One of the first viral posts surrounding the coronavirus, even before Tom Hanks validated its widespread reach, was a video of Italian musicians occupying balconies in a flash-mob style. It was so widely shared that even Norah Jones, a reluctant social media user, couldn’t help sharing the cheer. “Music brings people together. It tells you that you're not alone,” she says, smiling faintly from her bed in New York through my Zoom window. “But it’s become a real roller coaster of feelings since, especially here in the States.”
With COVID-19, the ongoing #BLM protests, the upcoming US elections and the impending climate crisis, for many, like Jones, music has been a coping mechanism. It is what prompted her to release her seventh studio album, Pick Me Up Off the Floor, during the pandemic. “There were moments I felt that what I do is so trivial, in a time like this, that it doesn’t matter. And then I thought about how every morning I’d play some music and it’d make me feel better. I couldn’t survive isolation without it,” she shares about the impetus to release her 11-track mash-up that oscillates from jazz pop to blues, gospel, even hip-hop and funk. “If it can help one person get through the day, I guess it’s important.”
The gospel-infused ‘To Live’, a song she revisits for Vogue India as part of our issue themed around hope, is off this new record. The album is a collection of unreleased material accumulated since 2018, but listen carefully and it seems made for the times.
RAW AND REAL
Relatability has always come naturally to Jones. Lounging against a pillow, she carries this interview in the same effortless fashion in which you’d think she records her music. This innate realness and understated honesty comes alive during her mini sets on Instagram every week. From her pale blue living room that doesn’t hide the signs of being lived-in, Jones has been posting music’s salutary effects with her breezy piano playing and raw voice against a backdrop of equestrian art and rolled-up blankets on the sofa. Never overly rehearsed, these vignettes of authenticity see the nine-time Grammy winner sail through a mix of originals and covers—sans makeup and in a simple peasant dress—as if she’s merely taking a break between household chores. “Connecting with people has been special. If I didn’t have this time carved out [for the videos and live streams] then the day would just get away with the kids. It’s my me-time,” says the artist, who now finds herself juggling music-making with homeschooling.
This is part of her appeal. Despite global recognition, Jones remains unassuming and unscripted. “Maybe that’s why I’m not so active on social media. I don’t want to be in the news for stuff other than my music,” she says. Growing up in Texas with her mother Sue Jones, a former concert promoter, made her emphatically averse to the spotlight. “My mum was a private person, who was wary of fame. She instilled in me the feeling that success is amazing and to be grateful for, but I did not want to court being famous.”
At age 23, when she walked off stage with an armful of Grammys, Jones wilfully decided to remain low-key. Stuck in the centre of a media storm insinuated by her strained relationship with her famous father, the legendary sitar player, Pandit Ravi Shankar (the only controversy she ever courted), she emerged calm, collected and too well-brought-up to be mudslinged. “All families have their complicated corners. It was challenging when we [Shankar and Jones] were reunited when I was 18. It took us all some time to feel comfortable with each other. The success of my first record and the sudden public interest in our relationship complicated everything,” she recalls. “I was trying to tell my story and be true to myself while still trying to convey a sense of privacy regarding my unique family dynamic.” Now 41, she is still fiercely guarded about her private life. Try searching for the names of her four- and six-year-old and even Google will fail you.
PRIVATE MATTERS
In April, when a concert for her father’s centennial was cancelled, Jones decided to record a heartfelt tribute in the form of an at-home rendition of ‘I Am Missing You,’ which her father originally released in 1974. “It was a nice way to feel close to him...to relate my music with his. I wish I could see him with my kids. He had a cute, childlike sense of humour and it'd have been fun to watch them hang out.”
From a confused teenager to a mother of two, Jones’s evolution comes with a sense of reconciliation. “My father was a sweet, funny and brilliant person. I’m grateful that we had the chance to mend our relationship and got to know each other. It’s easier to shed things as you get older and start seeing your parent as a regular flawed human, without any bad intentions.” She accepts that she won’t be the best parent, but will try failing. “The most important thing is that your children feel loved.”
Her half-sister Anoushka Shankar taught her to straddle life as a musician and mum: “I’ve learnt a lot just watching her,” she says. “Even though I’m the older sister, she had children first, so I take a lot of notes from her.” Between New York and London, where Anoushka resides, the family manages to get together every summer. “My sister and I are close, and though we didn’t share a childhood, we’ve clung to each other in adulthood.”
In a world fraught with social unrest, what keeps her optimistic about her children’s future? “You see so many people who want good things for our children and our planet, for all humans, regardless of their sex or gender or skin colour; they are trying to make right all the things that are wrong, and that gives me hope,” says Jones, who is now using her social media reach to campaign. Between performances, promotions and philosophical musings, you will find a tribute to George Floyd, overtures to defund the police and repeal law 50A, and raise funds for freelance musicians who are bereft of a livelihood today. “If we all give up hope and our ability to change for the better, we are basically screwed,” she says.
Read the complete interview in Vogue India’s September 2020 issue that hit stands on September 10, 2020. Subscribe here
On Norah, all Chanel
Photographed by: Kat Irlin. Styled by: Priyanka Kapadia and Mindy Saad
Hair and Makeup: Jeff Gautier. Bookings Editor: Prachiti Parakh. Styling Assistant: Naheed Driver. Photographer’s assistant: Ros Hayes
