Few 26-year-olds can boast five Grammy nominations, and a win, in their first year of being a contender but Coco Jones put in the work. The R&B singer and Bel-Air actor was on a flight to LA late last year when she found out about being nominated: “My phone was vibrating all the time, I thought it was turbulence and it actually woke me up. But I was just getting loads of congratulatory messages,” she explains gleefully.
With a definitively powerful voice and a mission to make her songs both relatable and raw, the Tennessee-raised singer is ready to show the multitude of ways that R&B can be performed and consumed: “The best thing that I can do for my artistry is to know myself,” she says.
“I think music is about telling your own story and telling the story of the human experience. I wouldn’t want to make a song that only relates to me, I want to make songs which can relate to the world.”
Courtney “Coco” Jones joins NME on a Zoom call from California, where she’s buzzing about the release of her latest track ‘Here We Go (Uh Oh)’ on Def Jam Recordings. The smooth and retro-sounding cut has swooning vocals and a catchy chorus, with lyrics which narrate the emotions that come with heartbreak and second chances in the 21st century. “I know when you said goodbye / It don’t mean no goodbye,” she sings over a sample of Lenny Williams’ slow-burning 1978 soul ballad ‘Cause I Love You’.
The track, her first release of 2024, joins her impressive catalogue which includes her 2022 project ‘What I Didn’t Tell You’. It was her platinum-selling track ‘ICU’, however, which earned Jones her first Grammy win for Best R&B Performance at February’s ceremony.
Jones was nominated for five categories in total that night: Best R&B Performance, Best R&B Song, Best R&B Album, Best Traditional R&B Performance, and Best New Artist, where she was up against Ice Spice, Fred Again, Gracie Abrams, and eventual winner Victoria Monét. Although she was shocked upon hearing of her nominations, it also didn’t come out of nowhere: “It’s always been a goal of mine. I think every singer who looks up to someone is inspired by the Grammys and the level of accolades and recognition, but I was especially proud to be nominated for five!”
Signing to iconic hip-hop label Def Jam in 2022 skyrocketed her career to a new height. The label is known for fostering talent such as Jhené Aiko during her early days, and Rihanna, whose first seven albums, including ‘Good Girl Gone Bad’ and ‘Loud’, were released through the imprint. Jones’ 2022 debut single on the label ‘Caliber’, filled with wistful vocals and deep basslines, surged her into the public eye.
“The best thing that I can do for my artistry is to know myself”
One of the ways she refined her musical identity and a coveted spot at a legendary imprint was by learning about the genres she is drawn to and developing a deeper understanding of it. “R&B has gotten more modernised,” she says.
“I think what people are really looking for is songs that inspire a feeling. Songs that have some sense of urgency, and it’s in the genre of R&B but it’s really this feeling thing that people are looking for mainly. I’m just doing the things that make me feel something, that’ll relate to whoever the right audience is.”
She attributes her love for R&B and soul to her family and upbringing. She says: “I think what draws me to R&B is familiarity and relatability. I feel like whatever music you’re raised on, you naturally gravitate more towards – R&B feels like home to me. R&B has so much cultural impact in Black American culture, and [other genres like] soul is Black history – so a lot of why I like it is because I’m a Black woman and it’s my history.”
Her time at the Disney Channel sharpened her superstar qualities from a young age. In 2012 she starred as one of the lead roles in TV film Let It Shine, alongside Abbott Elementary’s Tyler James Williams. She also had recurring roles in the shows Good Luck Charlie and So Random!, acting alongside Disney alumni Bridgit Mendler and Demi Lovato.
Being a Disney girl was the dream for Jones as a child; “I was obsessed with Cheetah Girls! I always wanted to be on Disney, so I just went to loads of auditions,” she explains. The experience taught her about how to hustle and compartmentalise, she says, which are lessons she carries to this day.
Jones credits her father (a former NFL player) and mother (a backing singer) for being a crucial support system in her teenage years while she learned these qualities: “My mom is always so wise… she taught me how powerful it is to be confident.”
“R&B has so much cultural impact in Black American culture”
Her mother is equally as appreciative of her children, and wears their achievements with pride. Jones’ Grammy trophy is at her mother’s place; “I always send my awards to my mom… she has her own section in the house for all of her kids and all of the accolades that we’ve ever won.”
Her journey from Disney Channel star to Grammy-winning singer was not straight-forward. Disney’s music operation, Hollywood Records, signed Jones at 15 – before dropping her almost a year later following creative differences. “That knocked me all the way back,” she explains. “It was uncomfortable for me, I did a lot of partying to cope with not being where I wanted to be in life. But it also helped me forge a relationship with my faith and with God… I really wasted years with negativity and distractions. Now I’ve learnt my lessons from that.”
It took her a lot of hard work to reach the point of being able to sign to a major label again, but she credits her work ethic for the achievement; “I would just put things out. I did independent releases and funded my own videos and I auditioned a lot and would put myself out there. I would post covers even if they got low views, I did something everyday.”
In the period she was unsigned, Jones released an EP titled ‘HDWY’ [He Don’t Want You]. Written during the span of her first breakup, Jones flexes her vapory, husky voice and flaunts her newly curated R&B and neo-soul sound. “I learned what I lacked sonically through discovery of new music coming out at the time,” she explains. “I was heavily inspired by people like SZA and PARTYNEXTDOOR, and I liked people that told the truth. I can’t act like there’s nothing going on with my life, I had to figure out my truth too.”
It’s this radical honesty in her musical which made a successful comeback possible – redefining her brand from a former Disney pop star to an unashamedly authentic vocalist. She describes herself as an “emotional person”, but says that this helps her in both her singing and acting skills. “[Singing and acting] have to deal with emotion, in different ways. One is like your own story, and the other is like a story that was written,” she says.
Jones currently has a main role in Peacock’s Bel-Air, reprising Karyn Parsons’ Hilary Banks from The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. She’s enjoying it and draws similarities between Hilary and herself: “We’re both girls’ girls,” she laughs, and compares Hilary’s likeliness to the girls she is friends with in real life. She commends the skills of her castmates and is happy to be both singing and acting again. “It’s hard to balance, though, I’m not gonna hold you!”
Her charisma and confidence, even over video call, is no surprise. Jones regularly makes TikTok videos for her 3.2 million followers, which includes promo material for her track ‘Here We Go (Uh Oh)’. After making an account during lockdown following her siblings’ recommendation, she started posting short sketches, videos of her singing covers, and even tour bus MTV Crib-style videos. “It was kind of confusing because I didn’t really know TikTok could be that powerful,” she reflects. “I guess also I didn’t know what was gonna be my next pivoting thing to be making videos.”
Moving forward, she wants to hone her redefined sound and mix it with new influences in a full length project. “I just want to outdo everything I’ve already done, and experiment with new sounds,” she says. Yet, despite having already been nominated for prestigious genre-specific awards, she is determined to make herself a staple name in the industry. “R&B is more of a patience game, whereas something like pop could be a trend overnight. With R&B, it’s like a seed that needs to sprout and then grow. I want to modernise R&B.”
‘Here We Go (Uh Oh)’ is out now on High Standardz/Def Jam
Listen to Coco Jones’ exclusive playlist to accompany The Cover below on Spotify and here on Apple Music
Words: Aneesa Ahmed
Photography: Paige Margulies
Hair: Davontae Washington
Makeup: Kenya Alexis
Styling: Danasia Sutton
Styling Assistant: Landon Rivera
