Actress/singer Keke Palmer is now 18 and ready to show the world what she is really about. The teen queen is busy with music and movie projects, all of which will provide fans with a more mature image of the budding star. She flexes more creative muscle behind her upcoming mixtape, and will portray a “sex enthusiast” in the 2013 independent film “Virgin Mary.” Palmer recently spoke with AOL’s The Boombox to discuss the newer, more mature direction of her career.
In the music video for “You Got Me” featuring Kevin McCall, Palmer flaunts major attitude as she sassily sings about having mutual support from her special guy. “It’s a love song but with my swag on it,” KeKe explains. The song will be included on her new mixtape to be released this summer, and will feature material she wants to do, as opposed to doing what others wanted her to do when she was younger. “Now that I’m 18 and I had some time off and I was like ‘OK, now I really wanna be able to do the music that I want to do and put it out for my fans to see….they can recognize who I am as an artist and they can see that for themselves from me, not from somebody else,” she states.
In a track titled “If Six Were Nine,” the songstress says she got to work with hit songwriter Eric Bellinger, who is an example of someone who let her create however she wished. “He wasn’t telling me to ‘Do this.’ It was let me be free to do my own thing. Let me be free to do my own melodies, the ones that came naturally out of me,” she said.
While Keke has lent her voice to the family-friendly animated film “Ice Age: Continental Drift,” in another upcoming film role, the actress plays an inquisitive teen exploring her sexuality in “Virgin Mary.” She insists her character is true to life, and not in an exploitative way. “I get to be funny in a sincere way, not in a trashy way,” she said. “You have people like that in school, where ‘Sex isn’t a big deal to me.’ My character is so much more likable because she wasn’t trying to hide her emotions.”
Palmer thinks the film’s subject matter of dealing with teen sexual angst is important to bring to the light. “I think it’s important to tackle it because kids these days are having pacts to have babies, forget having pacts to have sex,” she stated. “I think what the message in [“Virgin Mary”] is if you’re smart enough to make the decision and you think, ‘You know what, this is a good person and even if we not together past this, I’m OK with giving you this gift.’ If you’re OK with that then move on and even if you’re not with that person and you think they’re a good enough person to deserve that, then that’s all that really matters.”
What’s up next for Ms. Palmer? The release of her video for “Dance Alone,” which she says is like a female version of Michael Jackson’s “The Way You Make Me Feel.” “It’s a 2012 flip on that,” she says of the overall vibe. “It’s a young girl seeing a guy and wants to get that guy….I think that’s what all girls want to be able to do, go to a guy and say “I know you want me” but in our minds we’re too afraid to do that. It’s really cute.”
For the rest of the interview, visit The Boombox
