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Interview: Norah Jones' soulful new sound
Norah's got a thing goin' on, and it's much too strong to let go! The pop-jazz chanteuse releases her new soulful sound.
By Mary Dickie
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Image courtesy of EMI Music Canada
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Given the number of albums she has sold and the international following she has fostered, you would assume that Norah Jones is highly driven, hyper-energetic and fiercely focused on her career. But despite her remarkable success, the 27-year-old musician is down-to-earth. She continues to win over listeners with her laid-back charm and a voice that breezily flits from folk to soul, blues, jazz and country. "It has to be effortless -- otherwise it won't happen 'cause I'm too lazy to work on it," says Jones with a laugh. "If it doesn't come naturally, I lose interest."
Still, for the first time in her career, Jones -- whose other albums, Come Away With Me and Feels Like Home, won eight Grammys -- felt motivated to write or co-write all the songs for her third album, Not Too Late. Her interest in songwriting developed during her last tour, where, in spite of the hectic schedule, Jones spent time alone capturing ideas in her notebook or on her recorder. "Working on new material also helped me to get my head out of the music we were playing every night," she says, laughing.
Jones wrote seven of the new songs with Lee Alexander, her boyfriend, bassist and producer. "We work together really well, I think," she says. "We have different strengths as songwriters. He really labours over his lyrics, but, for me, if they don't just come out, I usually can't get them. He likes to take his time and do it right, whereas I'm more like a bull in a china shop."
Norah's new sound
Not Too Late relies less on Jones' signature piano playing and introduces more guitar and an expanded instrumental palette that includes horns and cellos. According to Jones, the new direction had more to do with the fact that she and Alexander were able to work in their new home studio without any pressure. And yet, lyrically, the new album reveals a soulful side of Jones -- someone who worries about the state of the world.
"I'm generally a pretty happy person," explains Jones. "I'm very lucky: I have a great boyfriend, and I've been living a nice life. It's not that I'm sitting at home depressed about my situation; I'm depressed because I'm watching the news." That anxiety is captured most directly in "My Dear Country," in which she describes election day as scarier than Halloween, adding that she doesn't know who to trust. "That's part of what I like about the album: it's more direct," says Jones. "When I sing a song like 'Don't Know Why,' which my friend wrote, it doesn't tell you anything about me. This album reflects my personality."
Of course, some say that "Don't Know Why" -- Jones' 2002 breakthrough hit -- is actually a very personal song about sex. "It's so not about sex!" she says, laughing. "So many people have dirty minds. Trust me, I have the dirtiest mind of all. I've heard the joke 'I know why she didn't come; it was the Prozac because the album was so slow.' I don't mind being the butt of the joke, but it's not what that song's about. In fact, it's about indecision and vague regret."
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