Norah Jones – Little Broken Hearts
Album Review by Liz Brossard
It has been a decade since Norah Jones showed us that a fresh-faced jazz singer and pianist could win five Grammys in the first year of her career. Come Away With Me was widely received and Jones was praised for her pop-style take on jazz in an era that seemed to have forgotten the beauty of it.
Jones is now back with her fifth album, Little Broken Hearts, and she is not the same singer/songwriter she was in 2002. Through each of her previous four albums she has grown as an artist; this album is the culmination of her last ten years as pop/jazz artist. This album brings you back to the jazz and blues that made her career flourish, but takes her away from a commercially known pop-jazz star.
The twelve-track album begins with “Good Morning,” a perfect introduction into any album. It slowly opens you up to Little Broken Hearts with a harp and acoustic guitar. Her harmonic melodies blend well with the simple chord structure of this song. It leaves the listener excited to hear the remainder of the album. The second track “Say Goodbye” is my least favorite track on the album. I feel as if it does not fit within the album and takes away from her jazz and blues influence and almost feels bubblegum pop.
However beautiful, the album is full of contempt, loss and heartbreak. The listener can truly feel that in “Miriam” and “Little Broken Hearts.” There is a definite theme throughout the album, but that does not mean that everything has a doom and gloom sound. There are many upbeat tempos and you can see the versatility of Jones to juggle many different sounds and melodies.
New, current and previous fans of Jones will be pleased with the new album and excited to see what is to become of her second decade as an artist in the spotlight. I hope to see her continue to grow, yet keep the class and sophistication that made her a star in the first place.
Overall Rating: 4/5
Website: http://www.norahjones.com/
