How did Coco Jones get here? In the most literal sense, by foot. “I walked over,” she says casually when she meets me at the wood-fired pizza spot she chose for our lunch date on a gloomy March afternoon. “In the rain?” I ask, fairly incredulously (as a New Yorker who believes the West Coast stereotypes, I was under the impression that nobody–especially Grammy winners with almost 5 million Instagram followers—walks anywhere in Los Angeles, rain or shine).
“Girl, yes. I literally live up the strizzle,” she says.
It’s a treat to realize that in-real-life Jones embodies the relaxed relatability she’s become synonymous with on social media, greeting me with a radiant smile and no umbrella. Her long hair falls in loose waves, and she’s dressed comfortably—tank top, oversized jacket, loose sweatpants, sneakers—because once our interview ends, she’s headed straight to rehearsals.
On March 7, Jones performed her song “Taste” on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and she put on a show. As an artist, she already has plenty of momentum—Jones picked up a Grammy award in 2024 for her single “ICU” and earlier this year The New York Times named her as one of the leaders ushering in a new era of R&B. But that momentum will reach its apex on April 25 with the launch of her debut album, Why Not More?
For most artists, releasing their first album is a rite of passage, an announcement to the world that a new voice has arrived. For Coco Jones, though, the album could be considered a hard-fought culmination of an already prolific, if nonlinear, career. She’s been at it since 2012, with a robust discography of extended plays and singles. She parted ways with her first label, Hollywood Records, and spent years grinding it out as an independent artist. In 2022 she signed to Def Jam and has been working on Why Not More?, a project four years in the making that represents an artist no longer waiting in the wings but ready to receive her due.
“I’m excited to see what sticks and lands—what really changes my life,” Jones says of the album. “Everyone believes that I’m a respectable R&B girl, but I’m trying to see them world tours.”
Judging by “Taste”—the undeniably sexy and viral single—Jones is more than primed for a new level of pop stardom. The track is meticulous in its production, with her soulful voice floating over silky synths and trap beats. It also samples one of the most revered pop songs of all time, “Toxic” by Britney Spears. In the music video, the 27-year-old slinks around in a nude crystal bodysuit—an obvious homage to Spears—and gamely takes on choreographed sequences with a shirtless male dance partner.
“‘Taste’ is the scariest thing I’ve done in a while, because I didn’t know if people were going to like that for me,” Jones says. “I thought they maybe had already decided, ‘You’re the girl who sings. You don’t dance like this, you don’t talk like this. You’re not sexy like this. You do a little one-two, and that’s where you stay.’ And so I had to be willing to jump.”
And she’s willing: For her appearance on Kimmel!, she’s bringing along the metal hoop she dangles from in the music video, as well as the “Britney bodysuit,” as she calls it. What about the shirtless partner? “I’m not bringing the man. I’m bringing the girlies,” she says before wondering out loud how many times she can rewear her costume. “We’re going to get our money’s worth out of that bodysuit.”
But how did Coco Jones get here, to this very moment in time on the cusp of superstardom? Raised in Lebanon, Tennessee, Jones was the “opposite of camera shy” growing up, she says. The daughter of NFL player Mike Jones and session vocalist Javonda Jones, she showed an interest in sports and the arts. In elementary school she excelled at everything from soccer and gymnastics to softball and basketball.
“I was there to kill,” Jones says. “I was so competitive. It was literally a problem. Like, ‘Girl, you can’t win every time.’ But I did them all.”
Her passion for music started even earlier. When she was a baby, her parents encouraged her to sing, and she would mumble tunes with “literally no words, just vibes.” During playtime with her cousins, she created dance routines for them to perform and gave critical feedback, pointing out when their moves weren’t sharp enough. “I was always that girl,” she says. “Miss Superstar, Miss Manager.”
But it wasn’t until Jones got on stage that she realized her true calling. At her first school talent show, she sang “Tomorrow” from the musical Annie and blew away the audience. “It was like, Whoa, this is something serious,” she recalls thinking. “This kind of feels more enjoyable than sports. That same adrenaline, but a different payoff.”
Jones fell in love with performing. She tells me about a moment during a school play when she spotted her mom in the crowd recording. Instead of waiting for her lines and staying in character, she turned her attention to the camera: “I was posing and smiling, just so excited to be on stage.”
Jones was also influenced by her favorite artists. She names Spears as an early inspiration, as well as Cher, Mariah Carey, Destiny’s Child. A huge fan of “impact and energy,” she gravitated toward those with stage presence. “I didn’t care what genre, honestly,” she says. “I’m a big fan of performance and star quality.”
Her appreciation for showmanship is apparent in her work. Case in point: Instead of grabbing an umbrella on the way here, Jones was “very happy” to walk in the rain just for the ambient drama of it all. “I wanted to feel the rain on me. Like Hilary Duff when she kissed Chad Michael Murray at the end of that movie,” she says, referring to the 2004 romantic comedy, A Cinderella Story. She recites Duff’s famous line from the film: “‘Waiting for you is like waiting for rain in this drought. Useless and disappointing,’ and then the rain fell.”
When it comes to her work ethic, Jones credits her parents, who taught her the value of practice and discipline. During the summer her father would host football training camps for kids, where Jones and her siblings would run drills in 98-degree weather. Her brother, Mike Jr., was a linebacker for the Atlanta Falcons, and her two other siblings, Aja and Steven, were college athletes.
Her family had a motto: “Joneses don’t say can’t.” The word was forbidden in their household and treated like a swear. “They taught us a certain tenacity at a young age that made us feel like we could do anything, even if it was difficult,” Jones says.
She thinks back to those hot summers spent running drills. “What were we doing? What were we training for?” she wonders before answering her own question. “We didn’t know, but we were training for life, honestly.”
As for so many young pop stars before her, all roads lead back to the Disney Channel. Jones officially started her career at the children’s network, learning the ins and outs of television acting and music.
She was first introduced to Disney through The Next Big Thing, a radio singing contest for unsigned artists. Jones made it to the finals but finished as a runner-up. This led to auditions, and she booked guest roles on sitcoms such as Good Luck, Charlie, before landing her first costarring role in the original movie musical Let It Shine in 2012. Following the success of the movie, Jones signed her first record deal with Hollywood Records, the Disney-owned label that has produced music for young Disney stars like Selena Gomez, Miley Cyrus, and Sabrina Carpenter.
Some Disney alums have likened their time on the network to being in high school, with the same types of cliques and relationship drama. I ask Jones if she had the same experience and she answers with a flat-out “No.”
“In high school, you’re learning what’s cool, what people say, what people do. You’re being a little rebel and trying things. I was not doing any of that,” Jones says. “I was at work. I knew what was professional. I wasn’t dating boys. I didn’t kiss anybody.”
Jones admits she was “so goody-two-shoes” that she gained a reputation as a snitch (“I accept my truth; I would do it again for a check”), but she can’t help but wonder whether things might have unfolded differently had she been involved in the drama. “I probably would’ve been a cooler girl sooner,” she says. “I mean, now I feel like I’m cool as hell.”
This confidence helped her navigate an eventual departure from the Disney Channel in order to find out what’s next. In a 2020 YouTube video titled “What Really Happened,” Jones detailed her professional split with Disney and Hollywood Records. Looking back, Jones says the creation of the video didn’t come from a place of malice but rather from a “state of confusion.”
In hindsight, she’s grateful for how things played out. Yes, it’s taken longer for her to get here—“Never again will people have to wait that long on an album for me”—but she’s come to appreciate her own timeline. She likens herself to a college freshman who hasn’t put in the four years yet but knows she’ll learn everything she needs to.
Choosing a favorite song is much like choosing a favorite child. When I ask Jones to pick hers from Why Not More? she’s torn. First, she names “Keep It Quiet,” a “super-aggressive” track with “don’t play in my face” energy. “I feel that way a lot,” she says.
Next comes “Nobody Exists,” a “comforting” song she listens to often, followed by “By Myself,” an anthem about self-acceptance. I tell her my favorite: “Forever Don’t Hit Like Before,” a pop-leaning R&B ballad with soaring production and layered vocals.
Sonically, the album is a culmination of her past work, showcasing the different versions of her artistry. Although her music is rooted in R&B, Jones is unafraid to lean into her pop influence. It’s one of the reasons why she wanted to sample “Toxic” on “Taste.”
I ask if she’s heard from Spears at all. Jones says she tried to send her a message on Instagram, but Spear’s account was down at the time. Surprisingly, it was easy to get the sample cleared. “But they took a lot of that damn publishing dough,” she adds, before expressing her gratitude: “Thank you, Britney. We will slay.”
Jones begins touring Why Not More? in May, so days off are rare. She likes to look for “random gaps” in her schedule to get her nails done or treat herself to a massage. After “a big chunk of busyness,” she’ll pencil in breaks when she’s not available. However, there are levels to her unavailability.
Certain occasions, like her best friend’s birthday, will be locked into the calendar ahead of time. The same goes for therapy. “I would never cancel on my therapist. She does not play about that shit,” Jones says. There is one exception though. “I’ll be like, ‘Girl, Beyoncé called me,’ and then she’ll get it.”
Aside from Queen Bey, other dream collaborators include Jazmine Sullivan, Party Next Door, and Rihanna. She also names SZA, whom she recently watched in the R-rated buddy comedy One of Them Days. It’s the type of acting project Jones would love to take on someday. Despite her laser focus on conquering the charts, she still has ambitions onscreen: She currently stars in Peacock’s Bel-Air, and later in the week after the interview, she was planning to leave for South Africa to film an undisclosed movie.
She also was selected by John Legend to be his battle advisor on the current season of NBC’s singing competition series The Voice. “She’s such a confident, poised performer and writes really excellent, relatable songs,” Legend tells me over email. “She’s been in the entertainment business as an actor and artist for quite some time, despite how young she is, and she had such great wisdom for the artists.”
While attending the Oscars earlier this year, Jones wore a corset dress that reminded her of the Netflix series Bridgerton. “It’s one of my favorite shows,” she says. “I rewatch it over and over again.” I suggest a fancast for her to appear in the show, which she enthusiastically cosigns.
I ask if she’s aware of a more viral fancast: Fans have pitched her to play Princess Tiana in a live-action remake of Disney’s The Princess and the Frog. Jones already has a head start: She recorded a cover of the song “Almost There” for the studio last year. Though she hasn’t received any formal offers, she would say yes if the opportunity came her way.
“Obviously, being a princess would be so sickening,” she says. “I already am that, so all I can do is put on the outfit. Like hello?” Jokes aside, she recognizes the impact a role like that can have on young girls. “I think of Halle Bailey and Ariel. That will change the course of the future, so I would love to be a part of that.”
Jones’s ultimate goal, she says, is to do a film a year and an album a year. I remind her of the triple crowns recently achieved by SZA and Ariana Grande, who scored a number one movie, number one song, and number one album in one year. It may seem like a lot to take on, but then again, Jones is always asking for more.
“That’s what Why Not More? is,” she says. “Whatever you feel like you have to do at this time, it’ll get you wherever you need to go. So why would you place a limit on yourself? Why not more of whatever you feel you are right now, and then just see where you land? You don’t need to know every answer, but you need to do what you feel inside. So do it.”
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Photographer: Myesha Evon
Stylist: Tchesmeni Leonard
Hair: Davontae Washington
Makeup: Alana Palau
Manicure: Temeka Jackson
Producer: Petty Cash Productions
Location: Nobu Ryokan Malibu Hotel
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