Coco Jones revealed many truths in a recent interview with New York radio station HOT 97, from her bumpy road to success to how she spoke new life into herself with positive messaging. 

The singer and actress currently stars in Peacock’s hit series Bel-Air, the modern retelling of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, as Hilary Banks. She also dropped her debut EP, What I Didn’t Tell You, last November, which includes fan favorite “ICU,” her first single to make it on the Billboard Hot 100. The 25-year-old might be booked and busy now, but that wasn’t always the case.

You may remember the Bel-Air star from her 2012 hit Disney Channel film, Let It Shine. Following her emergence on the music and acting scene, the Tennessee native was signed to Hollywood Records two years later at just 15, only to be dropped a year after because, as Jones put it, her management at the time didn’t know which direction to take her career.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Coco Jones (@cocojones)

“So I was just like, ‘What do I do? I’m out here by myself. I don’t have a team. I don’t have management,’” Jones said while describing how scared she was after being dropped from the label. “…they all didn’t look like me. They did not understand me. They just wanted to try this formula out on me. That was very scary and sad. Not having any clue of what was going to change for me or if it ever was.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Coco Jones (@cocojones)

So, the R&B crooner told Ebro this was when she gave herself an ultimatum: come up with a “Plan B” or continue pursuing her singing and acting dreams. Despite the challenges the entertainment industry presented, the actress and vocalist decided that giving up on her dreams was scarier.

“Do I have to have a Plan B now? Like what would my life look like? Should I go home? It was scary both ways, but it was scarier to give up,” she said.

The “Double Back” artist also revealed noticing a shift in her personal and professional life by intentionally receiving positive messaging and adding that to her music.

“…Music is life! What you are saying in these songs becomes life I realized when things started to change in my life like my circumstances started to change and people were paying attention to me again after years of what seemed like my world being over,” Jones said, “It was because I was speaking better things about myself and what I could have.”

The star discusses the importance of representation within the entertainment industry and how her new mission in her music is to do what she did for herself — prioritizing how others view her and her worth — but for other girls who look like her.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Coco Jones (@cocojones)

“Words are powerful. I really am intentional with the words I put in my music. I want the girls singing my songs to be speaking life over themselves,” Jones said.

Bel-AirBLACK WOMENBlavity-UBlavity-U-EntertainmentCoco JonesMUSICpeacock