Coco Jones Named Best New Artist at the 2023 BET Awards
Beating out steep competition, R&B singer Coco Jones came out on top for Best New Artist at the 2023 BET Awards.
The other nominees for Best New Artist included Ice Spice, Glorilla, Flo, Ambré, Doechii, and Lola Brooke. Jones, though, reigned supreme.
Singer Ray-J and his wife Princess Love presented the emotional artist with the award before she shouted out her family and gave a heartfelt speech.
“Thank you so much to my culture, who has stood beside me, and we were raised together,” Jones stated. “It’s been a really long, long journey.”
She continued, “For all of my Black girls, we do have to fight a little harder to get what we deserve but don’t stop fighting even when it doesn’t make sense and you’re not sure how you’re gonna get out of those circumstances. Keep pushing because we are deserving of great things.”
Later in the night, the R&B singer returned to the stage to perform her most popular single “ICU.” Fans took to Twitter to praise Jones and her performance.
Coco Jones during her performance of “ICU” at the 2023 BET Awards 🤍 pic.twitter.com/I7oWaiaxs1
— Coco Jones Source – Stream #WIDTY Deluxe (@CocoJonesSOURCE) June 26, 2023
The singer rose to fame in 2012 as an actress starring in Disney Channel’s original movie Let It Shine. Jones’ singing career took off with Hollywood Records before she was dropped from the label in 2014. This marked her journey in releasing music independently.
In a March 2023 interview with Vogue, Jones detailed the issues that led to her being dropped by Hollywood Records.
“When I did put my personality in songs, I’d have to dial it back because it was ‘too much,’” Jones stated. “I was acting like a singer, singing songs that I didn’t really like.”
According to a 2020 YouTube video released by the artist, plans for a television series and sequel to Let it Shine also fell through. She hinted in the Vogue interview that this was the cause of the dropped record deal.
“The record label only knew how to market through [television series]. . . so trying to figure out how to market me, a Black girl who already didn’t fit into these formulas, it all just started to deteriorate,” Jones stated.
Jones returned to the spotlight in 2022 after premiering as Hilary Banks in Peacock’s Bel-Air, the reboot of Will Smith’s sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. That year, she also released her major label debut EP, What I Didn’t Tell You, after signing a deal with Def Jam Recordings.
It is safe to say that Jones is back and better than ever, and there is excitement in the air for her next steps. Her BET Awards performance of “ICU” can be watched below.
