Looking for an up-and-coming artist for International Women's Month? South Carolina native Coco Jones is an artist on the verge of superstardom. She was previously known for playing Roxie Jones, a rising popstar, on the hit Disney Channel original movie Let It Shine which premiered in 2012. Today, you can hear her single “ICU” on her new EP What I Didn’t Tell You (Deluxe) which was released on Jan. 20, 2023. 

Humble Beginnings

Coco Jones (real name Courtney Jones) was born in Columbia, North Carolina on Jan. 4, 1998. She is the daughter of former NFL defensive lineman, Mike Jones, and vocalist/session helper, Javonda Jones. She has been performing since the age of 6, when she performed “America the Beautiful” at her kindergarten graduation. As she got older, she started writing her own songs, and released her own self-titled album “Coco Jones” in 2010, with lead single, “Holla at The DJ”. She then released another EP titled Made Of under Disney’s recording label, Hollywood Records. Around 2014, she became more of an independent artist, writing and producing music on her own, then she returned to acting. She guest-starred on the Disney Channel original series So Random! as a musical guest and sketch star. During this period, she got her most well-known role, Roxie Andrews, in the Disney Channel original movie Let It Shine, featuring Abbott Elementary's Tyler James Williams and Grown-ish's Trevor Jackson.

“The Princess of Bel-Air” 

Coco has been busy with her acting career lately, playing Hilary Banks on the hit Peacock series Bel-Air, which is a reinvention of the classic 90 series The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Her character is the oldest child of the Banks family, who live in Bel-Air, and aspires to be a businesswoman. Hilary is trying to make a name for herself and already has a huge following on social media, but is struggling to make the right connections.

The ”Coco Jones” Comeback and Reinvention

During her early years in music, 2012 to 2014, she would talk about the entertainment industry and her future star power. She says, “I thought I was supposed to be the next Raven Symone. In my mind, that’s what I was thinking,” she said. “…I can even recall being in a room, looking around at the heads of all of this. I was like, ‘Oh, it’s a wrap.'” She claims that Disney promised her a tv show, a possible sequel to Let It Shine, and the chance of recording and putting out an album that represented who she was as a person and artist. She said that there were several executives that said she wasn’t marketable enough. Her journey and experience in Hollywood inspired her song “Hollyweird'', which was released in 2020. In March of 2022, it was announced that she was going to be signing with HIGH STANDARDz and Def Jam Recordings. She then released her first single, “Caliber” off of her new EP, What I Didn’t Tell You. She released her second single, “ICU”, which has been her successful single so far. She performed the song on the BET Soul Train Awards in December 2020. Recently, she released the deluxe version of her EP with 3 new songs on the EP. 

Her new EP shows her evolution and growth as a musical artist: more mature, more comfortable in her skin, and her sound is more emotional, empowering and passionate. She is one of those “underground” artists who is slowly but surely making her way to the top with old school R&B music. can do it all: singer, actress and an all-around triple threat. She has come a long way in reinventing herself and showing us how to get it done. So, if you are looking for an artist to listen to this month, Coco Jones is definitely the artist to listen to! 

Featured Image: SoundCloud

Sources: IMDB, IMDB, Spotify, Spotify, NFL, Spotify, Spotify, IMDB, IMDB, IMDB, IMDB, IMDB, IMDB, IMDB, Shadow and Act, Youtube, Spotify, Spotify, IMDB

Contact Keeona Stewart with comments at krstewart@bsu.edu, @dance11keeona on Twitter, or @dance11keeona on Instagram

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