Keke Palmer's "Scream Queens" BFFs

You talked about selfies.

Do you have a go-to selfie face? Um, my most selfie face used, I'm about to say, it used to be that. And then I realized, like, girl, why don't you just smile? Normal smile. People are always trying to figure out the next face. The duck face. The pouty lips. The eyes. Remember what was there was there was like the It's too much. That was like five. No, it's too much. Now, I just do this.

Keke Palmer is back in the Young Hollywood headquarters. Um, we got to talk about all your you're so busy, all your different projects.

Oh, man, thank you.

Uh, let's start with actually Grease Live, which I mean, it was wild, it was a minute.

No, but Grease is the one First of all, we have a group chat still to this day for our Grease. It's called Grease Peeps. And everybody's in there from producers, directors, and of course, the cast. Like, we talk

This is like a text group?

Oh my gosh, girl. Yes, a text group. We talk all the time. So, even though it's been a year ago, we literally were just talking yesterday saying, it's been a year, you guys. Can you believe it? And we're just laughing and talking and I'm like, oh my gosh, like I never would have thought and imagined I would have been able to create this family and this space with people because when I did Grease Live, I was so happy because it gave me a total different feeling about, you know, Hollywood and the the the traditional industry of television and film, which I've been working in for so long and seeing it kind of merged together like that. It gave me a total different outlook of that, which I loved. You know, it's awesome.

Uh, speaking of you you talked about being mostly in traditional TV film. Scream Queens. Zade. What's your favorite part about playing this character?

I love that Zade is such an exaggerated overachiever because I can definitely relate like I'm always trying to figure out the next thing that I can do and what I can get my hands on and just how to be creative and and and remain purposeful in my life. And Zade is like the extreme version of that. Like, Zade Next year, Zade might be just damn near going to be the president.

If there's anything that that we've learned from watching Scream Queens, it's also you can't trust anybody.

Oh, no. No, except Zade.

Yeah, exactly. Zade is the most. Okay. But I was wondering if you have any besties on set.

Oh, yes. And first of all, I love all my all my girls, but uh Billy Lourd definitely uh probably is the one I'm closest to.

Oh, nice. Who's Taylor?

Taylor I love too. Love love love Taylor. He's so sweet. I wish that people more people could see his personality because I know that now he has Instagram, so people are seeing it a little bit more, but he's so quiet a lot of the time. I don't think people realize how funny he is.

Yeah. True, true. Uh, and then outside of TV film, you got you got your music.

Oh, yes. I do.

And you have your book, which we have We just happened to have.

Right. How did it get here, girl? I don't know. It was immaculate placement. Uh, I'm going to just you know, hold on my QVC am I doing a good job? Yes, QVC moment. Yes, you should take me on tour. It's called I don't belong to you, quiet the noise, and find your voice.

So, what inspired you to write this?

Um, I think because of my career, I realized that I had learned a lot of things business-wise that maybe a lot of people my age hadn't, definitely dealing with money and stuff like that. I really learned fairly quickly that money does not give you happiness and it doesn't material things don't change what's going on inside because even though I was able to have fun with my shows every now and then and I was able to shop and do this and that. But then once you realize you don't want the clothes, it all subsides and you're like, what's really going on? And for me, it was about how can I express that what I really found happiness at was living a life of purpose and and service to others and understanding what I really want to give out to the world. That's what made me feel like getting up and getting out every day. And that's pretty much what the book is about. Removing all the things that I thought would make me happy and really getting to the root of who I am and how I don't belong to other people's perceptions of who I have to be or what's going to make me happy, but I can choose from day to day as I learn more about myself and fall more in love with myself.

I like that. It's a message of empowerment. Uh, and you get pretty personal in here.

Yes, I do. I do.

What was it like writing those parts of the book?

Therapeutic. Definitely therapeutic. I mean, I definitely have done therapy and I do a lot of yoga and meditation. So, in writing this book, I was on that road of just shedding everything I possibly could shed, which is, of course, a an ongoing practice. But writing the book was another stamp of that that really made me feel like it's okay to say what has happened to you and what's what's what you feel has made you who you are in the good ways and the bad ways because we all have them. We all have defense mechanisms.

How did you write this, by the way? I mean, with your busy schedule, like, was it you just sit down, like, I don't know, time yourself 20 minutes? Oh my gosh, you know, or like, what was

It was a very long process and a hard process because at first I was really intimidated and I was like, okay, I need somebody to help me because I don't even know I've never even written a a thesis before. Like, my schooling is so was so different, you know, than the average person because first I went to real school to the fifth grade and then I became homeschooled on sets and and so I always felt very kind of like intimidated on my normal level of education. And as I started to write the book and I was having someone help me, I was realizing that I could really do this all on my own, even though it might have some grammatical errors, you know, and it'll all sound like a millennial. It's okay. That's the that's the point. Exactly, that's the point. And so I ended up like having to almost seem like write the book twice, you know, and so it really did take a long time. It took two years and I was doing it during Scream Queens and I remember everybody was like, girl, what you doing over there? And I'm like, writing the book.

You let's talk about some fun stuff cuz I was Instagram stalking you. You have a very well, I'm I'm glad that that's a that's the reaction that you have. I just told you that I was like stalking you on social media.

No, because a lot of times I go to parties and stuff like that and my friends will be like, girl, you going off on Instagram. Like it's a show and I'm like, I'm glad that you love it because I'm just, you know, I just be putting stuff out, you know, just being myself. And I'd be laughing when people how people take to it.

No, it's it's a very well-curated Instagram, I got to say.

Uh, well, I love doing everything with threes. So it's like you'll get three of my fashion and you'll or you get three selfie shots or you'll get three miscellaneous. Miscellaneous usually include like memes or, you know, maybe poetry or, you know, candid shots. And for me, I don't think too much on the actual photo per se as much as I think about the captions. Captions are really important to me because I want people to come to my page and feel like they're not just seeing a show. I want them to feel like they really can get to know me in the on the Instagram platform. I don't treat every platform the same, of course, but Instagram is like, I really want you to feel like you can get a little bit inside my head.

Yeah. You talked about selfies. Do you have a go-to selfie face?

Um, my most selfie face used, I'm about to say, it used to be that. And then I realized, like, girl, why don't you just smile? Normal smile. I was actually watching a a Betch skit from Awesomeness TV and I'm like, yeah, every day every week they did a sketch about how people are always trying to figure out the next face. The duck face. The pouty lips. The eyes. The smile. The I'm about to say, that was like five. No, it's too much. Now, I just do this. It's too much. A regular smile because it's all too much otherwise.

Okay. So, I mean, it's one thing to pick the face, but then like I don't think anybody looks cool when they actually take a selfie. Like, I think you could look cool, but like I just look like

You got to be confident about that. You got to be confident. It's the confidence that gives it to you.

Okay.

You got to be just like, I'm giving you a selfie. You know what I mean? And then it's good, you know.

I'm always I'm very self-conscious. I'm like, I'm like,

They can see it. On Instagram, they can see that you're nervous and.

That's why there's like no selfies on my Instagram. They're like, she's nervous at that selfie. Selfie got to her. She didn't get to that selfie. Cuz someone was watching me and it was awkward.

Girl.

That is the worst. I hate when somebody's watching me. But I watch other people take selfies and it's like I'll I'll turn my head and give them they just do. I see.

So it's karmic. It's karmic. That's what we're realizing. Got it. Okay. I will stop judging people when they take selfies in public.