Keke Palmer is one of the busiest stars in Hollywood right now. She broke through as a kid in the movie “Akeelah and the Bee,” later hosted her own talk show and won an Emmy for it. She is also a mom, and every Halloween she and her little boy pick a costume together.
This year she went big.
Keke and her son Leo, who is 3, just dressed up as Michael Jackson and his sister Janet. If you don’t know Janet, she is Michael’s youngest sister and a major star in her own right, with hits like “Rhythm Nation” and “Together Again.” For one night, Keke and Leo became the two of them.
She played Janet, with the spiky hair and the sleek black outfit. Little Leo was Michael, his hair slicked back and a dark costume of his own. She shared photos and a short video on her Instagram, and in the clip she dances the way Michael and Janet once did.
But they did not copy “Thriller,” the one everybody expects at Halloween.
They picked the only music video Michael and Janet ever made together.
It was “Scream,” from 1995. The two of them filmed it inside a sleek black-and-white spaceship, both in futuristic outfits, dancing side by side. It was one of the most expensive music videos ever made, and all these years later it still looks like nothing else. That is the look Keke and Leo brought back, right down to Janet’s hair and Michael’s stance.
She seemed to love every minute of it. In her caption she wrote, “Another memory with mommy and son! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH BUDDY. ITS SO MUCH FUN PLAYING WITH YOU!” Then she added a line fans caught right away: “My SCREAM come true.”
Leo turns 4 in February, so he is still very little. Watching a 3-year-old nail Michael’s slicked-back look is the kind of thing that makes you smile and hit play again.
The pair weren’t the only ones who went the Michael route this year. A few other celebrities recreated his famous looks for Halloween too, and fans have been sharing them all week. But the mother-and-son photos got the most love, maybe because it is so sweet to watch a parent pass the music down to the next little one.
Last year the two of them dressed as the rappers Snoop Dogg and Bow Wow, so this is turning into a yearly tradition.
If you have never seen “Scream,” now is the time. Watch Michael and Janet together, the only time they ever teamed up on screen, and you will understand exactly what Keke and Leo were going for.
Michael and Janet Jackson in the only video they ever made together
It is a side of both of them you don’t see often, a brother and sister simply having fun. No wonder Keke wanted to bring it back.