KeKe Palmer has weighed in on who she believes to be the prototype singer who has had a massive impact on today’s r&b hitmakers.
During a conversation with The Terrell Show, the actress-singer — currently on the promo trail for her latest album, Big Boss — explained it’s “embarrassing” when up-and-coming artists don’t know who really “laid the ground work for r&b” today.
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“Brandy has one of those deceptive voices where you don’t really know how high she’s going and really how low she can go,” Keke began praising the “Full Moon” singer’s vocal chops. “She just has a very unique voice and I think really is the base — ya know, kind of ground work for any young person today doing r&b.”
“I don’t know if everyone realize that’s who they’re pulling from — but people who don’t sing they always don’t get the vocal bible gag and that’s how you know they don’t know music,” she continued, pointing to Brandy’s impressive catalogue chock full of glorious harmonies and runs that are executed with both precision and speed — making her highly revered by fellow vocalists as a standard to be followed.
“When the girls don’t know what’s going on with Brandy — it’s very embarrassing.”
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Palmer’s sentiments come shortly after the mother — who welcomed her first child, a baby boy named Leodis Andrelton Jackson, with her boyfriend Darius Jackson in late February — called for the music industry to think about how it treats female entertainers, even urging it to adopt something that reflects #MeToo.
During a recent interview with PEOPLE, Palmer revealed that while “bad shit happens in all industries,” it is very prevalent in the entertainment business.
“We know bad things happen in all of them, but it’s almost like the acting world represents a union and the music industry represents non-union,” the Nope actor began.
“It’s happening in the actor world but eventually, it’s going to come to a damn halt. Somebody’s going to get called out. Something’s going to happen. At some point, we’re going to come to some kind of understanding. ”
Palmer added: “With music, it’s like everybody is being paid, and everybody’s a crooked cop. So, it seems like nothing will ever really come to a head.”
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Palmer said that she learned to stand up for herself over the years, but that the “sad thing is that you learn these things from being in bad situations.” In her opinion, “it almost feels like it’s a coming-of-age story for a woman.”
Originally founded by Tarana Burke in 2006, a sexual assault survivor and activist, the movement seeks to raise awareness about abuse, harassment, and rape culture. It became a viral hashtag in 2017, after actors like Alyssa Milano discussed their experiences working in the industry.
