Keke Palmer Spent 20 Years Cultivating Creative Control. Now She’d Rather Share It

Wearing an ankle-length dress and a glossy updo while posing outside her Los Angeles home, Keke Palmer decides that intermissions are for entertainment. In the quiet moments between takes of her Adweek photo shoot, Palmer belts out Destiny’s Child lyrics for a skeleton crew of photographers, stylists and assistants. With these impromptu concerts, it’s as if the actor, singer (she released her latest album, Big Boss, in May) and now emerging media mogul is recalling the performances that helped put her on the map—and the public persona, untethered to a single role, that has kept her career thriving for two decades.