Coco Jones’ debut album ‘Why Not More?’ has been a hard-fought battle over a decade in the making. Following several false starts in the 2010s as she tried to transition from Disney teen actor to singer, the former NME Cover star slowly laid the groundwork for her music career. She finally took the R&B world by storm in 2022, with her sublime single ‘ICU’, a soulful ballad with shades of Brandy and Toni Braxton.
What followed were a whirlwind couple years for Jones that included several milestone firsts: the release of ‘What I Didn’t Tell You’ in November 2022, her first major label EP since 2013; her first solo headlining tour across the US and Europe in 2023; and her first Grammy win for Best R&B Performance for ‘ICU’ at the 2024 ceremony. It has all readied her for this moment.
The record is a resounding portrait of a woman unafraid, one who has navigated tough times and come out the other side swinging. On ‘Why Not More?’, Jones isn’t scared to push boundaries, whether it’s her own or R&B as a genre – or both at the same time. That’s the case on the daring ‘Taste’, where she interpolates Britney Spears’ pop classic ‘Toxic’, but flips it around with silky synths and trap beats that bring out the best of her soulful R&B voice.
That creativity is on display elsewhere on the record, too. There’s the gut-wrenching ‘Hit You Where It Hurts’, a guitar-driven moment that that wouldn’t feel out of place on an indie record, or just simple-but-smart wordplay on the Kelly Rowland-esque ‘AEOMG’ (“Fresh up out the shower, boy, it’s getting filthy / Using all my vowels, legs up on the ceiling / Talking about, A-A-E-E-O my god”). At times, there are also echoes of Aaliyah, such as on ‘Thang 4 U’.
But, of course, Jones is at her finest when her voice is the star of the show. The highlight is ‘Here We Go (Uh Oh)’, which recalls the best of Jazmine Sullivan, where Jones laments about a lover she just can’t move on from (“I wanna love another person, can I please love another person”) over a sample of ‘’Cause I Love You’ by Lenny Williams. The authentic vulnerability in her vocals doesn’t just cut through on the record’s ballads (‘By Myself’, ‘Other Side of Love’), but also on groovier cuts like the reggae-infused ‘Why Not More?’ with YG Marley.
As an album, ‘Why Not More?’ is deeper, richer and more wide-ranging than anything we’ve ever seen from Jones. But the singer also uses the record to signal that there are depths that she has yet to explore – and with this newfound sense of confidence, this album is just the beginning for this star in the making.
Details
- Record label: High Standardz / Def Jam Recordings
- Release date: April 25, 2025