The Disney Machine is back at it again. Next in line–Coco Jones. At the young age of 11, Jones was already writing and recording her first songs with the help of her Mom. She was simply born talented.
In an interview with social media personality Jake Shane, Jones recalled asking her mother why she wasn’t on stage more, performing more, recording more. Jones could simply never get enough of it; she has a true love for the game.
“I turned my hobby into a career at 10 years old.” Jones told LA TIMES writer Kenan Draughorne.
Before she hit her teens, Jones made her acting debut in Disney Channel’s “Next Big Thing,” a televised singing competition. Later, she would appear in a couple of episodes of the Disney show “So Random!” in 2011, which made Disney fall even more in love with her great talent. This led to her landing her first main role at just age 13 in the Disney Channel movie “Let it Shine.” From there, Jones exploded. She was to become Disney’s next big star.
Jones signed a record deal in 2012 withHollywood Records, a Disney owned studio, and just a couple of years later she was dropped by them after having released her EP “Made Of.” The reason being, she was “too loud.” The company didn’t see Jones’s potential–she has a light that cannot be tamed.
Jones spoke about the situation in an interview with The LA TIMES. “When I was in my younger, child-star phase I would sing everything the way I’d been taught, which felt natural, and I was always told to dumb it down,” Jones said, before stating that no one wants her to quiet down now. We’re sure glad she didn’t, as she is reviving a lost cultural gem–R&B.
An article from The Blues Project recalled R&B ex-icon Diddy’s claims that “R&B is dead” in a livestream back in 2022, explaining the essence of it had been lost. Jones disproved that just two years later when her song “ICU” landed her a Grammy nomination and win. One year later, another single of hers, “Here We Go (Uh Oh),” was nominated for the Best R&B Performance and Song.
If the essence of R&B was lost, Jone’s seems to have found it. She hasn’t even released an album yet and already has a prestigious award history. She is a hard worker and puts her all into her art. Her work ethic is unmatchable, involved in every part of the songwriting process.
“I’m not just sitting and writing the song, it’s also, ‘Do I even like this beat, do I even like the sonics? Let’s scratch it all,’” Jones told Jake Shane in February.
It’s clear she deserves all the praise she’s been getting. Her first album release, “Why Not More?” is coming out Friday, April 25 In it, she’ll have 14 songs including the praised single “Here We Go (Uh Oh).”
As if she’s not working overtime already, a deluxe version of the album with six more songs will be out in a few months too, but the date for it has yet to be announced. Jones will tour her debut album starting May 6, going across the United States and even making some stops in Europe. Be sure to catch tickets for the show nearest to you–this is not a performance you’d want to miss.
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