For Keke Palmer, dancing at Usher’s Las Vegas residency — and getting flack from ex-boyfriend Darius Jackson — was just the start of a dream come true.
In the plot twist of the summer, Palmer teamed up with Usher to drop a new song Wednesday titled “Boyfriend.” Totally not a nod to Jackson and his controversial takes on Palmer, right? The duo also released an accompanying music video.
News of the unexpected collaboration broke Tuesday when both Palmer and Usher shared snippets of the “Boyfriend” video on social media.
“Somebody said that your boyfriend’s looking for me / Oh, that’s cool, that’s cool,” Usher sings over a playful, bass-heavy track. “Well he should know that I’m pretty easy to find / Just look for me wherever he sees you.”
It’s no secret that Palmer is a fan of her “Hustlers” co-star, so, naturally, she plays one in the music video. She lip-syncs his lyrics and dances with her gal pals while getting ready for a night out. In an elevator, Palmer sees a vision of her idol — and this leads to a bouncy dance number.
Palmer and Usher sport matching outfits — baggy jeans, aviators, white T-shirts and Navy-style jackets — and show off some fancy footwork in a Vegas casino.
“I go wherever you go,” Usher sings. The dance number abruptly ends when Palmer wakes up back in her hotel room. Turns out she overslept and missed his concert.
“I was so tired, and I’m a mother — after all,” she says, before looking at the camera and blinking. Sound familiar?
Now, how exactly does Jackson play into this? It all started when a video of Palmer being serenaded by Usher during one of his residency shows went viral in July. The singers embraced each other and sang to Usher’s “There Goes My Baby.” Shortly after, Jackson — who welcomed a baby, Leodis Andrellton, with Palmer in February — replied to the clip criticizing the “Nope” star’s sheer, polka dot dress.
“It’s the outfit tho..you a mom,” Jackson said in a since-deleted tweet. Palmer’s Twitter fans did not take well to his criticism and called him out for shaming his girlfriend.
The backlash seemingly did not faze Jackson, who doubled down on his opinions in a follow-up tweet.
“We live in a generation where a man of the family doesn’t want the wife & mother to his kids to showcase booty cheeks to please others & he gets told how much of a hater he is,” Jackson wrote. “This is my family & my representation. I have standards & morals to what I believe. I rest my case.”
That response drew even more flack, and Jackson eventually protected his Twitter account. As of Wednesday, Jackson’s Twitter (now X) is public once again. He scrubbed his social accounts of photos of Palmer, and the two no longer follow each other on Instagram.
Amid her ex’s Twitter controversy, Palmer was seemingly unbothered as she busted moves in a TikTok video.
“You ain’t stoppin’ what’s goin’ on with me sweetheart,” Palmer lip-synced.“So if you gon’ act up, I’m ’bouta link up, I’m ’bouta link up, I’m ’bouta link up.”
Well, if “Boyfriend” proves anything, it’s that Palmer stayed true to her word and linked up — with eight-time Grammy Award-winner Usher.
“You have been killing it all my life. As a true lover of the arts, your talent and craftsmanship are a rare combination that I aspire to achieve as a performer,” she said of the musician in an Instagram post Wednesday. “You are a living legend who is worthy of awe! Thank you for encouraging me and seeing me as the entertainer I am.”
She continued: “I know I’m a gUrL but when I watched your videos, I never wanted to be the girl in them, I wanted to be YOU. Thank you for making a dream come true.”
This story originally appeared on LA Times
