After her first major award win, actress and R&B singer Coco Jones is letting fans know there is more to come, maybe even in summer 2023. On Friday (Feb. 24), Jones was named Best New Artist during the 54th NAACP Image Awards Program and Dinner.
The following night (Feb. 25), the 25-year-old “Bel-Air” star walked the red carpet ahead of the NAACP’s televised ceremony. She stopped to speak with VIBE magazine and gave them an update on where she is in her music career while reflecting on her win 24 hours prior. “I won my award for Outstanding New Artist, so I’m on a high right now,” Jones revealed. “I’m just happy to be here.” When asked about her music, the rising R&B singer said, “What’s next for me in music is [a] debut album this summer, and I want to go on tour, so I’m working on it.”
Jones’ well-deserved award came as the music industry continues to buzz about the young talent after she released her highly anticipated debut EP, What I Didn’t Tell You, in November 2022. The body of work served as a vessel to share “all about the stories that happen off camera.” Leading the way on her EP was “ICU,” in which the songstress opened up about heartbreak. “This project will hopefully share my real life experiences with my fans and show them that I’m just like them,” Jones said about the project via press release. “Sometimes people see me as the characters I play, but these stories are my own script.”
And speaking of scripts, Jones is currently portraying the iconic role of Hilary Banks in “Bel-Air,” Peacock’s modern-day reinterpretation of the 1990s sitcom “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.” But before landing this role, many viewers remembered the Nashville native for being a part of the Disney family from when she starred in Disney’s Let It Shine alongside Tyler James Williams. On Nov. 9, during an episode of REVOLT’s “Black Girl Stuff,” Jones spoke about working with the mass media company and how she has grown since then.
“I’m really grateful that, like, I got to experience a lot of the pros of being on a big machine like Disney Channel, but I didn’t get too tied into it,” Jones stated. “I never had the show — I was actually supposed to have a show, and it just didn’t pan out. At the time, I didn’t understand why. But looking back, I’m like; it’s so hard already to break out of that Disney star mold that if I did have that, there’s no way they’re not gonna see me as that character for the rest of my life.”
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