27:51Keke Palmer?

  Wow.

• 27:51Speaker 01

  While I was working on something else.

• 27:53Keke Palmer?

  Sure, sure.

• 27:54Speaker 01

  And that is how Case of the X was born.

• 27:58Keke Palmer?

  It's happened.

• 27:59Speaker 01

  And I had not experienced that just yet in my life and relationships. Thank God, but.

• 28:03Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 28:04Speaker 01

  Later on, it did happen.

• 28:06Keke Palmer?

  Happens to the best of us.

• 28:07Speaker 01

  Yeah, that's, that's the story of Case of the X.

• 28:10Keke Palmer?

  That's so fire. I love that. I mean, you also were in sag winning ensemble project, Chicago. That was amazing because I think, don't get me if I'm wrong. This is the first time we saw you do everything at once. Acting, singing and dancing.

• 28:22Speaker 01

  Briefly.

• 28:23Keke Palmer?

  Yeah, you know what I mean? In the movie, Queen Latifah was in there, one of my favorites as well.

• 28:27Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 28:28Keke Palmer?

  You had the cell block tango. How was it doing that? And kind of going back to those beginning days where you wanted, you know, where you said, you know, you'd love to do Broadway.

• 28:36Speaker 01

  Well, let's talk about it. The auditioning process. I was in New York and I got a call to show up at this dance studio to learn choreography, say a monologue and maybe recite some lines.

• 28:48Keke Palmer?

  Sure.

• 28:48Speaker 01

  Right? They gave me a scenario. There was no script. First, actually, I did the choreography. I had to learn it in 10 minutes and perform it to camera.

• 28:56Keke Palmer?

  Which you could do.

• 28:57Speaker 01

  Right? And I did. That was easy. And then what I did, I had to sing, did that.

• 29:03Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 29:03Speaker 01

  Easy breezy, no script. They gave me a scenario. I said, this is the scenario. You're mad at your man, husband. He's on ice. Just, you know, improvise and what you would do and how you would handle it. But just know that the outcome is you have landed in jail. At this, the end of the scene.

• 29:30Speaker 01

  And at the time, thankfully, I was going through something with my boyfriend.

• 29:33Keke Palmer?

  Okay.

• 29:34Speaker 01

  I said, excuse me, do you have a pen? Pulled the pen, smoked it like a cigarette.

• 29:39Keke Palmer?

  Ah!

• 29:40Speaker 01

  And I started improvising. They made us improvise and I got the part.

• 29:46Keke Palmer?

  That's crazy. That's a very scary audition. I don't think, I've never done audition where I just improv. I mean, like, I've done work sessions and stuff like that, but that is a very unique way to, you know, get somebody to do their thing. You know what I mean? Like, that's very nerve wracking.

• 30:01Speaker 01

  Very different. I hadn't been through that process at all at that time for auditions.

• 30:05Keke Palmer?

  No.

• 30:05Speaker 01

  So, I was happy about it. And then, uh, we filmed in Toronto. It was really cold. It was in the, the middle of winter. Icy, freezing frostbite. Two minutes outside, your hands were gone. But the experience was so beautiful, watching all of the actresses and learning the choreography. But Rob Marshall was involved in every single process, from recording the soundtrack, to the choreography, to the table reads, to wardrobe. He was a part of everything. And that is something, of course, I see for my future. Because I'm very detail oriented as far as production, live show, etc.

• 30:48Speaker 01

  And I watched him and his meticulous, detail oriented nature. And I thought it was so fascinating. And he was just committed naturally. Nobody was making him do anything. He was just committed because he wanted to be there. And he was pleasant to work with and really wanted it to just be great.

• 31:03Keke Palmer?

  I just met, uh, Rob Marshall not too long ago. And he was just, I would love to get the chance to work with someone like him because he's incredible. Him and his husband are incredible. So, yeah, that's, that's so cool that you guys did, you got to work with him. Seriously. Um, would you ever do Broadway now?

• 31:19Speaker 01

  Absolutely.

• 31:20Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 31:21Speaker 01

  Yeah. I have some albums I want to get out first.

• 31:24Keke Palmer?

  Yeah, sure.

• 31:24Speaker 01

  Because Broadway is there. It does. Eight shows a week as well. And I'm totally committed. And I can't wait to do it. But I, I do have some other things I want to get out of the way first.

• 31:33Keke Palmer?

  Yeah, I love that, yeah. Now, you've told people before that sometime, I thought this was interesting and maybe give more context around it, that you said you kind of get emotional when you hear your younger voice because of everything that you endured. What, what, what did you, what do you mean by that? In the industry or just kind of like in life or maybe both?

• 31:49Speaker 01

  I don't know. You know, I look at myself as a young girl, learning who she was during a time that, of course, you step out in public and part of the world knows you globally as well, as things begin to succeed and hopefully they do. And then what that looks like internally for you.

• 32:10Speaker 01

  With so many opinions that I mentioned earlier and how to navigate that process and hold on to you as you're learning you and figuring that out, that can be very tough if you don't have people around you that have your best interest.

• 32:22Keke Palmer?

  Mm hmm.

• 32:23Speaker 01

  Versus just trying to profit off of what you are to them, a product and a brand. And I understand that too, because there's business, there's art, and they can intersect. And so, learning how to define what success is for yourself, what beautiful is for yourself, and create a space where you feel safe, where you feel seen.

• 32:49Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 32:50Speaker 01

  Even if you have to create it in the mirror with you. I get emotional because I was just so young with no life experience.

• 32:59Keke Palmer?

  Yes.

• 33:00Speaker 01

  But then there was a part of me that was very kick ass.

• 33:02Keke Palmer?

  Mm hmm.

• 33:03Speaker 01

  As, you know, a child of the arts, you got strict teachers and they're instilling discipline. And so, when I look back, it's not because I was going through anything in particular except for a divorce at the launch of my very first single, whereas my parents were my managers.

• 33:19Keke Palmer?

  Your parents.

• 33:20Speaker 01

  And I couldn't have them around me anymore because, you know, it wasn't working out between them. And so, now you're around strangers. There are worse things that are happening in the world, but I'm very proud of myself for pushing through with resilience, with faith and that foundation because I was alone. I didn't have a person that had my best interest at that time around me physically. And so, I'm just around strangers. And so, that's where I get emotional, looking at that young girl and the fighter.

• 33:48Keke Palmer?

  Yes.

• 33:49Speaker 01

  Who did make it.

• 33:50Keke Palmer?

  Yes.

• 33:51Speaker 01

  You know what I'm saying?

• 33:52Keke Palmer?

  I know exactly what you're saying.

• 33:53Speaker 01

  And pushed through.

• 33:54Keke Palmer?

  And it's always like that with hindsight, when we look back on our lives. And also, we think about all the amazing things that are happening at different points in times.

• 34:01Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 34:02Keke Palmer?

  And whether we could actually embody the spirit of experiencing them at that time, which I think sometimes, it doesn't necessarily make it sad, but it just is, it has a, I don't know if it's a sobering feeling, but I relate to it, where I look at different moments of my life as well, where I'm just like, man, there was so much happening then. But I, I see it from such a different place that maybe I couldn't have seen. From then, which is very interesting. Um, but you've had such a unique relationship, I think, with the music industry, even just being so, um, I wouldn't say corporate, but dealing with the industry head on and then eventually going independent. How did you, how did, what, what prompted those changes for you? You know what I mean? Cause I know for me, working in the music industry, it can be very tough. And I think as time has changed, some doors have been a little bit more opened up that allow,

• 34:45Keke Palmer?

  you know, you to not have to go through the same gatekeepers or just the same systems and lean on the same things. But, I mean, in the early two thousands and late nineties of that, it was like, either you're gonna do it this way, or then it becomes difficult. So for you, I'm wondering like, what was that journey like with the industry? And how you, you know, had to shift gears if you felt that you did?

• 35:07Speaker 01

  Yeah, well, I was with a major label system from nineteen ninety-eight through two thousand seven. There was an album leak for my fourth album Liberation that happened in two thousand seven. And from there, you know, I had the choice to, oh, go into court just to get a little back end advance. That was owed to me, cause it technically came out. Or just go independent, whatever that was. I was not familiar with that met. But I do know this, I was always an artist.

• 35:33Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 35:34Speaker 01

  Prior to getting a record deal. And, um, the beautiful blessings that happen in times of uncertainty or devastation, lead to some amazing things. And I did get an offer to do a one territory release in Japan through a label over there. Even though that's not what I wanted, because I had an album due that I'd already announced and done press for and, oh, nothing. It was shelved. That's painful. After you invest your own time, your money, your, your spirit and some of your experiences into that and you pour into it for a year and a half and it doesn't come out, you feel like you've disappointed the world, your fans. And the narrative is not clear.

• 36:17Speaker 01

  So I went independent and within less than a year, I put my very first independent project out in Japan, Sugar and Spice. And then the next year, I dropped another independent mixtape for, you know, the fans stateside with a lot of features on it. And partnered with Rapper Lot, as well as Young Empire and Planet Nine, my label, to do that. Went back to Japan, did another album over there, but then I turned it into US, Canada, as well as world versions. So there was like three versions of that. There was also a double disc for the first album that I did. And then it got very addictive because it became fun. I started learning other aspects of the business, contract drafting, engineering, publishing

• 37:00Speaker 01

  splits, and really, in a boutique way, under the radar way, learning other hats to wear and understanding, first of all, all the roles of the major label system, and I'm still learning to this day. In a way that I could still be productive versus destructive, twiddling my fingers, waiting for something to happen. I just moved forward. And I haven't stopped or looked back when people like Prince call you and be like, ah, stay independent and this is why. And then they start talking about their journey and the importance of like protecting your peace and not understanding what they mean initially, but then seeing it show up later.

• 37:40Speaker 01

  And it's been a beautiful, fun, rewarding, fulfilling journey in so many ways that I'd never even imagined.

• 37:48Keke Palmer?

  Yeah. What do you mean when you say the, when it shows up later? Like what would be those internal things that you can say that you feel comfortable saying that make the major system not something that works and aligns with you?

• 38:01Speaker 01

  Well, both work because I had a beautiful label system. You know, there are things that happen. Leaks, you know, with the internet that was born.

• 38:10Keke Palmer?

  Natural, it happens.

• 38:11Speaker 01

  Yeah, it happens. And then the investment is tampered with and compromised. There's nothing bad that I have to say about the major label system because they birthed me and they're responsible for those hit records and investments. But there was a situation that did happen and I just didn't want to spend the energy in court fighting and fighting for something that, I mean, lawyers would probably absorb anyway.

• 38:35Keke Palmer?

  That's right. No, that's true.

• 38:37Speaker 01

  Fee wise. So I just kept it moving, but what People like the icon Prince say when they pull the next generation along for wisdom is

• 38:52Speaker 01

  where are you investing your money right now? Are you spending it on things? You don't need to worry about what type of house you want to live in right now. Let's talk about how you're going to invest in you. Okay, what does that look like? Who are your inspirations? What is your niche? Just from an artistic standpoint.

• 39:10Keke Palmer?

  Yes.

• 39:10Speaker 01

  And then how are you going to make it happen? Get your together because you must tour, right?

• 39:16Keke Palmer?

  Yes.

• 39:17Speaker 01

  To do this. But there's other ways of business. There are brands, there's brand partnerships, et cetera. And teams, independent teams that believe in you. But most of all, spirit. Do you love this? Why are you doing this in the first place? What drives you? Is it fame? Or is it return of investment immediately? Because that's not going to happen. You know?

• 39:38Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 39:39Speaker 01

  It's just giving you real game and real knowledge on how this thing works. And pulling you to the side to say, hey, I believe in you. But let's take the back door or build the door if the door is closed over here. And you don't need to chase because what does happen when you're not counting age or year or time and on everyone else's timeline, you begin to operate as that child or kid in high school where everything was just happy-go-lucky and now you're making music.

• 40:10Keke Palmer?

  Yes.

• 40:11Speaker 01

  From a pure place, whether it's for your therapy or for what matters the most people. And now you're back in that pocket

• 40:21Speaker 01

  that made you fall in love with music in the first place and the purpose of it, which is to connect, to bring joy, not numbers, not sales, not algorithms, not all of the technicalities, which are beautiful, but there's also, there has to be.

• 40:36Keke Palmer?

  But how did you get there? Because I think this is powerful because I even remember working with Tricky Stewart and we were talking about you and he was like, everybody always wanted Maya. Meaning musically, like as an artist, you've always been. And you've always had an energy about you where it's like, I'm going to lean in when I get. Ready. How do you ha- how does someone have that? Because so many people, you know, want that. You know, want to be what the major labels are putting in, you know, into. You know, they want to be somebody that is a commercial artist. They want, I mean, you have had all of that, both types of success. But how do you get to the point of being like, this is what's important? Because this is what, you know, people are, that's like what people think that what's going to validate what they're doing, their time, their money, you know? How do you get there?

• 41:19Speaker 01

  You hit it on the right nail.

• 41:21Keke Palmer?

  You hit it on the nail.

• 41:23Speaker 01

  Validation. So we operate from that place in life, regardless of the industry that we sign up for to survive, right? Or to fulfill a dream. And I think when devastation or tragedy strikes a family or an individual,

• 41:41Speaker 01

  life humbles you really quickly. And then you begin to see through a different lens versus everyone else's lens around you that are defining everything for you. That beauty, the success. It may just be numbers and technicalities versus, does this feel right? Am I changing someone else's life? Are they impacted by my lyrics? Or is this just aesthetics right now and marketability because I'm a teenager, et cetera? So you begin to find yourself through devastation and being humble. Because when everything is stripped from you, the home, you know, the family that you once had, whether it's the system, the major label system that, you know, surrounded you

• 42:25Speaker 01

  with a big hug and investment. And now it's just you with the world looking at you, but also with expectations and judgment and criticism. You then begin in that very hard place. And sometimes it can get a little dark to redefine everything you thought you were. If you got lost in the sauce. And what's important? And what you want it to be? And some people are just not afforded that time. So I look at that moment as the greatest blessing for me to get re-centered and redefined. So that I can move forward from that pure space. And that's success to me, even though, oh, yeah, I've heard all of the things like, oh, you washed up now.

• 43:11Speaker 01

  Yeah, you know, you fell off and all these things that will happen. But that's not what I do this for, and it's not something that I ever understood. And that's not why I signed up in the first place. But you can start governing your life and navigating from that space because of all the noise around you. That in a standard way is just the way to speak to you. So you start adopting those ideologies that are false anyways, because it's based on man-made stuff, not God-governed stuff.

• 43:39Keke Palmer?

  Yeah, and just the institution, you know, it's like, it's like, it's like, just because somebody didn't get an A in the class, it doesn't mean they're stupid. You know what I mean? Like this, these concepts that are defined by structures and systems that again, A, may not even align with you, but absolutely don't validate what is true for you.

• 43:56Speaker 01

  Yes, and, and it can be a very dangerous place. If you don't know yourself, or you're not spiritually grounded, or don't have that spiritual experience to start tapping in. And luckily, I have had to do that, and I'm so grateful for it.

• 44:11Keke Palmer?

  Yeah, but it can be lonely too. A lot of people don't understand that, I find, not lonely in a bad way, but just sometimes I find with the, with awareness, especially in our field, when you have that awareness where you're not going into the boxes, because I've, I've, I feel the exact same way, you know? In my career, a lot of people have been like, oh, you know, you're, you're supposed to be this type of person and this type of entertainer and this type of talent. And it's not like I'm against that, but that's never, I've always seen myself as an entrepreneur, as a brand. I want to do many things, and there are many moments in my career that I can name where that devastation has happened, where, you know, oh, I'm not the child actor anymore, I'm not on a hit show, you know, you're, you're washed up. Or doing social media and people saying, why are you on social media doing this?

• 44:55Keke Palmer?

  Why are you coming up with these characters and doing all this stuff? Girl, you need to go back to the big screen, you know? And finding my voice, what was true to me and my craft and my art. You know what I'm saying? And, and it's just interesting because, you know, I'm always trying to figure out how to.

• 45:12Keke Palmer?

  Express that truth to others that are finding themselves in this space, in this world where they're trying to define what is a value of them, what is true to them. And there's no, that anchoring is like an interpersonal journey.

• 45:28Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 45:29Keke Palmer?

  That no one can really give you the answer to, but it does include

• 45:34Keke Palmer?

  some isolation, some where people are not seeing things from the same vantage point you are, but you gotta be brave, you know?

• 45:43Speaker 01

  Absolutely, and you also have to have the bravery to step away and take some time to figure out where you like to govern your life and career from.

• 45:52Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 45:52Speaker 01

  Yeah, and that can be scary as well. Because of the opinions, etc. But one day at a time, like I said earlier. There's no rush, you must enjoy the journey.

• 46:06Keke Palmer?

  Yeah, I really, really love that. I want to talk a little bit more about Prince, just in terms of how y'all met. I mean, he's not somebody, anybody, you know, everybody get a chance to talk to, rest in peace, you know what I'm saying? So what was that like, meeting him and, you know, what did y'all, what did you get to know about him?

• 46:21Speaker 01

  I met Prince before I was independent. I'd attended one of his concerts in, I believe it was New Jersey, but then there was an after-party in New York. And he wanted to meet me, I'm like, oh my goodness, he knows my name. I just actually released my Love is Like Wow, and I tap danced.

• 46:41Keke Palmer?

  He loved talented folk.

• 46:42Speaker 01

  That video, and I think that's what it was, it was, you know, musicality and some really,

• 46:48Speaker 01

  some heavy masterclass training behind that, that maybe he acknowledged. But he wanted to meet me, like, if I ever meet Prince, I gotta be Prince.

• 46:59Speaker 01

  In order to have a conversation with his fans.

• 47:01Keke Palmer?

  Girl, you are too funny.

• 47:02Speaker 01

  And I gotta be cool, so I just, I had to put on this persona, like I was just cool, and I was dying all over the place inside.

• 47:09Keke Palmer?

  Yeah, yeah, seriously, I can only imagine.

• 47:10Speaker 01

  Trying to keep my composure, sweaty hands, oh my goodness.

• 47:15Keke Palmer?

  Oh my gosh.

• 47:16Speaker 01

  And he had some heels on.

• 47:17Keke Palmer?

  Which is fabulous.

• 47:19Speaker 01

  He was like, would you rock this? I'm like, yes, please. I probably can't fit him, but.

• 47:26Keke Palmer?

  Cause he looked like he was a size six.

• 47:28Speaker 01

  Six, yeah. But it was amazing. And I was just on this natural high all night, thinking that I just met someone that I didn't even know.

• 47:39Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 47:39Speaker 01

  Would know my name, or that I even exist.

• 47:42Keke Palmer?

  Right.

• 47:43Speaker 01

  What? So, many instances like that, I'm so grateful for.

• 47:48Keke Palmer?

  Did you guys talk any about ever how you guys grew up and just your background? Cause I know you, I didn't really cover it much here, but when I was reading, I was hearing about your upbringing and just dealing with identity and, you know, your mother, I know your mother's Italian and your father's black. And I'm curious if you guys ever shared anything about that growing up?

• 48:04Speaker 01

  We didn't. No, it was more so about the independency when we actually had more in-depth conversations.

• 48:11Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 48:11Speaker 01

  I'd gone independent and so when he heard about that, he's like, okay, I gotta make sure that she's well-informed about some of the things that I do know. And other ways of business models, etc. So, those were more of the conversations or creative and sometimes spiritual. Even diet. Prince was vegan and there were different occurrences, even jam sessions, I got to participate in those, it was great. He passed me a bass and he said, "Play it."

• 48:42Speaker 01

  And I grew up playing violin, right? And so I had to figure it out, so.

• 48:46Keke Palmer?

  Oh my.

• 48:47Speaker 01

  There's music playing in the background.

• 48:49Keke Palmer?

  But it's Prince.

• 48:50Speaker 01

  Yeah. Like, you cannot, you can't have two left feet or sweaty hands.

• 48:57Keke Palmer?

  Speaking of, just quickly, I have to do a shout out of my lovers, like, whoa, because that, that video, girl. And I think, you know, we always knew you could dance and everything like that, but I remember watching that, I was a teenager, I don't know how old I was, but I remember watching that and being like, no, she's serious. Like, I could not believe the level of just talent in that video. What, what made you do that video that way? Was it because you wanted to just like, everybody know real quick, like, let me flex on y'all real fast?

• 49:24Speaker 01

  Honestly, I wanted dancers and all this other stuff in the video initially, but when they said, "No, we just want a one-woman show." It's like, okay, what am I gonna do? And it was more so about the outfit changes. I said, OK, I get that, but it can't just be about fashion. So let's come with the characters. Let's come with a little different, you know, aspect of dance. And maybe I should throw some tap in there because I haven't done that visually. I wanted to do it for my very first album on a song called "We Gonna Make You Dance", but that was never a single. And so I said, maybe this is the perfect opportunity since it's going to be slightly theatrical. I can bring Broadway to my music. Yeah, visuals.

• 50:05Keke Palmer?

  Fabuloso.

• 50:07Speaker 01

  Indeed.

• 50:07Keke Palmer?

  Speaking of, right, indeed. Speaking of my lovers, like, well, you married yourself in 2013, which, by the way, me too. I married myself in 2025, I feel. It was all accidental, but I love it here.

• 50:21Speaker 01

  I want to hear your story.

• 50:28Keke Palmer?

  I need everybody to hear me clearly. You do not need a milestone to enjoy yourself. I said what I said. Society has us out here waiting for promotions, engagements, and New Year's Eve to twist open something nice. Meanwhile, I'm over here with a chilled glass of Stella Rosa Black because I remembered to water my plants three days in a row. That's growth, literally. And the flavor, sweet, smooth, rich, bold, deep berry, blackberry, blueberry, raspberry, all sitting together like a Real Housewives reunion where everybody kept their glass in their hand. This is wine for everyone 21 and up who understands that sometimes a celebration is the random Wednesday or the quiet night in

• 51:13Keke Palmer?

  or the I finished my laundry and put it all away in one day victory lap. You are the occasion, so please act accordingly. Head to stellarosa.com to find your favorite flavor. Your next occasion, which is literally whenever you decide, is already taken care of because, baby, this is Stella Rosa. And please, please, please, drink responsibly.

• 51:38Keke Palmer?

  Let me walk. Through my Tuesday, I woke up and immediately had to decide what to wear to a meeting, what to feed my son, whether I'm taking the call from my car or rescheduling, and it's not even 8 a.m. yet. By noon, I've made 100 decisions and I'm already over it. So the things in my life that don't require me to think, those are sacred. That's exactly what Fruit of the Loom Women's Underwear is for me. I open the drawer, I grab a pair, and I already know it's going to be comfortable and fit right. There's no guessing, no adjusting, no let me try another pair moment. It just works. When your whole day is full of decisions that actually need your energy, having that kind of simplicity in your routine creates real peace of mind. And trust me, that feels really, really good.

• 52:24Keke Palmer?

  Fruit of the Loom proves that simple feels really good.

• 52:30Speaker 01

  Mine was just a music video.

• 52:31Keke Palmer?

  Thank you, because some, she said, that was just a bit of, yeah, please hear my story. You know, it's so interesting, because a lot of times people pull these things from me on the internet, and they'll be just thinking, and they think I'm crazy, or, I don't know, I find that sometimes people may even think like, is she hopeless in love, is she bitter about love? But I'm not. I think I, I think I've reached, I have a son, you know, and I've reached a point in my life for me where, when I was younger, I think I would spend a lot of time thinking there was a certain way that I should be to get the goal I wanted. You know, and growing up with my parents being married all my life, it was very much like, that's the thing, because that's what I saw, that's what I knew, you know, and it was beautiful. They've always loved each other, they've always had a great relationship, I've admired. And so I would think, okay, this is how I should be, and this is, you know, if I do this and I do X, Y, and Z, then this is the outcome I'll get.

• 53:17Keke Palmer?

  You know, but you experience life and you see that life is actually not like a merit system, unfortunately. And this goes across the board, like, unfortunately, being a good person doesn't mean you're gonna get a great job. You know, being a nice, having a nice attitude doesn't mean you're gonna have the best friends. You know, being loving doesn't mean you're gonna receive love. And so then my faith and my choice to live with integrity came less from thinking that I was going to get a reward from it, and more from just, that's who I am and that's what aligns with me. And then it leaves me in this place of not not being open to love and things like that, but just not centering my life around the result of getting it in a certain way. So when I say certain things, I find it to be interesting with the people's responses to it.

• 53:59Keke Palmer?

  Whether I say, you know, you know, I'm here for love, but we don't need to be in the same house, you know? Or, you know, I would love to, you know, be interested in somebody, but also I'm cool if it never happens. It's interesting, almost the, I don't want to say projections, but the responses that you can get as a woman to say that and really mean that. Um, you know, and it's almost like, uh, because you don't feel like that's the ultimate goal. You've somehow given up, but it's like, what, well, what if we were to say that like, there are a bunch of outcomes? You know, there are a bunch of things. So, you know, I never know how serious, you know, you are when you're saying these things sometimes. But I lo- I love it because I feel the idea that people think I'll eventually change my mind.

• 54:39Keke Palmer?

  You know, or that, or that it's just something needs to happen for me. And it's like, but I, I am hopeful in love. I do feel these things, but also my life is gonna be good regardless. You go, you know what I'm saying?

• 54:52Speaker 01

  I do, and it starts with self. And sometimes things that are foreign to people, they're not quite understood. And so also there's projection over their lives from generations, but also society. And we grew up in a, a world that has this timeline for us that we must all conform to. And they've created the picture, which is so far removed from ancestral community as well as lifestyle, from the food we eat to how we pray and commune together. Society now has placed this, I'd say, brainwash effect over all of us.

• 55:35Speaker 01

  And so we only know what we have been taught. And to unlearn anything or look at something that's much different or slightly different is a shock to our system. And it's easy to criticize it and judge it and think something is wrong with that person. But we're all different on different timelines and we have different journeys and experiences and traumas to unpack, et cetera. But it's, um, speaking of your journey, thank you for that, because I didn't even know. But I understand you also get the comments.

• 56:02Keke Palmer?

  Yes, I get so many comments.

• 56:03Speaker 01

  When, when your intentions are just pure, honest, raw, real from your experience. And then there's arguments in the comments.

• 56:11Keke Palmer?

  Amongst.

• 56:13Speaker 01

  But I'll share mine. And so there was a music video. There's a wedding dress in a music video, which we all understand.

• 56:21Keke Palmer?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 56:22Speaker 01

  What that means, the white wedding dress. We've all been indoctrinated to believe that that is the happily ever after moment, where someone comes into our life and completes it. Right? And sometimes that's the goal.

• 56:36Keke Palmer?

  Yes.

• 56:36Speaker 01

  Because that's what we've been taught from the beginning of watching films, where we've given up a gift to receive a kiss from a guy or be chosen, before we even choose ourselves. And so when I made that video and that song called "The Truth", I knew that I wanted to marry myself in the video as an example of self-love. And this had nothing to do with men, not liking men or being upset or trauma. It had, you know, why would I expect anyone to come into my life if I'm not right within? So let's get you together. And then watch what happens, which is where I'm at in my life. When I have practiced self-love, which was the message, that's all.

• 57:21Speaker 01

  It was no deletion of anything or anyone. It's a message of self-love. I choose me right now because I haven't in the past and I've poured into others. Narcissistic, by the way. And I didn't like me in those situations. And when I chose to marry myself spiritually, I didn't have a ceremony with a white wedding dress, but I did in the music video because that's an aesthetic. It was still the message of love yourself, pour into you, and watch what you attract, or the blessings will come from that place. But please don't expect to live up to this fantasy or even seek in another person or human being.

• 58:05Speaker 01

  Be everything that you seek, you know? And then... Beautiful things happen from that place. And so I am surrounded by love years and years later. All kinds of love. And it doesn't necessarily have to be tied to one person as society teaches us. And so that's just an inkling of my story when I started practicing self-love because I was neglecting self prior to.

• 58:30Keke Palmer?

  I feel like these are such empowering themes and things to think about in the face of like just life and love and moving forward and expectations. And I find it to be so interesting, the resistance that can come from these types of things. I'm so curious what comments we gonna be getting under this video. Because it's like, to me, that's like, that feels actually more empowering than it's gonna come someday. Or whatever that is, you know?

• 58:57Speaker 01

  And that's just individualistic to you and your experience and your story. It's not preaching, this is the way you have to do it. No, because I really truly believe you don't have to have yourself together for love to be granted in your life. Sometimes I could be at the worst place in my life and someone does show up. It doesn't necessarily have to be my husband. But there are beautiful people in this world. And sometimes we classify love and give that a ceiling and seek it in just one individual to make ourselves this so-called complete. Actually, we already are complete as we come into this world.

• 59:41Speaker 01

  Existing is good enough as you are, nothing else, nothing more.

• 59:45Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 59:46Speaker 01

  And we're always seeking in this world of society because we've been programmed to do such. And that's where I was when I was making the song and video.

• 59:55Keke Palmer?

  Yeah, I love that. And that's where I am too. That's where I am. And to me, it's a beautiful thing to be happy in your own company. There's nothing weird about that, you know what I mean? Hey, I'm down for other company, but just act right when you get here. Know how to act, clean up after yourself, and go home.

• 1:00:14Keke Palmer?

  Hey there. Um, so obviously, I'm very sad that I missed you on tour with Brandy and Monica.

• 1:00:22Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 1:00:22Keke Palmer?

  That makes me actually very devastated. Because that was like, come on, big three. It was everything. So how was the tour? I mean, how you came on to it? I know sorry that Money Long was, you know, not feeling well. We hate that. But I love that you were on the tour. How was that experience? I mean, you had to get ready fast, but you always stay ready, so.

• 1:00:40Speaker 01

  Yes, um, I did get a call because, hey, things happen. We, we all are human. And love to Money Long, who killed the tour as well. Everyone was just so beautiful, welcoming, warm. And I was just so excited to, first of all, see the ladies. Myself, as a fan and a spectator, to be able to watch supporters that grew up with us recite every word, every ad lib.

• 1:01:06Keke Palmer?

  Yes, yes.

• 1:01:08Speaker 01

  And see them receive their flowers because they, as young teens that were recording at 11 years old, you know, and popping on the scene at 15, globally, setting the record and setting the stage and the bar for one name recording artist that were females and young teenagers at that. I came a little later in 98, but I loved every moment of that. And beautiful, timeless songs with composition. I'm talking about bridges, modulations, vamps. I mean.

• 1:01:42Keke Palmer?

  Dallas lost some babyface.

• 1:01:44Speaker 01

  It was so beautiful to see that. And them to perform together, Brandy and Monica, and Kelly Rowland as well.

• 1:01:49Keke Palmer?

  Yeah, she's amazing. Love Kelly.

• 1:01:51Speaker 01

  Beautiful. And celebration of black music and black women that have been in this game for decades and still going and looking and sounding amazing. So I was blessed and privileged to be there, honored, of course. It was last minute.

• 1:02:06Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 1:02:06Speaker 01

  I don't know if you want to know the backstory about that.

• 1:02:08Keke Palmer?

  I do.

• 1:02:09Speaker 01

  Because it's kind of funny.

• 1:02:09Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 1:02:11Speaker 01

  So, this was Maya's self-love time to take off from touring because I'm always on the road, you know? And I love to do what I do, no complaints. I'm going down to Florida. My dad has a place down there to take some me time. I was gonna start training, get my diet right. And I have this bottle of detox, right? What was it detox? Okay, it has all-natural ingredients. I'm scared. I'm trying to recalibrate my system. You know, I eat a lot of vegan food, but processed sometimes on the road. Going, going, going. So I'm like, we gotta get this together. You're going into your birthday month. And a new year very soon. We gotta start now. So I was planning on taking some time off to get into my flow. Yeah.

• 1:02:55Speaker 01

  So I have my alarm set for 1:00 PM to take this detox bottle. And you have to be stationary for 24 hours or more. Because you're gonna be on the toilet. I know what this is saying. I gotta call at 12:30. Can you be in Chicago tonight? I'm like, to do what? Oh, the boy is mine. I said, huh? Can I do it in front of toilet? I said, well, the dancers in LA, they're not gonna make it in time. I said, let me look at flights real quick. I went on expedia.com. Come on, Expedia. Right? There was a flight, and I'm not talking about Miami, Florida, or Tampa, Florida. This is a whole different part of Florida where you only might get two flights.

• 1:03:39Speaker 01

  There was one flight, non-stop, that got me there. I said, all right, if y'all want me to do this. I don't have any outfits. I've already worn the outfit that I'm wearing in Chicago. I wore it at a birthday party of somebody that's on my album. In Atlanta, I said, well, that's all I got. Let me see if I can make it work. And I packed my bags real quick, got my Uber to the airport. The airport is so tiny there. And I made it. They were like, okay, you have a hotel room? I said, no, give me an office because I'm gonna be down to the wire to do my hair, my makeup. I gotta sew my pack on so that I can hear in-ears. There was. Yes! And I hit the stage, no sound check, no rehearsals. I don't even know what the stage looks like.

• 1:04:23Speaker 01

  There's no sound on stage in Chicago. My in-ear is not working. No! There's a runway, though, so I'm making my way to the diamond point. During my set, because I can't hear anything, like, oh, my gosh, I'm gonna be off key. I'm gonna be on the shade room and sounding crazy. They're gonna rip me to pieces. So I just kinda stayed forward.

• 1:04:45Keke Palmer?

  She said they gonna rip me to pieces.

• 1:04:46Speaker 01

  In order for me to get a feed of music, I stayed in front of the front of house speakers that the audience was hearing, cuz nothing was working on stage. There were no, no floor monitors. I'm like, what? Oh, my gosh, what did I sign up for? And it went over well.

• 1:05:01Keke Palmer?

  Of course it did. Of course it did.

• 1:05:03Speaker 01

  And then they were like, oh, we'll see you in Kansas City tomorrow.

• 1:05:08Speaker 01

  Excuse me? Um, I don't have any clothes. So I literally borrowed my road manager's jacket. And I had, I happened to have like this pleather catsuit that I didn't wear for another festival. In my, a carry-on, stuck to another pair of pleather pants.

• 1:05:25Keke Palmer?

  I love all the pleather.

• 1:05:26Speaker 01

  It's crazy, right?

• 1:05:27Keke Palmer?

  Cuz I'm big A, right?

• 1:05:29Speaker 01

  So that's what happened. And then here I am. And I, you know, go back on the tour for probably about eight more dates or something like that. In between, there was a break. I didn't know if I was gonna get called again. So I just did the first two shows initially, just on the fly.

• 1:05:47Keke Palmer?

  But that's that whole being ready and not having to stay, like, that's really, and even-

• 1:05:51Speaker 01

  And I was not ready.

• 1:05:52Keke Palmer?

  You said it even early in this conversation. With this whole touring, like, you tour a lot and you, and that, anybody that's a touring artist would know that that is really, really hard. You know, I've gone on tour and it's fun and it's cool cuz I get to be with the fans. But like, it's a lot, the traveling and the getting everything ready.

• 1:06:08Speaker 01

  I was literally editing my set in Pro Tools at the airport.

• 1:06:14Keke Palmer?

  That's crazy.

• 1:06:14Speaker 01

  Here y'all go.

• 1:06:15Keke Palmer?

  She said, here y'all go. But came, saw, conquered, and look good doing so. Well, let's talk about ASAP on the new album, Retrospect. Congratulations.

• 1:06:27Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 1:06:27Keke Palmer?

  This is your 10th studio album.

• 1:06:29Speaker 01

  It is.

• 1:06:30Keke Palmer?

  Girl, how does that feel?

• 1:06:33Speaker 01

  It feels great. You know, I'm just getting started. I'm also in my grown woman era now.

• 1:06:38Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 1:06:38Speaker 01

  Things a little different. And I have a lot of places to pull from. Life has been lived. And this album is very intentional.

• 1:06:46Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 1:06:47Speaker 01

  Um, I'm taking it back to a time that I fell in love with music to my living room. When I was in probably diapers and my mom's high heel thigh high go-go boots, dancing to vinyl collections of Rick James, you know, Shalamar, Cool in the Gang, Cameo, Stevie Wonder, a lot of funk fans.

• 1:07:08Keke Palmer?

  Cameo.

• 1:07:09Speaker 01

  Yeah, Prince, of course, Vanity Six, That Time of Joy. My mom is a roller skater.

• 1:07:16Keke Palmer?

  Oh, that's right.

• 1:07:16Speaker 01

  So you're gonna get all of that, but you're also gonna get some introspection on some of the ballads in the mid-tempo. So ASAP is one of those retrospect, but also introspective.

• 1:07:27Speaker 01

  Ballads that, you know, express urgency of communication to either save a relationship or part ways, whatever y'all are gonna do, this is necessary, because I feel the changes in this, this dynamic. So ASAP is the very first single of this year. The remix dropped featuring Twenty One Savage.

• 1:07:44Keke Palmer?

  Oh, great.

• 1:07:46Speaker 01

  Yeah, you know, two different worlds.

• 1:07:49Keke Palmer?

  Yes, with this.

• 1:07:51Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:07:51Keke Palmer?

  Makes me think about old Dirty Bastin' them.

• 1:07:53Speaker 01

  And R and B and hip-hop collabs, you know, that's something that's been very present in my career.

• 1:07:57Keke Palmer?

  Mm-hmm.

• 1:07:58Speaker 01

  So taking it back to that part of my life and career too, but in a different type of way. You know, two different generations, two different genres. And I love the male perspective on this record, because we didn't get that before in the solo mix.

• 1:08:09Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 1:08:10Speaker 01

  So you get to, you know, get, get a little both, a best, best of both worlds, excuse me.

• 1:08:15Keke Palmer?

  I love that. You said that this album feels like a bridge between the past and the future.

• 1:08:20Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm.

• 1:08:20Keke Palmer?

  Um, and then what, I mean, what inspired the song? I know you said a little bit of just like when you grew up, all those old school artists that you grew up listening to. Uh, but what about conversation-wise?

• 1:08:29Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm. Conversational music?

• 1:08:32Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 1:08:32Speaker 01

  Well, this specific era that I'm leaning into is like late seventies into mid eighties.

• 1:08:37Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 1:08:38Speaker 01

  Even late eighties. And that was a time that was very expressive. The lyrics hit deep in the gut. It was very real, it was very raw, it was very honest, but the music composition, like those bridges that I mentioned earlier, the vamps,

• 1:08:51Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 1:08:52Speaker 01

  the ad-libs, and the lyrics, you know? Even if it is a game of cat and mouse, there's intention in every lyric here. And what I would actually say, as Maya the person, and the grown woman. So you're gonna hear the growth, vocally of course, but how I handle certain situations. And then how I handle pressure, how I handle those uncertain moments in a relationship as well. Uh, but also the joy. The joy of my living room, the joy of the cookouts that we used to have, the joy of the skating rink, the couple skate aspect

• 1:09:24Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 1:09:25Speaker 01

  that I witnessed when I saw, uh, couples on the floor, and how they interacted, and when people used to dance together. That's the type of sound, and it's hosted by D Nice, by the way.

• 1:09:35Keke Palmer?

  Oh, I love D Nice, shoutouts to D Nice.

• 1:09:37Speaker 01

  For the culture.

• 1:09:38Keke Palmer?

  Yeah, for the culture. Um, in the industry for three decades, started out as a teenager. You know, you're saying like Maya the grown woman. What in, in just few words, you know, because obviously that's different for everybody. What does that look like for you in evolution of who we, you know, first met you as?

• 1:09:55Speaker 01

  For me personally, evolution is a blessing. If you've gotten to take it day by day and see year after year, and still just be here as a human being, alive, is the greatest gift. And then to watch yourself grow, and giving yourself grace to be able to mess up, because nothing is perfect, nothing looks perfect, nor is it supposed to. Um, that's a big learning lesson that I also have to pull from, from my past, while I move forward in my future, that it's okay to be a little messy. It's okay to fall on your face. It's okay to have these so-called failures that lead to your lessons, that lead to your blessings, that lead to your application, and ultimate success in settling or becoming seasoned in knowing what you want, or not what you want.

• 1:10:38Speaker 01

  And you also are allowed to change, change courses, change paths, change desires. You do not have a ceiling over you, and it starts with your mind. So the younger self teaches me a lot.

• 1:10:50Speaker 01

  And I'm a fighter and I'm very, very proud of myself for weathering the storms. But that's less to do with the industry and more so my faith and foundation.

• 1:10:59Keke Palmer?

  Yes, retrospect, it is out now.

• 1:11:02Speaker 01

  It drops this spring.

• 1:11:03Keke Palmer?

  Yes, this spring, so excited. And, um, you know, when we were talking earlier, we mentioned now, you know, listening to your voice back when you were younger. I'm just curious because I didn't get a chance to ask this because you were like, you know, how it made you feel sometimes to listen to your voice when you were younger. How do you feel about when you hear your voice when you're younger now?

• 1:11:20Speaker 01

  My singing voice?

• 1:11:21Keke Palmer?

  Yeah, is it different? Do you have a different vibe in terms of retrospect? Is it, you know, different how you hear yourself now?

• 1:11:28Speaker 01

  Oh, I love my voice as is now.

• 1:11:31Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 1:11:32Speaker 01

  There's been a lot of growth, but also the voice changes with maturity.

• 1:11:35Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 1:11:36Speaker 01

  And I'm honestly a true alto. In choir, I was a second soprano, but I was singing in the range of first soprano on my very first few albums.

• 1:11:47Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 1:11:47Speaker 01

  You know?

• 1:11:48Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 1:11:48Speaker 01

  That were more so crafted for me.

• 1:11:50Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 1:11:50Speaker 01

  Especially on the debut album.

• 1:11:52Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 1:11:53Speaker 01

  And so I was singing in this very uncomfortable tongue because I'm really a true rich alto.

• 1:11:57Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 1:11:57Speaker 01

  And people didn't ever really hear much of that from me. And so I'm leaning more into my alto.

• 1:12:02Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 1:12:03Speaker 01

  And you're still going to get the soprano because I do harmonies and backgrounds and all of that stuff. But the younger Maya, you know, she was a baby. I look at myself when I was 16 as a 12-year-old.

• 1:12:14Keke Palmer?

  That's so crazy.

• 1:12:15Speaker 01

  As far as like vocal maturity.

• 1:12:16Keke Palmer?

  Okay, sure, sure.

• 1:12:17Speaker 01

  Compared to now.

• 1:12:18Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 1:12:18Speaker 01

  You know, I'm owning everything I'm in the studio, producing and arranging and editing and all the things, every mix session. So I know exactly what I want to hear. And also because I have my own studio, it's the way I want it to be versus, oh, the clock, the budget ran out. No, we're going to get this right to a level where I want to play it in my car over and over and over. And, uh, it's shareable to me. So that's a part of the independence that I really love as far as the creative freedom and execution. Because sometimes you're not allowed to when you're working on someone else's budget that's not yours.

• 1:12:51Keke Palmer?

  No, it's 100% true.

• 1:12:52Speaker 01

  So the younger Maya voice was a little cringy to me. It is.

• 1:12:56Keke Palmer?

  No shade to my girl. Too much on my girl.

• 1:12:59Speaker 01

  It is a little shade to my younger self.

• 1:13:00Keke Palmer?

  Uh-uh.

• 1:13:01Speaker 01

  Because I like the way I sound now.

• 1:13:03Keke Palmer?

  I love how you sound now too, but I also love.

• 1:13:10Keke Palmer?

  Should I stay or let go? I don't know. You ate, you always ate. But it's so, I agree with you. When I listen to a lot of my, I'm this, I think every artist, we're all like this. Where it's kind of like, what's best is what's today, y'all.

• 1:13:24Speaker 01

  It is, though.

• 1:13:24Keke Palmer?

  Get into it, you know?

• 1:13:25Speaker 01

  It really is, though.

• 1:13:26Keke Palmer?

  Okay, I know I gotta get up out of here. I want to play a quick game. The game is really quick, I swear, girl. So I'm sorry that I just occupied all your time, but for me, this is a meeting greet. I don't know what you thought. This is the meeting greet and I got some stuff for you to sign. Okay. So I always play a game with my guests. This is called vibe or superlative. And a few iconic artists are in here. So you tell me what first comes to mind. It's all fun, no shade, all fun, um, no rankings. So who has the most, but also it's hard. Blame the producers, not me. So who has the most untouchable vocals? Whitney Houston, Aria Carey, Patti LaBelle?

• 1:14:04Speaker 01

  Oh, come. Why you doing this?

• 1:14:08Keke Palmer?

  You can't even pick it really off of words. You just gotta pick it off who makes your favorite songs.

• 1:14:11Speaker 01

  It's me, I can't do that.

• 1:14:12Keke Palmer?

  It's hard.

• 1:14:13Speaker 01

  I'm gonna be drug through the mud online. I'm gonna be drug through the mud online.

• 1:14:18Keke Palmer?

  Fine.

• 1:14:19Speaker 01

  I cannot.

• 1:14:20Keke Palmer?

  It's Whitney, I love everybody, though. Okay, who made you believe and love the most? Babyface, Anita Baker, Luther Vandross?

• 1:14:28Speaker 01

  Ooh.

• 1:14:32Keke Palmer?

  The hand is killing me.

• 1:14:34Speaker 01

  My goodness, I'm, I'm gonna say Luther.

• 1:14:36Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 1:14:36Speaker 01

  I'm gonna say Luther because that was my first occurrence and experience. You know, I was introduced to Luther before I was Babyface.

• 1:14:44Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 1:14:45Speaker 01

  What was the other name you said?

• 1:14:46Keke Palmer?

  Um, it was, uh, Anita Baker. You know, we love Anita. She's always...

• 1:14:49Speaker 01

  I was listening to Luther first through my dad because, you know, he's a singer. So he would sing Luther before I heard him ever sing any Anita Baker. So I'll say Luther.

• 1:14:59Keke Palmer?

  I love Luther.

• 1:15:00Speaker 01

  Everyone is great on the list.

• 1:15:01Keke Palmer?

  Yes. Okay, who had the best era-defining run? Mary J. Blige, Brandy, or Toni Braxton? That is hard.

• 1:15:10Speaker 01

  I mean, runs for days, Brandy.

• 1:15:12Keke Palmer?

  I think they mean like, um...

• 1:15:13Speaker 01

  Oh, run.

• 1:15:14Keke Palmer?

  You know, over the course of time.

• 1:15:15Speaker 01

  I'm thinking about vocal ad-...

• 1:15:16Keke Palmer?

  She said the runs are bringing me down.

• 1:15:19Speaker 01

  If we're talking about runs, vocal ad-let runs, Brandy.

• 1:15:22Keke Palmer?

  This is hard.

• 1:15:23Speaker 01

  Say that again. We're talking about career?

• 1:15:26Keke Palmer?

  Yeah, like, and I guess really like, what, uh, who had the best era-defining run? Like, the run that defined them and their era of the artists we know them, who they are today. Like, I feel like Mary J. Blige had too. I feel like she had one where it's like the, "I'm not gonna cry, I'm not gonna shed no tears." And the Just Fine era. Then we had, like, obviously Brandy, Full Moon era. You know, Toni Braxton, the short hair, her putting that on the map, you know?

• 1:15:51Speaker 01

  One thing I'm gonna say is Mary J. Blige was at the beginning of the birth of hip-hop and R&B fusion, which is a template for us all today. And she was the first, as far as I know, uh, in the 90s, where all of that excitement that we all felt, and that culture, and that divide, but intersection, where things were just birthed, and not just musically, I'm talking about fashion, the hair, the nails, the makeup, the presentation. And I remember that being just this very incredible moment for the culture that I don't think was duplicated, because she set that bar and she created that space.

• 1:16:36Speaker 01

  So, I'm gonna go with Mary J. Blige.

• 1:16:38Keke Palmer?

  I could not agree more. I feel the exact same way about Mary J. Blige. And honestly, people ask me, I thought about this just now, people ask me, "Oh, is there somebody life story that you wanna do? Mary J. Blige." I would love to do Mary life. If they ever do Mary, they ever do your life, I'm gonna be, "Real love." Look, I'm tired of y'all. I don't know what she was saying, but I'm ready to act. I'm ready for that raw.

• 1:17:04Speaker 01

  And those songs are so timeless, because she's still touring today, and those songs are just so dynamic, you know?

• 1:17:13Keke Palmer?

  It's just...

• 1:17:14Speaker 01

  You can just sing along.

• 1:17:15Keke Palmer?

  You know?

• 1:17:16Speaker 01

  And you feel it.

• 1:17:17Keke Palmer?

  Let's get it, crunk or funky.

• 1:17:18Speaker 01

  You feel it.

• 1:17:19Keke Palmer?

  Come on, Dan Sari. Okay, last two. Who has the most emotional voice? This is hard. Sade, Aaliyah, Erykah Badu.

• 1:17:28Speaker 01

  Hmm, emotional.

• 1:17:29Keke Palmer?

  Emotional is an interesting word to use for there.

• 1:17:33Speaker 01

  Hmm, I'm gonna say Erykah Badu has the most conscious voice, where I'm learning. Aaliyah has a very soothing tone, where I feel relaxed, like...

• 1:17:45Keke Palmer?

  I love his look.

• 1:17:46Speaker 01

  Like, my nervous system is not all over the place. But I'm gonna say, Sade, surprisingly, and people probably don't think of emotional when you're not hearing gospel music, right?

• 1:17:56Keke Palmer?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:17:56Speaker 01

  Sade has a lot of emotion in her lyrics and her tone. And it's so hard to do, and a lot of it is linear.

• 1:18:04Keke Palmer?

  Yes.

• 1:18:04Speaker 01

  But there's something very emotional with her register. And so, I'm gonna say Sade.

• 1:18:10Keke Palmer?

  I don't know why, for me, "Hi" was Sade. I was like, trying to think about her voice in there, and that's what came out, girl. I don't know why. Okay, last thing. Who feels the most timeless? This one's gonna upset you, so just get ready. Stevie Wonder, Prince, Maxwell.

• 1:18:26Speaker 01

  The most timeless?

• 1:18:29Keke Palmer?

  Um, the most timeless.

• 1:18:31Speaker 01

  I would say Stevie Wonder, for sure.

• 1:18:32Keke Palmer?

  That was quick. Now, why Stevie?

• 1:18:35Speaker 01

  Well, Stevie Wonder.

• 1:18:36Keke Palmer?

  Makes sense, actually.

• 1:18:37Speaker 01

  I think he recorded his very first album. He was like, 11 years old. And there's so much intention behind every lyric, every instrument. But he also sees through a different lens that none of us do. And he speaks and creates his art from a very spiritual place. And also views the world from that place. And we could learn a lot from him. And when I listen back to all of the jams that I grew up listening to, there's so much magic in his lyrics. And you can hear the intentional aspect of that, but also the global nature. And I've seen Stevie Wonder live in a whole different country, bringing the world together.

• 1:19:22Speaker 01

  All ages, so many different races, backgrounds.

• 1:19:28Speaker 01

  And the impact of his music is so great. It will be here forever, you know? And it's not salacious. It's, it's not risque. It's very meaningful, and it will change your consciousness and your frequency. So, Stevie Wonder.

• 1:19:47Keke Palmer?

  Yeah. I feel the same. I mean, I feel this way about a lot of artists, but when you were just saying that right now, and then bringing up the frequency, I often feel this way about Earth, Wind & Fire. All the time. Their stuff is about to take you to the stratosphere. Like, it will literally put you in a meditative. You know what I mean? Like, okay, this is the last one, for real. Who inspired the current generation? This is really the last one. Who inspired the current generation the most? Janet Jackson, Beyoncé, Alicia Keys?

• 1:20:10Keke Palmer?

  I'm gonna say Janet Jackson.

• 1:20:11Speaker 01

  So, current generation, please define that.

• 1:20:14Keke Palmer?

  Current generation, you know, I guess we would consider, what are the current generation of artists today?

• 1:20:21Keke Palmer?

  We would talk about Summer Walker, SZA, we would talk about, um,

• 1:20:27Keke Palmer?

  Kehlani, who else would, who else is out? Bryson Tiller, Ella Mai, Bryson Tiller, Ella Mai, SZA, Kehlani, Summer Walker, Janae Aiko, that's kind of the, if I'm thinking about current generation, and obviously, it depends on who you're listening to, but if we're talking about R and B, I guess that's who, you know, I mean.

• 1:20:49Speaker 01

  That's a tough question because artists are so, artists are influenced by so many.

• 1:20:54Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 1:20:55Speaker 01

  You know, an archive of artists, and I don't necessarily know, style-wise, who they're influenced by.

• 1:21:01Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 1:21:01Speaker 01

  But, I will say, because Janet has been there way before we were even a thought, um, and laid a blueprint, she's an influence to everyone after her that has existed, that may be more possibly influential today because of their presence. And so, I have to start with the blueprint.

• 1:21:22Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 1:21:23Speaker 01

  But, I don't necessarily know, depending on the artist and, and who they're studying.

• 1:21:27Keke Palmer?

  But that's exactly what I would say, is Janet Jackson, I would say Janet Jackson for the exact same reason you said, because

• 1:21:36Keke Palmer?

  the influence has impacted over such a great amount of time that sometimes people don't even know when they are inspired by her, for instance, somebody will be saying, "Oh, my gosh, I look up to Britney Spears, like, I'm so inspired by her."

• 1:21:48Speaker 01

  And so, if you're inspired by her, you're inspired by Janet.

• 1:21:51Keke Palmer?

  You know, like, that type of thing, which I think is really cool, because it's like, that to me is like the greatest sign of influence is that it is, the elements are hodgepodge in, and you might not always know where it's coming from where, but it's like, if you see it, if you know it, you'll see it, you know?

• 1:22:06Speaker 01

  Absolutely. That's a tough question as an artist, you know?

• 1:22:10Keke Palmer?

  Yeah, it is, it is, all of them was.

• 1:22:12Speaker 01

  Absolutely, but everyone on that list is very influential, yeah.

• 1:22:16Keke Palmer?

  Yeah, for sure, I couldn't agree more. Well, I'm sad this came to an end.

• 1:22:21Speaker 01

  Me too, I had a lot of fun and I learned a lot, too.

• 1:22:23Keke Palmer?

  Me too.

• 1:22:24Speaker 01

  And I love you so much.

• 1:22:25Keke Palmer?

  I love you too, I think we first met at the 2024. For Essence, I think.

• 1:22:29Speaker 01

  For the first time in person.

• 1:22:31Keke Palmer?

  Yes, yes. So I'm so glad.

• 1:22:33Speaker 01

  And I have that picture in my cellphone.

• 1:22:36Keke Palmer?

  Yeah. Thank you so much for coming, seriously. And being here and talking and this has been awesome.

• 1:22:40Speaker 01

  Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me, Kiki. Kiki with Kiki.

• 1:22:50Keke Palmer?

  Talking to Maya was so special. I mean, 10 albums deep and she's still showing us what growth, evolution, and self-love really look like in an industry that can be tough, especially on Black women. She's proof that you can do it your way and still win. Thanks for hanging with us. We'll see you next time on Baby. This is Keke Palmer.