Coco Jones says cosigns for her music “hit a little differently” than compliments for her acting

Many were introduced to Coco Jones on Disney or Bel-Air, but the star’s first love is music. That’s why compliments about her singing, especially from SZA and Janet Jackson, “hit a little differently” than being praised for her acting.

“Well, because I was singing first and singing is my home, it does hit a little differently that people acknowledge who I wanna be as really good,” she tells Billboard. “That does hit differently. I do appreciate the love for Hilary, but at the end of the day, I’m just reading these words. But with me, this came from my heart. So to know that people are supportive of what came from my heart and literal spirit, yes, it hits very different.”

Coco released her debut EP, What I Didn’t Tell You, in November and its deluxe version in January 2023; both include her single “ICU,” which currently sits at #67 on the Billboard Hot 100. 

“I didn’t know it was going to be my biggest hit … but I knew when I heard the track … I just knew I was going to do some s***,” Coco says. She credits her mother for introducing her to the “soul, emotion and raw vulnerability” heard on songs like Aretha Franklin‘s “Chain of Fools,” which she channeled on her track.

With her career on the up and up, Coco admits it was a struggle for her to get here. Her goal is to make things easier for other Black women by showing up as the best version of herself.

“I know that for where I want these next generation of Black girls to be able to walk into, I have to break those doors down and you don’t get there by just being good,” Coco says. “You have to be jawdropping.”