Keke Palmer has a lot of jobs these days: movie and TV star, singer, game show and podcast host and Pilates instructor. But the gig she’s most excited about at the moment is hosting the Billboard Women in Music 2026 event on Wednesday night (Apr. 29) at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles.
“I’m looking forward to that,” Palmer told Jimmy Kimmel on Tuesday night’s (April 28) Jimmy Kimmel Live! Palmer will keep things rolling at the ceremony that will feature presenters Bella Poarch, Brandi Carlile, Cara Delevingne, Ciara, Coco Jones, Dionne Warwick, Eva Longoria, Victoria Monét, Kim Petras, Lainey Wilson and Tyla.
In addition to hosting, Palmer is hyped to perform on the show, where she will be rolling out her new single, “Text Message Unsent,” which she collaborated on with the director of her upcoming all-star film, I Love Boosters (May 22), Boots Riley, and his daughter, Alina Kanin.
“I get to perform one of the songs — ‘Text Message Unsent’ — which is on the soundtrack EP for the movie,” she said of the mini album from the film starring Palmer, Demi Moore, Naomi Ackie, Don Cheadle, Alexa Demie, Taylour Paige, Poppy Liu and LaKeith Stanfield. When Kimmel asked her to explain the song’s title, Palmer said, “It’s like when you want to say the things to this person that you love but you just know it’s never gonna go anywhere, so it just stays in a text message unsent.”
Kimmel wondered if Palmer was nervous about performing on a show with a stellar lineup of honorees — some of whom will also perform — including: Kehlani (Impact Award), Laufey (Innovator Award), Mariah the Scientist (Rising Star Award), Tate McRae (Hitmaker Award), Teyana Taylor (Visionary Award), Thalia (Icon Award) and Zara Larsson (Breakthrough Award).
She seemed chill about it, but when the host mentioned that the key honorees also included the singers behind the KPop Demon Hunters‘ phenomenon — HUNTR/X (EJAE, AUDREY NUNA and REI AMI) — who will receive Women of the Year — Palmer freaked out. “Oh my gosh! That took my house by storm! Those Demon Hunters were with us,” she said of the excitement in her house about the movie thanks to her three-year-old son, Leo.
“That one tune that’s in my head?,” she said of the Oscar-winning Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 smash “Golden.” Asked if she’ll bring Leo along tonight to meet HUNT/X in person, though, Palmer shook her head. “He doesn’t want to be there. He tells me all the time, ‘Mama, you bother me.’ I think he gets tired of my life a little bit. It’s a little too much for him.”
Billboard Women in Music 2026 will stream live on Billboard.com and the Billboard YouTube channel.
Watch Palmer on Jimmy Kimmel Live! below.
