Music Reviews: Coco Jones and Viagra Boys

"Why Not More?" and "Viagr Aboys"

Coco Jones performs on The Kelly Clarkson show
Coco Jones' new album "places her firmly in R&B's upper echelons"
(Image credit: Weiss Eubanks / NBCUniversal via Getty Images)

'Why Not More?' by Coco Jones

Coco Jones' long-awaited debut album is finally here, and it "places her firmly in R&B's upper echelons," said Maura Johnston in Rolling Stone. The 27-year-old former Disney teen star has been putting out singles and EPs for a dozen years, and she won a Grammy last year. But only with this "sumptuous" package has she established the range she favors. "The album's sonic touchpoints are varied—Timbaland-inspired electro squelches, Quiet Storm synth blankets, swaying Caribbean beats—but Jones' steady presence brings them all together in a cohesive whole." On "AEOMG," she cribs from Luther Vandross. On "Taste," she makes the chorus of Britney Spears' "Toxic" her own. "Jones isn't scared to push boundaries, whether it's her own or R&B as a genre," said Puah Ziwei in NME. Of course, she's "at her finest when her voice is the star of the show," as on the Jazmine Sullivan–like "Here We Go." But whether she's throwing herself into a ballad or riding a reggae groove, "the authentic vulnerability in her vocals" cuts through. Why Not More? may be "just the beginning for this star in the making."

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