Norah Jones

[I]t's a good thing to sound like yourself.

Norah Jones (born 30 March 1979) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She has won several awards for her music and, as of 2023, has sold more than 53 million records worldwide. Billboard named her the top jazz artist of the 2000s decade. She has won ten Grammy Awards and was ranked 60th on Billboard magazine's artists of the 2000s decade chart. In 2002, Jones launched her solo music career with the release of Come Away with Me, which was a fusion of jazz with country, blues, folk and pop. It was certified diamond, selling over 27 million copies, making it the highest-selling debut studio album by a solo artist in the 21st century. The record earned Jones five Grammy Awards, including the Album of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best New Artist, making her the first person of South Asian descent to win that many Grammy awards. Her subsequent studio albums Feels Like Home (2004), Not Too Late (2007), and The Fall (2009) all gained platinum status, selling over a million copies each. They were also generally well received by critics. Jones made her feature film debut as an actress in My Blueberry Nights, which was released in 2007 and was directed by Wong Kar-Wai. Jones is the daughter of Indian sitarist and composer Ravi Shankar, and is the half-sister of fellow Indian musicians Anoushka Shankar and Shubhendra Shankar.

Quotes

2000s

• They call me "Snorah", but Jesus, that slow music touches people!
  • As quoted in "Norah Jones’ sensitivity to criticism" (12 November 2009), The Week

• I realize my strengths. The truth is, I sing ballads. People like it when I sing ballads. I seem to have a way with them. And if the cool kids can’t say anything nice about me, that’s how it is.
  • As quoted in "Norah Jones’ sensitivity to criticism" (12 November 2009), The Week

• I’m too sensitive. All I have to do is pick up Newsweek and glance upon a bad review and it will crush me for a week. Some Joe Schmo writes a snarky comment in a blog and I’m destroyed.
  • As quoted in "Norah Jones’ sensitivity to criticism" (12 November 2009), The Week

• I’m like, "Oh, I make slow music." I guess that’s okay. Maybe it's a good thing to sound like yourself.
  • As quoted in "Norah Jones’ sensitivity to criticism" (12 November 2009), The Week

Come Away with Me (2002)

• Something has to make you run
  I don't know why I didn't come
  • "Don't Know Why", Come Away with Me (2002)

• Lonestar
  Where are you out tonight?
  This feeling I'm trying to fight
  It's dark and I think that I would give anything
  For you to shine down on me
  • "Lonestar", Come Away with Me (2002)

• How far you are I just don't know
  The distance I'm willing to go
  I pick up a stone that I cast to the sky
  Hoping for some kind of sign
  • "Lonestar", Come Away with Me (2002)

• If I were a painter
  I would paint my reverie
  If that's the only way for you to be with me
  • "Painter Song", Come Away with Me (2002)

• I want to walk with you
  On a cloudy day
  In fields where the yellow grass grows knee high
  • "Come Away With Me", Come Away With Me (2002)

• I want to wake up with the rain
  Falling on a tin roof
  While I'm safe there in your arms
  So all I ask is for you
  To come away with me in the night
  Come away with me
  • "Come Away With Me", Come Away With Me (2002)

Feels Like Home (2004)

• It never rains when you want it to
  You humble me, Lord
  • "Humble Me", Feels Like Home (2004)

• I can't hold on very long
  Forgive me, pretty baby, but I always take the long way home
  • "The Long Way Home", Feels Like Home (2004) [Misattributed: lyrics by Tom Waits]

Not Too Late (2007)

• I love the things that you've given me
  I cherish you my dear country
  But sometimes I don't understand the way we play
  • "My Dear Country", Not Too Late (2007)

Quotes about Jones

• What the fuck is going on? Who the fuck is Norah Jones? "Shady, wait a minute, baby, leave the whore alone. Just go up there and be humble and take them awards home."
  • Eminem, "The Conspiracy Freestyle" (15 April 2003), The Eminem Show: Expanded

• Every year we went, I would be up for "Album of the Year" and then the winner is Norah Jones? Who? And I'm not even trying to say anything bad about her music. At that point, I had never heard of her and none of my friends did either and then Steely Dan. Okay, I know who Steely Dan is. Steely Dan back in the day. More than The Marshall Mathers LP impact? Okay, fine. I watched 50. 50 did not win Best New Artist at the Grammys. Nobody since Snoop came out the gate like that. My first album didn't do it. I never saw someone's first album and the wave happen like he had. And then he doesn't get it.
  • Eminem, interview with Sway (2018), emphasis added

• I got a Jones like Norah for your soror.
  • Kanye West, "School Spirit", The College Dropout (2004)

External links

• Encyclopedic article on Norah Jones on Wikipedia
• Media related to Norah Jones on Wikimedia Commons