Coco Jones is all about having the freedom to express herself as an artist. Ahead of releasing “Body So Tea” in July, Jones definitely spilled some tea about her concerns with her career and her artistry.
She posted a video diary where she candidly spoke about not having her sound figured out yet, despite being crazy talented. We know Coco as a Grammy winner, a powerhouse vocalist and an artist who has been working toward this moment for years. But even with all of that, she still finds herself asking the same question: What exactly is my sound?
“I never came into this game knowing exactly what I do,” she says. “I knew I could sing my ass off, that was pretty clear and that was pretty much the only consistent, but I didn’t really have a ‘thing.’ Personality? Sure. Relatable, I guess? I don’t know. Anyway, I think it’s biting me in the ass right now.”
That honesty was in reference to the singles she released following her debut album, Why Not More?
Coco is currently in a new album run, and I actually spoke to Jones about her debut album Why Not More? last year. At the time, she told me, “I’m really trying to push the boundaries of what R&B can be. I have so many influences — I have what my mom taught me as a kid, Disney Channel influences, and then I have me as a young adult. I feel like I blend genres naturally as a personality. I wanted to match that energy with the album and continue to show the versatility of R&B.”
Her breakout EP, What I Didn’t Tell You, was about introductions. Why Not More? was about deepening the connection.
What I Didn’t Tell You earned her a Grammy for best R&B performance for her 2022 track “ICU” and introduced the world to her powerhouse vocals and unapologetic storytelling. And that’s what people wanted Coco to keep giving them. But that’s not exactly what she wants.
Why Not More? launched at No. 12 on Top Album Sales, No. 16 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, No. 25 on Vinyl Albums and No. 59 on the Billboard 200. So it’s not like the album did terribly. But commercially, critically and creatively, Coco still found herself in a weird place: People knew what they wanted from her, while she was still figuring out what she wanted from herself.
In her video diary, she continued, “With this album, I feel like the reception that I’m getting in the world is confusion. Obviously, I get that — because in the inner world, it’s confusion. Not specifically about what I stand for, what I’m trying to talk about and things of that nature. But really more like… how is it supposed to sound? What is the sound?”
Coco is continuing to push the boundaries of what R&B can be for her in 2026, from “LUVAGIRL” in March to “Body So Tea” in July. But her fans haven’t exactly been happy with the direction, which is where that “confusion” comes from.
In our 2025 interview, she told me, “I think I have built up a good rapport with my fans. I’ve learned a lot about them, they’ve learned about me — and I can kind of let my hair down and be riskier.”
So it makes sense why she felt secure enough to post these revealing videos. She has spent years building a relationship with her fans, and now she’s letting them see a side of her that doesn’t have all the answers.
Being a Coco fan since around 2011, I needed to chop it up with the Texas native and get a bit more details about what’s really going on — what she’s trying to figure out, what she feels like she owes her fans, and whether “ICU” has become a blessing, a burden or a little bit of both.
You recently said you’ve spent a lot of your career feeling like you’re “almost there.” Has anything changed since you shared that, or do you still wake up feeling that way?
i feel like it depends on the day. There are some days where I’m like, “Well, I learned the answer through trial and error, I guess.” And then there are these other days where I’m like, “I just refuse for that to be the answer.”
If the answer is, okay, you only make the same song in different fonts, because that’s all people want from me — then I guess some days it’s like, “All right, this is a job. I’m a singer, and that’s my occupation…” And then there are other days where I’m like, “But there’s a first to everything. I could be the first of this lane.” And then the next young girl could say, “I wanna do what Coco did. She did this and this and this and this,” you know?
I look at Whitney Houston, there was no limit to what she could do. It was gospel, it was pop, it was R&B, it was everything. All of the above.
So the answer changes every day. I think at the end of the day, if I’m being honest with myself, the answer is, I got to live my life. I really do. Hopefully I look back and whatever I did, I did it enjoying myself.
So your goal is to do what? Different genres of music or just different sounds of the same thing?
I think my goal is to combine more than it just be one or the other. You’re either pop or you’re R&B or you’re this or you’re that. That’s just so limiting.
I feel like naturally I gravitate towards things that aren’t super traditional all the time. Yes, I sing R&B, but I was signed at 14 years old. That was a completely different world of music I was in. That was only pop, bubblegum pop. I was not singing no R&B songs at 12, 13. It wasn’t giving that.
And even though I had gotten in the room with those songs, it was like, “Okay, now that you’re here, you do this now.” I liked it, I did. I liked a lot of those elements, so I just wanna combine them. I don’t wanna have to pick.
And I really hope that I can expand my fan base with this goal. If you’re doing the same thing over and over again, how do you expect to grow?
Are you aware of Destin Conrad? Dropped an R&B album, then a jazz, now he’s doing a reggae album.
Yes. I love that freedom. I love that. I think he is the through line… He seems like very sure of who he is. I think that I kind of skipped steps that bit me in the ass later. I got a lot of relevancy, a fan base and the machine behind me, but I didn’t know me.
I was a kid. I feel like it’s kind of like putting a Band-Aid over a bigger wound. Like, we can cover this and sometimes it’s gonna work — but in reality, there’s some deeper steps for unveiling who I am that I missed, and I’m trying to figure them out now.
When I go back to my first EP, the songs that popped off, I did not expect that, nor did I even really want to put them out. I was afraid that I would be stuck in one lane. And flash-forward, am I stuck? I don’t know. It seems like people want the one thing. The thing I was afraid of.
A lot of artists spend years chasing external milestones, Grammys, hit records, sold-out shows. You’ve checked off a lot of those boxes. Has your definition of “there” changed?
I think my definition of there would be like a very easily explainable lane, a very easily explainable world that you only gotta say a few things. Beyoncé: perfection, queen, vocals, execution. It’s just a few words, and it goes with her everywhere.
Whether it’s on that film, she knows she gonna lock it. You just know that. Whether it’s in this new genre, you just know what it’s gonna give. It’s going to be executed with a level of perfection.
I feel like there would be like a clear thing that’s my thing. When other people try tapping into it, it’s like, “Okay, she trying to do her little Coco” or, “Oh, she looks like Coco.”
You said you knew you could always sing, but you weren’t sure what your “thing” was. Today, if someone asked who Coco Jones is as an artist, what would you tell them?
I ask myself this all the time. One is personality. I feel like I can always make people relate to me, I can always connect with somebody. I’m down to earth. I’m very regular.
My other thing is vocals. What’s so funny is even when I’m on tour and I’m like, “Okay, this is the song that people are going to get it.” It be these ad-libs. It be that one day where, like, I was like, “Oof, my voice is on today. Let’s play around.” Like, it’s those moments that do numbers. And I’m like, “Lord.” It’s really this voice thing.
How would you describe the sound of “ICU?” Do you think you’re trapped in a box with the sound? Do you not want to do it anymore?
When I think about “ICU” and the creation process, I really feel like that was just God, honestly. It was not my intention to ever make a song like that.
If you think about it, the way I was trained in this industry, the songs that I would sing, that my mom made me choose, they’re very “ICU”-coded. Aretha Franklin, CeCe Winans. As a rebellious teen I’m like, “I’m not doing that. That’s some parent stuff. I’m not doing that. I’m doing the opposite of that.”
So the fact that I even said, “I really just need to write something to this. I have to do this.” I feel like it was God telling me, “Do that. That is what you need to do.”
So I follow that feeling. It’s not necessarily as loud all the time. I might have probably heard tracks that are similar to “ICU,” but if they don’t make me feel, “Oh, I need to do something with this,” then I just don’t do it. I want to give people what they want. I want everybody to be happy. I wanna love the song, and I want the people to love the song.
I don’t know if it’s I feel like what’s around isn’t as time-stopping in my world, or maybe it’s just people are gonna have to find new versions of me that hit like that. I really don’t know what the reason there is — because it’s not like I’m like, “Uh-uh, don’t ever bring me nothing like that again.” I’ve heard things like it. I’ve had options, but it just feels like it ain’t going. It’s not harder than that. Should I do something not as good as “ICU?” When there’s already such a high standard, I would rather just do something else. It doesn’t feel right yet.
I love watching the girls with energy. I love watching a good show. I don’t wanna just sit there the whole time. I don’t wanna just cry the whole time. I wanna be up, and I wanna be in my feelings.
So I’m going with what I’m excited to do. I’m excited to have some sort of songs with energy. I feel like I can sing my ass off and still give y’all energy. Does it have to be the slowest song in the world for it to be accepted from me?
You admitted you’ve been chasing what you thought you were supposed to sound like. Looking back, whose expectations were you trying to meet, the industry’s, the audience’s, or your own?
Definitely the industry. I know that time is money. I know that marketing is money. I know videos cost money. Production costs. I want to be a profitable artist — ’cause if I’m not, you know, hello, I’ve been on the other side. Yeah, I don’t want that.
Do you think artists are expected to define themselves too quickly now? It feels like audiences want you to fit into one lane almost immediately.
I mean, yeah. I think that there is a little less patience these days and can you blame people when so many things can get to you so quickly?
There’s so many options: “Well, why you, when I’ve got 40 different people from [Spotify playlist] New Music Friday that I could listen to, and I’ve only got the two hours before I go to bed? I’ve got work in the morning.” There’s choice fatigue. You better be perfect.
We’re in this expectation of, “Prove to me why I should listen to you” Versus back in the day, when it was like, “Who’s new? What’s hot?” I’m searching for these new things, ’cause I wanna know more.
Is this album process teaching you more about what your sound is, or is it teaching you what it isn’t?
This process has taught me a lot. As far as current sound, I think that I’ve never planned to just completely stray away from who I was. I love who I was. But let’s not forget, even with that EP, there was a lot of different things going on. “Crazy for Me” is so different than “ICU.” “Spend It” is mad cute. I’m doing the same things I was doing. I’m singing my ass off, I’m popping my shit, and then I’m getting all cute. It’s just in different ways.
So it’s taught me that I am gonna have to be the through line here and honestly I have been. I think you just gotta keep shooting. Looking at how long it’s taking artists to really get that moment, to really make it all make sense and then when it really clicks, I’m like, “Well, if these are the timelines that I’m starting to see, then I’ve got a ways to go.”
One album? I’ve got a ways to go. And maybe it won’t be that long for me. But I just feel like at this point, I’m learning, this is a time thing. This is a numbers thing. I just wanted people to understand a little bit more about what’s going on with me. ’Cause I think the other thing is people just assume I got all these answers and I’ve got my shit together all the time. I really don’t and I don’t expect anyone else to, so why y’all expect me to?
What’s something you’ve realized you don’t have to prove anymore?
I think something that I realized I don’t have to prove is that I deserve to be here. I think it’s pretty clear that I’m constantly trying to be better. I’m constantly trying to grow because I don’t want to waste people’s time. I want to make the best thing that I can for the people who are spending their hard-earned money to support it.
And it doesn’t matter the stage. I’m always just gonna go hard. I feel like at this point, I don’t have to prove I deserve to be here. This wasn’t no golden ticket. This is years of consistency and continuing to be humble and try to be consistent even more.
Five years from now, what do you hope people say is unmistakably “Coco Jones”?
I would say it’s still vocals. No matter where I go. Maybe I’m doing a Broadway score or I’m singing opera songs. Maybe I’m singing a feature film song and it’s not my exact normal area, but the vocals are always there.
And I hope just connecting with my fans, I never lose that. When I did the “What Really Happened” story on YouTube, it really showed me people will care if you tell them the truth. People will be down to support authenticity, so keep it authentic and keep it open.
Just don’t close off that one-to-one, that fan-to-artist, that real-to-real, human-to-human. In between all the glitz and glamour, in between the singles, music videos and the great personal things, share the in-betweens.