In her new song, Keke Palmer opens up about the viral moment with Usher in July 2023, which led to her split from ex Darius Jackson
In a May 9 Instagram post, Palmer write that the song was “giving voice to the feelings I buried”
At the time of the incident, Jackson expressed disapproval of Palmer’s outfit to the concert in a viral social media post — which he received backlash for
Keke Palmer is spilling the tea.
On Friday, May 9, the singer and actress released a new song called “My Confession,” where she reflects on her viral moment at Usher’s Las Vegas residency that led to her breakup with boyfriend Darius Jackson.
After the song’s release, Palmer shared a message with fans on social media, writing that it’s “exactly what it sounds like — my giving voice to the feelings I buried.”
“Sometimes the closure we need doesn’t come from a conversation—it comes from being honest with ourselves. That’s what this song is. My peace. My clarity. My way of letting go,” she wrote on on Instagram.
“I wrote this with @TaylaParx, my best friend of 22 years, who’s seen me through every version of myself. This track is raw, it’s emotional, and it’s real,” she continued.
Palmer concluded, “I’m not here to play perfect. I’m here to be honest. I’m just here to be Keke.”
The song begins with her reflecting on the moment in Las Vegas, in which she claims they were already broken up.
“Summer ’23, we was in Vegas, right/Broke up with me and you hopped up on a flight/Was tryna find my way back to “alright”/So I figured that I’d have myself a girl’s night,” she sings. “48-hours later online/Made me a villain for sympathy but you lied, mm/But the truth is, in Vegas, we was already over, boo/Because of you.”
In the lyrics, Palmer referenced Jackson’s response to a video of Palmer and Usher dancing, where he criticized her outfit by writing, “It’s the outfit tho.. you a mom.”
Then, in the chorus, Palmer sings “F— your projections/These are my confessions.”
In the second verse, alludes to the tension between herself and her ex’s family: “Your family, they don’t like me, that’s fine / But when did you get back on they side? / When I met you, you hated them like you hating me now.”
She also mentions the backlash he faced online after his comments: “72-hours, now your feelings hurt/My fans was dragging you because you had the nerve/You almost turned me into a cliché/Thought having your baby would make me wanna stay.”
Later in the song, Palmer admits that “saying this was hard for me / only speaking for my peace / truth hurts and this is mine.”
ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty
Keke Palmer
Palmer has spoken up about the incident sporadically since it took place in July 2023. Meanwhile, a month later, Usher told PEOPLE it was a “pop moment” and “worth talking about.”
“I think everybody’s vision or a version of what they felt happened there just leads you back to just really having a good time in Las Vegas. And that’s what I hope came out of it. Rather, it was a conversation of what was going on with us having fun in front of the audience or conversation about that song,” he said.
He added, “Every night I’m thinking about how the world now is going to react to this moment that I’ll have with whoever I’m choosing to sing to. But it was a pop moment, and it was fun to have at least conversation going and we just keep it light. I don’t see anything negative happening in Las Vegas.”
In October 2024, Palmer told PEOPLE she was surprised by the amount of buzz around the moment.
“I was just at a concert, doing what I do as an entertainer, creating a fun moment,” she said. “How it became a storyline that me and Usher are in love, I don’t know.”
After the social media incident, allegations of domestic violence and a custody battle involving their son Leo, 2, followed. Palmer was ultimately granted a domestic violence restraining order against Jackson.
Palmer told The Cut in January that the pair are now co-parenting their son peacefully. Still, in her memoir Master of Me: The Secret to Controlling Your Narrative, Palmer wrote that her breakup with Jackson, 31, was “the hardest thing I ever had to go through.”
Listen to “My Confession” here.
Read the original article on People
