Norah Jones sheds sweet persona, releases edgy new album

Norah turns a new, darker leaf in her dramatic breakup album, its cover a rendition of the 1960s film Mudhoney’s poster.

The lyrics stray away from her previous innocently sultry messages such as “come away with me in the night” and enter a more vengeful domain, filled with insolence, replacement and happy pills.

Spiteful inquisition is a common theme, as Norah expresses her desire to be left alone as she sails away on the high ground.

Norah sings of twisted mind games: “she’ll be breaking your fall and I’ll be building new walls. This time I’ll have to make sure to add a window for you to come back.”

The album has some tracks, such as Travelin’ On and Miriam, that are reminiscent of her classics. But she has thrown in some curve balls.

Her slow, rich sound blends with the soft core electronic style of producer Danger Mouse as she plays around with a bouncier beat, appealing to the bottom generation of her listeners.

All of Norah’s albums have had heavy influence from various artists. Her collaboration with Danger Mouse in this album and many others in ...Featuring Norah Jones (which featured Willie Nelson, Outkast, Ryan Adams, to name a few,) mark her transformation into a more versatile artist.

Her recent hair bob is further proof of her emerging edginess.

As her music has progressed through each of the four albums since her debut, Norah has picked up and dropped off various styles.

The new twist in the upcoming album shows Jones’ incredible vitality as an artist and her constant ability to please her fans.

Perhaps her older crowd, including my mother, will find the veer in direction to be distasteful, but younger audiences will be excited.