Coco Jones tells Kidsday about her new EP
Singer and actress Coco Jones with Kidsday reporters Emma Solferino, Nina Votruba, Dylan McDonald, Thomas McKay, from Garden City. They met her at her public relations office in Manhattan. (March 26, 2013) Credit: Newsday Pat Mullooly
We met singer Coco Jones when she was in Manhattan recently. She just released her new EP, and we love her song "Holla at the DJ."
OK, so this is a funny story. When I was younger, I think when I was 3, I was watching Barney, and whatever he sang, I sang in perfect pitch. My mom was with her friend who plays violin, and she was like, "Hey, that baby has a perfect ear." But I found out I could sing when I was 3.
Although I had to choose between basketball and singing, I was really good at basketball, but I was really good at singing, too. But I ended up choosing singing because that's the one I had the most fun doing.
Yes, my parents are like my No. 1 fans. My whole family, they're always like, "Whatever dream you have, you go get it. We'll have your back all of the time."
No. No, I never had to lip sync. Sometimes, they'll have me singing the chorus, too, and I'll just sing on top of it.
Sometimes, you do this thing when you start from scratch and there's nothing there, and then you tell people about, tell the people that are writing the song with you about an idea that you have or a picture you saw or something like that. And they can create a whole song based on whatever it is you're thinking. You can be like thinking, I don't know, I want to go to sleep, and they can write a song about, like, you're just working really hard. Something crazy, but it really changes.
Sometimes I pick out my own outfits, like today. This was with some other pieces that somebody else had picked, but I put them all together for this. But when it's like super-duper important, then I'll have somebody come and style me. Like for "Holla at the DJ," that was people picking out the outfit for me.
I think "Holla at the DJ." Wasn't that video so cool? I liked it because it was all black and white, and so I thought that was really different. And all my outfits were black and white. Did you all see the behind the scenes, where I had to try on that big fur? It was so heavy, but it was so cool. I liked wearing it.
I think when I worked on "Let It Shine" with Tyler James Williams and Trevor Jackson. They were so much fun. They were like my big brothers now. I had a blast with them, and they're really talented. I learned a lot from them.
The song "Made Of," on the new EP, I'm actually talking to myself. A lot of times when you're in this career, in this business, it's really hard to, like, stay true to who you are, and a lot of times people are, like, "You're not going to make it," but you have to believe in yourself. And that's why I like the song "Made Of," and I'm talking to myself, and I say, "Show people what you're made of, never be afraid." And you guys, too.
I love them both, but I think I like singing the best, just because if I never would have started singing, I would have never started acting.
"That's So Raven" [Raven-Symoné]. "I loved her. . . . As soon as I meet her, I'm going to totally pass out."Do you get nervous before a concert or performance and if so what do you do for it?
I do. I never get nervous if I know I'm going to perform. Like in the morning I'm cool and then when it gets really close to the performance and I'm about to walk on stage, I'm like . . . , but I just kind of ignore it and then when I get on stage and start singing I completely forget about it.
My favorite song, I haven't even performed it yet. "The Whole World Is Dancing" from my new EP. I cannot wait to perform that. It's going to be so cool.
I like getting to express myself. You know how I talked about how you're writing a song there's so many different things that can happen. Well now that I'm getting older and learning a lot more about singing, I'm starting to write a lot. And I really like to write and talk about my experiences and it's like an idea in your head at the beginning.
That's a good question. I've got to think about that. "Live While We're Young." That's a good song. I love that song.
My dad. He use to be a professional football player. He's retired now, but his name is Mike Jones, he played for the Titans, the Patriots, the Rams and he's pretty famous.
I was so confident. It's crazy. The more amount of people, the less nervous I am. If it's a small amount of people, I'm uh. But if it's 100,000 I'm like, "Yes!" It's so weird.
I can do a back handspring. You know, that gymnastics thing. I used to take gymnastics. So I could do that. Probably not here. There's not a lot of space, but yeah, I could do that.
I don't know. I think I would like to perform, maybe a couple of shows, but with Broadway you have to do the same thing over and over every night for every week. And I don't know if I would want to keep repeating it.
"Good Luck Charlie." Have you all seen my character Kelsey? She's coming back for three more episodes that should be premiering soon. I just filmed some of them, but one I did a while back. So that one should be coming out soon. And there's a secret. Let's just say there's a new guy for Teddy.
