Keke Palmer Talks NAACP Win, "One Of Them Days," And The Art Of Sleuthing

Buzz Feed

05-03-2025

NAACP Image Awards Entertainer of the Year Keke Palmer has had our hearts since she graced our screens 23 years ago, and she's not stopping anytime soon!
Finally releasing in the UK, One Of Them Days, is a classic comedy about female friendship starring Keke Palmer, SZA and a few familiar faces along the way.
Sitting down with Keke we discuss the Keke Palmer brand, what keeps her motivated, and One Of Them Days.
Keke Palmer, THE Entertainer of the Year, you must still be reeling from the effect of receiving that award!
Keke Palmer: I am, I'm literally so happy and just so grateful. It's such a cool thing when you get to, first of all, be at the NAACP Awards with all your peers and your community and celebrate a moment like that. It's really awesome.
And you deserve it! It must feel amazing to be awarded for just being authentically yourself...
Keke: You know honestly, I've been doing it for so long and I'm happy that I still love it the way that I do. I still find new experiences, new characters, and new ways to love the arts.
I love a film just about female friendships, and I loved how much you hyped up each other's characters throughout the film. What's the best affirmation you've received from a friend that really brought your spirits up when you were feeling down?
Keke: You know, my friend always says, 'cause I'll say, 'I can't wait till I become such and such. I wanna be this kind of person.' And my best friend, she always says 'you are' and she looks you in your eyes – and she has Diana Ross eyes – so she's really like 'you are'. It always just hypes me up and makes me excited because it's like that affirmation that you already are who you think you are, you know, just keep on doing the thing, you know, if it's in your mind and it's who you think you want to be, it is who you are. You just have to kind of have to self-realise it, so that really gets me motivated.
If you already have the thought in your mind, you're halfway there!
During the film when everything was kind of going wrong, the community really came together to basically push your character up and remind them they're not alone and I think that's really important, especially with the Black community. What do you think we can do as a community to not lose that core spirit?
Keke: Oh my gosh, you know something like what I was saying at the NAACP awards when I did my acceptance speech; we have to continue to value our community and value what we deem as good the most. That's what I think continues us to build what we wanna do, you know, our generational wealth and the stories that we want to tell, and even if it's not in the entertainment, just businesses in general, etc. Really supporting one another and us deciding what's dope, pushing that to the forefront.
The real reason we have the comments like a 'seat at the table' is usually because of finances, right? We want to get the money, we want to be in the bigger rooms, we wanna get the bigger opportunities. And that's all valid, but I think the strive to get that, is also my community and what I like over here and what they see for me, that's important too. It has to all remain a part of the [overall] push.
Sometimes you get lost trying to achieve so much you forget all the people behind you who have been supporting you from the beginning, and you don't need to ditch them, bring them with you.
This film is hilarious, there's no doubt about it. I loved the part where your character asked their hairstylist to break into a man's phone, because we all know that one person who has a special set of skills. What are your special set of skills that all of your friends come to you for?
Keke: Well, I'm definitely the friend that will stalk your man, your girlfriend, whoever it is, and find out all the information you need to find. I can literally find out by the look of the nails, you know what I'm saying, the tip of the hat, the, the hand, the veins of the hand, like. I am absolutely the best sleuth that you will ever find so they always call me for that. I'm also the person that's down for anything, and I'll make sure that we don't go to jail, you know, 'Are we pulling up to his house? What are we doing? How we gonna get there? Do you need me to call a girl and contact her on my Finsta cause I'll do it' I'm that friend.
Okay, so what is your best sleuthing tip?
Keke: I usually look in the likes. Especially if it's not too popular of a page, and nowadays you can go in there and actually put a name in the likes, you know what I'm saying? So I look in the likes usually to find information because somebody might not comment, but they might like a pic, so that's a good way – you know tagged photos and things like that, but a lot of people have gotten onto that, so they turn off their tagged photos and then you're like drat! The likes always, the likes reveal everything.
Your character in the film is great at finding motivation when everything goes wrong, it was one of them days where everything that could go wrong did but she kept on going. You've had such a long career already, but I'm sure there have been times when you had thoughts like 'I just can't do this anymore' What has kept you motivated throughout, what has been your North Star?
Keke: Honestly, like depersonalising my career from me, the person, and remembering this is, you know, my form of work; this is my artistry, and so it's not me in totality. That's been a big part of why I've been able to stay motivated – realising what really is keeping me here and what's driving me to focus is my family. Trying to continue to create something that stands the test of time and that I can give to my kids based off of what I put the work in to do, like creating the Keke Palmer brand, putting myself in these positions to be able to create something like KTV Network and support other talent and kind of just what all that means to me – that's what allows me to push forward. It's bigger than me, so I don't need to take anything personally, I just need to keep going and pushing forward so that this thing can stand the test of time.