Click photo to enlarge
NOrah Jones. Photo from Wikimedia Commons.
Fame made her "uncomfortable" and touring left
her burnt out, but now she's back better than ever.
Scott Kara, of the New Zealand
Herald, talks to Norah Jones.
There's always been a little more bite and attitude to Norah
Jones than her sweet, breezy lilt and dulcet music might
suggest.
She staunchly shunned the fame she received following the
release of her 2003 debut, Come Away With Me, when
she was just 22.
It made her "uncomfortable" she has said in the past.
Not surprising considering it sold more than 20 million
copies - 180,000 of those in New Zealand.
Nor has she let the jazz-lite cafe music tag her music got
lumped with get to her.
And perhaps one of the best examples of this girl being a bit
of a dark horse was her potty-mouthed guest spot on the track
Sucker by Peeping Tom in 2006, a project headed by
musical maverick and Faith No More singer Mike Patton.
During the song she purrs a word made infamous most recently
by Hone Harawira over and over in a cheeky and saucy duet
with Patton.
Wash your mouth out, Norah.
Still, with the release of The Fall, even her record
company - iconic jazz label Blue Note - is out to dispatch
the "Snorah Jones" syndrome once and for all.
In the press release for her latest album, it begins with a
quote by an overseas music magazine proclaiming: "Out goes
Snorah, in comes gothic blues woman".
They need not stick up for their star signing because on the
phone from her home in New York, Jones has a laid-back
toughness to her.
"I'm no different, I'm just older," laughs the 30-year-old as
she reflects on the crazy, eight-year ride which has seen her
release three albums, tour the world, and star in the film
My Blueberry Nights, which was nominated for the
Palme D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2007.
"I guess my tastes have changed and I'm more confident, which
comes with age, and I'm a lot more easy-going now and not as
quick with my temper.
You know how it is when you get older? Things that bothered
you then don't bother you in the same way."
She's come a long way since dropping out of university in
Texas, aged 20, and moving back to her hometown of New York
to be a jazz singer.
By 22 she was hot property, thanks to songs like Don't
Know Why.
She released Come Away With Me, which went on to win
eight Grammy Awards, and to date her three albums have
clocked up more than 36 million sales worldwide.
But in the past few years things haven't been all rosy.
After her last album, Not Too Late, she toured for
more than a year and "got a little burnt out".
She took some time off and in the first year wrote songs,
many of which turn up on The Fall, indulged her love
of cooking and travel, and "watched a lot of movies and hung
out with friends".
She also split up with long-time boyfriend and bandmate Lee
Alexander, and parted ways with her band the Handsome Band.
Not that she talks about it, but it's obvious from The
Fall that the break-up was a big upheaval since she and
Alexander were inseparable - "We're practically married," was
how she described their relationship in 2007.
