Welcomed into the warmth of Koko’s stage door – out of the icy December rain – I find Coco Jones deep in preparation for her sold out headline show a few hours later. She’s dressed down but glowing, and graces me with a gaze of cascading vacancy. We wander towards the centre of the stage of the Camden venue, taking a seat to overlook the empty space that will soon be vacated by hundreds of mesmerised fans.

“I’ve always been drawn to a crowd and the energy that they give off,” Jones tells me reflectively. “As a kid I did so many shows where people had no idea who I was. So these shows, when people actually come to see me, are like the icing on the cafe. I remember having to prove myself every time I got on stage, now these people are here for every song. They don’t need to be convinced – they just want to be entertained.”

To reach this point of confidence in her own notoriety, Jones has undertaken an odyssey of highs and lows, rejections and triumphs. Her show business career began as a tween after featuring on Radio Disney’s Next Big Thing, followed by assured acting performances in Disney Channel film Let It Shine and sitcom Good Luck Charlie. However, soon after a period of uncertainty ensued for Jones.

“Acting is a lot of no’s to get to the yes,” she relays. “I had to take a brief intermission – not by choice, but because I didn’t know where I fit in. I was coming of age and I didn’t know what roles really made sense for me. I had to learn about myself to make more streamlined decisions that made sense with who I truly am. I think it’s just a matter of persistence. I never stopped putting the effort towards it, and then the right job came about with Bel-Air.”

Jones’ acting breakthrough came when she was cast as Hilary Banks in the acclaimed reboot of the classic sitcom, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Excelling in a starring role, Jones fits the role like a glove, and understands the past, current and future importance of the show within TV’s canon. “History is often the pathway for the future,” she offers. “To be able to pay my respect for such a classic show – that was for a lot of Black people the first time seeing representation [on screen] – is really inspiring for me. Hopefully it inspires the next generation to create something historic.”

Atop her augmented acting credentials, the last 12 months have been bountiful for Jones’ musical career. She’s been releasing since the middle of the last decade sporadically, and without much impact in the wider industry. Last year though, everything changed when the singer-songwriter signed for Def Jam Records – a label whose reputation precedes itself.

“It’s been awesome working with Def Jam and High Standards, my joint venture,” Jones enthuses. “They don’t try to change me, they just help to amplify me. As an artist who is new to all of this, it’s really supportive. It’s changed the game for me, creatively I feel so supported so that I can just be whoever I want to be.”

The ability to express her musicianship through her own unique vision resulted in Jones releasing “What I Didn’t Tell You,” one of the finest R&B projects of the year. Though just an EP, the body of work is a sprawling effort that oozes class and craft, a cohesive and expansive interpretation of the genre that she so adores, and an exploration of what works best for her as a creative.

“It’s been a learning process, in terms of what my music can do,” Jones says. “Finding out what my fan base is drawn to and learning from that. I had no track history as an adult of being a musician, so it was like a science experiment; now I have lots of different data that I can put in.”

She is resolute in the fact that the EP is merely the advent of her creative vision. “It’s an introduction into who I am; the different sides of me,” she says. Her debut album will be released next year, and “will be a more centred and evolved version of me. I absolutely want to keep reinventing my artistry. I think that if you stay as one thing as an artist, it doesn’t reflect who you are as a person – because people are ever evolving. I imagine my music will change as much as I change.”

Although “What I Didn’t Tell You” was well received critically and publicly, the startling recent news of five Grammy nominations came as a surprise to the newcomer, who received nods for R&B Album, R&B Song, Traditional R&B Performance, R&B Performance and New Artist. “It’s surreal,” Jones projects around the empty Koko. “You don’t know what’s going to happen when you put out a project. You have high expectations but you are also scared – you don’t want to be disappointed. To see the acknowledgement, awards and accolades is mind-blowing. I couldn’t have expected this.”

A sold out show at a revered venue in the English capital is yet another milestone that Jones is soaring beyond, with her hunger to forge legacy only heightened with each passing achievement. “Right now, I’m trying to break as an artist. I want to move past that so I can dabble in whatever; I can score a movie, I can create a product, I can do theatre. Whatever it is, because my name is attached, it’s automatically respected. I think that comes with continuing to show myself at every opportunity I get.”

We say our farewells and I scurry off back out into the winter’s wind – and past the already hefty line – for a light refreshment before the spectacle to come.

Fast forward a hundred or so minutes, I enter Koko – through the regular entrance this time – just after the beginning of the Savannah Ré’s supporting set. I find myself overawed by the vocals of the Canadian vocalist, who proves herself a perfect lay up for the ensuing dunk. She bows out of the limelight and we wait.

Time trickles by, until eventually the lights go down, silence spreads, and a frantic scream from the audience echoes around the walls as a dark figure enters from the shadows, microphone in hand, and starts serenading a spellbound audience.

For the next 45 minutes or so, Jones breezes her way through a setlist brimming with classics – both her own and covers. She captivates her audience in such a way that it is easy to forget she is considered a newcomer. She shares a profound moment of connection with her London fans and disappears out of sight.

As I scramble towards the exit and towards the Mornington Crescent tube station, I come to one overarching conclusion: a star is born.

Listen to “What I Didn’t Tell You”…