The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
New wave of R&B suits artist
Earning Grammy buzz, Coco Jones ready to take stage at One Musicfest.
2023 has been Coco Jones’ year. The former Disney star has released her Def Jam debut album, “What I Didn’t Tell You,” embarked on a nationwide tour, and collaborated with the likes of Justin Timberlake, Lil Tjay and Brent Faiyaz. Now she has major Grammy buzz for Best New Artist.
It has been a breakout year for the artist as she has emerged as one of the most exciting voices of the new wave of R&B, but she is no stranger to fame.
Coco Jones has been in the spotlight ever since she played the lead role in the 2012 Disney Channel musical, “Let It Shine.” Being a Disney kid prepared her for the mainstream fame she would go on to achieve as an R&B star, describing it as a “baby boot camp” for the world she is in now.
Jones was signed to Def Jam in 2022 and released her label debut album earlier this year.
In support of her album, Jones will grace the stage at Atlanta’s One Musicfest today, alongside the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Brent Faiyaz, Tems and Killer Mike. She performed in Atlanta earlier this year at the Strength of a Woman Festival and can’t wait to come back to the city.
lanta always gives me great energy,” Jones said. “I feel they stand alone when it comes to their participation in my songs, their support with me as an artist, it’s really a one-of-a-kind experience.”
The performance at One Musicfest is part of the second leg of her “What I Didn’t Tell You” tour. Jones remarked about how much she has learned about herself as an artist and as a person during her debut headlining tour.
“As a performer, I learned that I really do dedicate my life and body to my fans. I don’t drink heavily, I don’t party. I want to
four interlocking themes that encourage visitors to do their own “flâneuring.”
Along the way, it is interesting to note the variety of ways that artists chose to depict their observations and visions. One might contrast, for instance, two etchings of Notre-dame: John Taylor Arms’ view across the Seine River relays its Gothic grandeur, while Charles Meryon’s “The Vampire” brings us face to face with one of its gargoyles, a menacing vision representing another kind of gothic.
Eugène Atget, the preeminent photographer of pre-modern Paris, imbues his views with a whiff of melancholy. Even his photo of Le Moulin de la Galette, a 17th-century windmill atop Montmartre, seems more a reminder of the area’s agrarian past than the 19th-century entertainment district over which it towered when the photo was taken.
Most of the artists in the exhibition explored the excitement of their time. Louis Legrand captured the bustle of busy Parisians in his charming drawing, “The Train Station at Batignolles,” while Georges Stein portrayed the crowded outdoor cafes in “The Society Party.” Leave it to Honoré Daumier to find the humor in the minor discomforts of city life — a rotund woman crowding another woman seated on a bus in his lithograph, “Madeleine-bastille.”
In addition to their more, um, pedestrian uses, the streets of late 19th-century Paris were also fashion runways. In exploring the personalities of Paris, the curators offer plenty of examples of the well-dressed Parisienne, like the fur-laden lady walking her little dog, a common fashion accessory, in the Bois de Boulogne in Jacqueshenri Lartigue’s photo.
It was also an era of hats. They figure prominently here in images of women at the milliner, entertainers’ costumes and high society. And what a boon to artists of the period who emphasized the voluptuous silhouettes of era attire.
The curators suggest Paris’ rich cultural history through portraits of luminaries. There are three of author Victor Hugo, whose vision of his city remains a touchstone for readers. In famed photographer Nadar’s 1870 portrait,
he looks boldly at the camera, radiating confidence. In Auguste Rodin’s 1883 bronze bust, he has aged every bit of those intervening years: beard long as a prophet’s, head down, expression introspective. Frederik Hendrik Kaemmerer limned the deathbed drawing hung nearby.
Images of Paris as entertainment capital conclude the exhibition. Circus clowns, cancan dancers, nightclub singers and their audiences fill the room. Henri de Toulouse-lautrec’s lithograph of swirling dancer “Loie Fuller,” a marvel of movement and printmaking, is a highlight.
That piece is one of 73 works given by major benefactors Irene and Howard Stein. In fact, another wall of Lautrec works given by the Steins awaits in the eponymous gallery of the permanent collection.
Regarding the permanent collection, the display of which was an impetus for the show, it’s a pleasant surprise to see examples of a group of posters that Cox Enterprises, the parent company of The Atlanta Journal-constitution, gave the museum in 2015. They also add a dimension of larger scale to the installation.
The exhibition is on view through Dec 31. Fair warning: You won’t see these again for a while. Light-sensitive works on paper are required to take a six-year rest after hanging in the galleries.