Usher, Keke Palmer And The Ursher Easter Eggs Within New “Boyfriend” Video
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Usher paying homage to himself is why we continue to stan for the King of R&B.
With his new single, “Boyfriend,” and its accompanying video starring Keke Palmer, the visual is coded with several easter eggs from past videos—most notably, “U Don’t Have To Call” with elements of “Nice & Slow” floating in the air. (Both landed in the top 10 of VIBE‘s ranking of the crooner’s visual discography.)
In the video, the KeyTV founder and her girls are sipping champagne at 7 o’clock on the dot as they get ready for Usher’s Las Vegas residency—the place that sparked the controversy between her and the father of her son, Darius Jackson. The delightful — albeit slightly shady — visual is definitely Jackson’s villain origin story.
“Somebody said that your boyfriend’s looking for me/Oh, that’s cool,” he sings as his muse turns to the camera lip-syncing. “Well he should know I’m pretty easy to find/Just look for me wherever he sees you,” he continues, honing in on the suggestion to not leave your girl ’round him.
Palmer didn’t recreate her outfit from that night, but after all, she’s a mother—which she jokingly declares at the end of the visual.
However, the Big Boss artist did recreate Ursher‘s “U Don’t Have To Call” fit and the dance sequence. Another easter egg we noticed was her singing “U Remind Me” in the elevator, ahead of the the visual’s main event.
Of their collaboration, the 29-year-old shared on Instagram, “Usher! I remember when I was 12 and auditioned for ‘In The Mix.’ 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. 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.”
“Boyfriend,” out now on all digital streaming platforms, is the third single from Usher’s highly-anticipated new album. “GLU” kicked off the rollout back in March. He then returned at the top of August with “Good Good” featuring 21 Savage and Summer Walker.
Just last week, Usher finally broke his silence on the Palmer-Jackson scandal with PEOPLE, explaining, “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 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.”
Watch the “Boyfriend” video above.
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