The singer dished on collaborating with Justin Timberlake for the remix of her song, 'ICU,' being released this Friday.
Coco Jones' star has never shined brighter. The newly titled Best New Artist is not only embarking on her own tour, but she's also debuting a remix of her hit single, "ICU," with a very special featured artist -- Justin Timberlake.
ET spoke with the Bel-Air star on the carpet of Wednesday's 2023 ESPY Awards, where she relived her emotional night at the BET Awards and teased her upcoming collaboration.
At last month's awards ceremony, the 25-year-old emotionally thanked her fans as she accepted the BET Award for Best New Artist. "I am so happy - oh, thank you, Jesus," the singer said while wiping away tears as she accepted the award. "It has been a long journey. Thank you, God, for rocking with me the whole time. Thank you to my culture, who has stood beside me, raised together, been a really long journey, thank you to my team, thank you for taking a chance on me."
"I do want to thank God, give him all the glory," she added. "I'm so thankful, so thank you so much. Thank you, thank you, thank you."
Speaking with ET's Nischelle Turner on Wednesday, Jones recalled feeling "so emotional" during the night's festivities. "My family was there. I was like, this too much! I was too grateful, too grateful," she shares.
Jones' rise to fame after kicking off her career on the Disney Channel was anything but smooth; although she made her breakthrough as a teen actress in the Disney Channel film Let It Shine, the star's career didn't take off as she'd hoped. In a YouTube live stream posted in September 2020 that went viral among her fans, Jones openly shared that the initially proposed sequel for the film fell through and claimed she didn't receive the same support as her fellow Disney Channel stars despite her immense talent.
But the singer saw a change in opportunity after she made a 2021 appearance on the YouTube web series, The Terrell Show, hosted by Terrell Grice. Soon after, Jones landed her starring role as Hilary Banks on Bel-Air, the spinoff of the hit '90 TV series The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air; leading her own YouTube web series, T and Coco, alongside co-host Grice; and dropping her fifth EP, What I Didn't Tell You.
Now, she's gearing up to kick off her What I Didn’t Tell You Tour next month, beginning in Ontario, Canada, and continuing for a month before concluding in Norfolk, Virginia, in September.
With a new tour comes new music -- namely, the exciting release of a new single, an "ICU" remix that features the former boybander who's known for his top tier R&B collabs.
"It was so amazing watching him, like, just be a creative, and collaborating on ideas," Jones says of working with Timberlake.
She explained that the Man of the Woods artist recorded his tracks separately before coming into the studio to add last-minute final touches with her.
"I feel like the song itself is nostalgic, so having his voice on it and that soul, that element he brings, it's gonna be amazing," she shares.
The singer joked that she doesn't know how the collaboration happened, but gushed that Timberlake is "such a legend" who "really supports me, so I'm really happy to have this collaboration."
"I feel like it's gonna shake y'all up," she adds. "[He's] so cool and chill like me, you know? He gives me, 'I'm doing this for fun, but life is so much bigger,' you know? And when people get too absorbed in all of this, they just lose their humanity. So he's a normal human like me."
Meanwhile, the star shared an update for Bel-Air fans. The Peacock reboot was renewed for a third season back in March, but with the ongoing writers' strike and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) calling for a strike after contract negotiations recently broke down, it'll most likely be a while before production for the new season begins.
"I feel like it's really brought a new respect to what it takes to make a show come to life. And we want to wait until everything is in order and everyone's happy and we come to an agreement," Jones tells ET. "So it's on the way, but not at this time."
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