Take a quick scroll through your feed, and it’s clear: Keke Palmer is everywhere, all at once. Already dubbed one of the hardest working women in Hollywood, she’s making sure she keeps that moniker with a full slate of projects about to drop.
First up? The resurrection of a cult classic. Palmer is headlining The ‘Burbs on Peacock starting February 8, a reimagining of the dark, comical thriller that first hit theaters in 1989. Palmer is playing in a pool of nostalgia and bringing something new to the table — how a Black woman would approach her hunch that her eccentric neighbors are actually killers.
We’ve also gotten our first look at Palmer in I Love Boosters, out in theaters on May 22. She plays Corvette, who gets involved with a Robin Hood-coded crew that steals designer fashion from corporate fashionistas (played here by Demi Moore), and then sells them to the community at discounted pricing. It’s the latest film from writer/director Boots Riley, who’s known for his sharpened take on American life through a Black lens. Translation? Palmer is continuing her dive into worlds where Black people set their own rules for success.
Between the takes and screen tests, Palmer is keeping her finger on the pulse of Hollywood with her podcast, Baby, This Is Keke Palmer. She’s just as comfortable sitting down with fellow actors, music artists, and performers—whether it’s Bob the Drag Queen or the incomparable Mariah Carey—to unpack the complexities of the work, the industry, and the pushback that comes with staying authentic.
Asked why she feels she has to take on many projects at once, Palmer told EBONY during an interview for her 2025 visual album Just Keke:
“I can feel a burning sense within me that exists outside of scarcity that [I] still has something to say and to share, through my art,” she explained. “And I imagine — I remember telling this to somebody — there’ll become a, there’ll come a day where I maybe don’t have anything to say. So I’m happy to still have something to say, and I want to enjoy this moment.”
Palmer’s all about taking big swings — and yes, sometime she misses: her KeyTV network Southern Fried Rice series following an Asian student navigating an HBCU was a bust. But as long as people are willing to listen, she’ll keep swinging, because this gal is in it for the long haul.