Norah Jones: New Haircut, New Dog, New Sound

Photo by EMI

On a crisp evening in March, with the hum of New York as the backing track, Norah Jones slipped into a pair of two-toned shoes to toast her 30th birthday at a bowling alley with her best buddy. Her choice of venue was deliberately juvenile: farewelling her 20s meant Jones “was a little nervous at first,” she tells WHO. “But I had a really good time with my friend. We felt like we were about 12, so that kind of cured it.”

For the acclaimed jazz performer, the milestone birthday heralded a new beginning. “I’m at the age where you change things up a little,” says Jones, who chopped off her locks in favour of a pixie crop, parted with her long-term boyfriend and explores a gutsier, contemporary rock sound — including an infatuation with the electric guitar — on her fourth studio album, The Fall.

“It’s got a little something different. I’ve been playing more guitar, with a new band, and I wanted more grooves and a heavier sound,” she says. “I actually write more on guitar than I do on piano. Plus a guitar is a lot easier to carry around.”

Also shaking things up was her split last January from her boyfriend of nearly a decade, Lee Alexander, who was also one of her chief musical collaborators, writing and producing on her albums and playing in her band. “I’m sure the split had an influence on this album — certainly when you’re writing, you’re influenced by what you were going through at the time,” says the eight-time Grammy Award winner, who has sold more than 30 million albums since shooting to fame with her 2002 debut, Come Away with Me.

While the low-key star, who tried her hand at acting in 2007’s Blueberry Nights, won’t divulge if she’s dating, she does concede there is a special bloke in her life — a new poodle, Ralph. “I swear, at this age every friend of mine has either broken up, gotten married, had a baby, gotten a dog — or at least two of them,” says the certified diver, who spends her downtime watching TV, going to the movies and hanging out with her friends. “My biological clock was ticking. I think the dog will stave off babies for a few years. That’s the goal, anyway.”

See exclusive behind-the-scenes footage of the making of "The Fall"