- It's your girl, Coco Jones,
and I am so excited to be this month's
BET Amplified Artist.
Let's do it.
(upbeat music)
The moment that I really decided
that I'm an entertainer was when I was performing
"The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow"
for my talent show at my school,
the audience was freaking out,
and I was living for it.
I was like "I'm gonna do this
"and figure out how to get paid for it."
The journey leading up to my big break on Disney
which I would say is "Let It Shine,"
it was a lot of auditioning, honestly.
I was not good at acting.
My auditions were a little cringe,
but with time I got better and better.
And at the same time I was working on my music,
and it was kind of like right opportunity meets preparation,
and then I got let it shine and life changed.
One of the R&B songs that really caught my attention was
"Be Without You," by Mary J. Blige.
I remember I was on the way to school,
and she was hitting that
♪ Hey ♪
and I was like, shook, forgot about classes and everything,
I had to sing that song.
I don't remember what song I was singing,
but I remember that the studio was really huge,
and it was all wood.
I didn't know that studios can be that big.
It was one of the studios where instruments will be there,
and they'll record them live.
So I was like, whoa, this is huge.
And they just had one little mic,
and I felt so small in that huge room.
But another thing I remember
they had some fire hot chocolate,
I had like seven cups.
One of my first songs that I ever made
was actually about playing basketball,
because at the time I was kind of
like Hannah Montana,
on the court, in the studio, who am I gonna pick?
I don't know if the song is good,
I thought it was fire at the time,
I'd have to listen to it again.
My mom has all my songs, by the way, I've ever sang.
When I was making "What I Didn't Tell You,"
I don't think a hit was where my head should be at.
Everyone told me don't worry about that,
like it would mess with the creative process.
So what I did focus on was
who do I want to introduce myself
to this new audience as?
And I think that's why the EP is called
"What I Didn't Tell You,"
because a lot of people assume
that I'm playing this character,
and that's me because that's who they see on TV,
but really I have all these stories
that I was excited to share,
and I just wanted to make a good lasting impression.
I do think I did that.
My creative process is very inconsistent.
There are times where, like for example,
I started using garage band on my phone,
I don't know, I saw this one girl do it,
but basically I'll be making the most ghetto loops
or little song ideas just cause I can do it from my phone,
and then I'll take it to a producer,
and we build it out.
So that's one way that a song can come to life,
but sometimes it's because of a conversation.
One time I was watching "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs,"
one of my favorite movies,
and I was hearing something beautiful in the back,
and I was like, okay, violins,
I wanna do something with violins.
I can be inspired by literally anything,
so there's no consistency.
I guess the most consistent thing about my creative process
is the inconsistency of it all.
I don't know if I ever think about it,
I just do.
Even sometimes I'll be like
♪ Hey y'all ♪
when I just walk into the room,
and I'm literally saying Hey,
but I just happen to be singing it.
I would get in trouble in school all the time for singing.
I'd be in math,
and I would get in trouble,
I'd literally have to go to detention,
'cause they'd be like "This is not music class."
But I'd be like "What are you talking about?
"I'm solving problems."
Singing, second nature, didn't even know.
Me and Hillary, we are pretty similar.
I feel like we're both confident, driven, outspoken,
and I think we both have ideas
of what we want for our lives,
and we're just gonna get to that idea regardless,
regardless, we will overcome.
I think she did put me onto some style,
I'll give her that.
She's very much stylish,
but that's literally a part of her as a character.
The only way that we're different
is she be talking to her mom a little reckless,
and I'm from the south, we just don't do that.
But other than that, that's my girl,
I would kick it with her.
My own personal style?
I feel like I like to show my body,
not like that,
but I mean I work out so it's like I love a crop top,
I love dresses that form fit
and snatch you up.
I like to give silhouettes.
I like a comfortable heel.
I'm down to be in a heel.
I'm already the tallest in the room nine times outta 10,
but I'm really down to go there
and give you the hulk,
but it's like don't live for a close toe.
Let's be as comfortable as we can
while I'm giving land to the Amazons.
So some of the songs that I'm listening to right now,
I really love Arin Ray,
I love Kiana Lede, I love Alex Isley.
Alex Vaughn, Party Next Door,
and I always am gonna throw some Brandy in the mix.
That Full Moon album just reminds me
to keep my ad lib game up.
Being on "Bel Air" opened a lot of doors,
and gave me a lot more notoriety career-wise.
Yeah, that's been a huge moment of my life.
I think one of the personal moments, honestly,
that has been career altering for me was meeting Beyonce.
I think because I've always seen from afar
and assumed from afar what it's like to be Beyonce,
but when I met her she had this effect over me
that made me feel just powerful, inspired,
and that shifted my career mindset
because I want to be able to just look
at the next girl who looks like me,
and she can carry that feeling with her
through the rest of her life.
I would want my legacy to be
that I opened doors for Black women in general.
I think with success comes a say,
and I really wanna to be able to have a creative say,
and to create opportunities, create movies,
create new artists, help develop them,
and be able to put my stamp on the next girl,
and the doors be opened easier just because of that.
I would want to like to teach women whatever I've learned
through my journey that can help them,
to give them the tips, the secrets, the guidance,
all of those things that I want.
I would want to be that for the next girl.
I would want people to take away from my music
that I deserve to be here.
I feel like I've always been trying to prove myself,
that's what I've been doing since I was literally nine.
And when people listen to my music
I want it to be undeniable.
When you hear my song everywhere you go you can't escape it.
It wasn't an unfair advantage,
it wasn't nepotism or me knowing somebody,
it was that my talent broke through all of those doors,
and it'll be timeless.
(upbeat music)