Sat | May 17, 2025

Coco Jones is fearless on ‘Why Not More?’ debut

Album features Future, YG Marley

Published:Wednesday | April 30, 2025 | 12:08 AM
Coco Jones is embracing vulnerability, empowerment, and self-discovery across her new 14-track project.
Coco Jones is embracing vulnerability, empowerment, and self-discovery across her new 14-track project.
This album cover image released by High Standardz/Def Jam Recordings shows ‘Why Not More?’ by Coco Jones.
This album cover image released by High Standardz/Def Jam Recordings shows ‘Why Not More?’ by Coco Jones.
1
2

NEW YORK (AP):

What music would you create if there weren’t any outside influences or self-imposed creative restraints? That’s what singer-actor Coco Jones contemplated.

“What would I do if I didn’t have any fear of comparing myself to ICU and my EP? Or if I thought there was some formula that people wanted from me?” Jones wondered. “That was kind of the mood: just be fearless.”

The R&B star attempted to answer herself on her debut album – Why Not More? – released last Friday. It follows her 2022 breakout EP, What I Didn’t Tell You.

“I’m just proud of every version of myself that I’ve been, and who I’ll become after this album,” said Jones, who took home her first Grammy earlier this year with ICU winning best R&B performance. “And really proud of putting together a project that I feel confident in.”

The 14-track album from the Bel-Air actor traverses through a spectrum of R&B sonics and vibes, from introspective to seductive, Pop&B to Trap&B. Writing on every song, Jones secured production from StarGate, London on Da Track and Jasper Harris and features from Future and YG Marley.

One of the faces of the new generation of R&B, she doesn’t shy away from the pressure that can come with attempting to replicate the success of a song like ICU.

“There was a pressure to outdo myself. But I also have to remind myself that I wasn’t trying to win anything … I was just doing me,” explained Jones, who said for the first time, she was patient with herself during studio sessions for her debut, not focused on leaving with a completed song each time. “I was just doing what felt right. I was being honest, I was just being vulnerable.”

Why Not More? highlights Jones’ vast range of melodic styles. Four singles have been released, including Here We Go (Uh Oh), which earned Jones her first No. 1 on Billboard’s Adult R&B Airplay chart, and Taste, which contains an interpolation of Britney Spears’ hit song Toxic and is currently at No. 15.

In the ballad Other Side of Love, Jones finds herself at a crossroads in a relationship. “It’s probably the oldest song on the album … It was always a song that I knew was on the back burner, whenever I was ready, I had something right there ready for them. But it was kind of just not time yet,” said the 27-year-old Tennessee native. “I might drop a song like Taste, but I’m always gonna have a song like Other Side of Love because I can’t deny that version of myself either.”

Empowerment is also a theme, rejecting codependence and embracing self-love on By Myself.

Jones, who stars as Hilary Banks on the drama series Bel-Air, is prepping for the fourth and final season which hasn’t started production. She’ll balance filming with her upcoming tour, launching May 6 in Philadelphia.

A self-described overachiever, the former Disney Channel actor says there are many goals she wants to reach, but she’s travelling in the right direction.

“My childhood dreams, I still have yet to fully achieve them all. I definitely see them materialising, but the way I thought of myself as a kid was huge, like larger than life,” said Jones, who first signed a record deal at 14. “I have a lot of ways to go to really be what childhood Coco saw for me. And I hope I do, because I was shooting for the galaxy.”