Review: Coco Jones Proved that She’s the Next ‘It Girl’ of R&B with Debut EP ‘What I Didn’t Tell You’
Anyone who still believes that R&B music is dead currently needs to hear Coco Jones’ newest project.
Having her breakout role in 2012 as Roxie in the Disney Channel original movie “Let it Shine,” Coco Jones was tasked with separating herself from the image of being a child star. Her journey to doing this was different from some of her former Disney Channel counterparts because she was not immediately thrust into superstardom after appearing on the network.
Thanks to a YouTube video and a TikTok meme that went viral in 2020, Jones regained the attention she deserved all along. She has gotten acting roles, became a YouTube personality and recently released her immaculate debut EP “What I Didn’t Tell You.”
The title in itself is intriguing, making the listener wonder what she will reveal through her music. The seven-track EP consists of songs where she expands on the title, telling a man the different layers of herself as a lover.
Through this project, she accurately encapsulated the complexity of a woman, having moments of confidence and others of vulnerability.
She began the project with “Crazy For Me,” a song where she bragged about her influence over a man. The choice to have this as the opening track made sense because the confidence and self-love that she exuded through every word of this song can easily hook in the listener.
“Double Back” was somewhat nostalgic because it combined 90s R&B with modern R&B sounds. This was mainly because the sample of SWV’s “Rain” was flipped to have a more modern sound.
This song showed off how rich Jones’ vocals are. This was because of how powerful her delivery was as she confessed her feelings. She began to let her guard down as she begged for a former lover to take her back.
“I’m thinkin’ how come every time I leave, I can’t stay gone long,” Jones sings.
She reinvented an SWV sample while creating a song that tied “Rain”’s message into her own experiences and the EP’s overall theme.
Shifting the pace at the middle of the project, Jones continued to showcase her vocal range and versatility with a powerful ballad, “ICU”. This stunning ballad showed Jones at her most vulnerable stage of the EP, where she soulfully confessed her love for someone.
A clear standout came with track five, “No Chaser.” Fans were gifted with a sneak peek of this song a few days before its release on Jones’ YouTube comedy series, “T and Coco,” with her best friend and co-host Terrell Grice.
The snippet along with her pre-release singles “ICU” and “Caliber” were enough to know that this project was going to be one for the books. Already having loved the snippet, hearing the full song made it even better.
The writing on this song was spectacular. It could even be argued that this song had the best lyrics of the whole project.
Everything about this song made it fine as wine, from the phenomenal production to the slight sample of Ginuwine’s “Pony” to the clever wordplay as she compared herself to liquor.
“This here is top shelf, I know you’re thirsty / Run up a tab so you can get every drop of me,” Jones sings.
Another outstanding song on the project was its closer, “Spend It.” This song’s production value and songwriting made it another personal favorite.
This song, and the project in general, showed Jones’ ability to experiment with wordplay and make it work. The lyrics are simplistic yet clever, but Jones’ delivery excelled the song.
From beginning to end, “What I Didn’t Tell You” had hit after hit. In just one project, Jones set the bar high for what she will create for her debut album and for R&B music in general.
