Norah Jones Talks Full-Circle Grammy History, From 2003 Sweep to 2022 Nod: ‘The Grammys Changed My Life’

At the 45th annual Grammy Awards back in 2003, Norah Jones was nominated for her first five Grammy Awards and won all five, thanks to her ubiquitous and beloved debut album Come Away With Me and its breakout single “Don’t Know Why.” So what does the singer remember from that life-changing night, 19 years later?

“I was starving,” she laughs in the latest Billboard Pop Shop Podcast for our special 2022 Grammy preview episode (listen to the full show below). “We arrived early for the pre-telecast, as I had received one award. It was definitely right after or pre- lunch. I don’t remember eating dinner, but then we went to the afterparty where I had a huge martini. And I was like, “Can someone feed us ?!?” ‘”

At the 64th annual Grammys — airing live from Las Vegas this Sunday — Jones is nominated once again, with her ‘Til We Meet Again (Live) up for best traditional pop vocal album. Jones and Jamie Landry, the producer/engineer, listened to recordings of Jones’ concerts around the globe and found themselves drawn to the audience she so desperately missed.

” The sound of the audience made my heart so happy,” she recalls. “We ended up choosing the version with the most loving audience, I’ll admit. Because I didn’t realize what I was getting from these recordings from Brazil – which is probably the most loving audience anywhere in the world, no offense to anyone – but we leaned towards the ones where we could feel the room and hear the audience, and know what their looks were and the smiles on the faces

She’s now a nine-time winner and 18-time nominee, but there’s one photo fans are most likely to associate with Jones and her almost two-decade history with the Recording Academy: the singer juggling five golden gramophones at her first awards ceremony. She laughs, “There was another photo of my dropping one because they were too heavy for me to carry.” “They’re heavy! You don’t want them on your toe .”

In a full-circle moment, Jones is now revisiting Come Away With Me for a 20th-anniversary deluxe edition, out April 29 via Blue Note/UMe. The 44-track reissue includes 22 previously unreleased tracks and pages of new liner notes written by Jones herself.

“When the label was like, ‘It’s gonna be 20 years! You have to do something unique!’ I was like, “Well, only if there is something special to do.” She says, “I’m not going to do it just for the sake of doing it.” “And then, once we really got into it, I couldn’t believe how many special things there were. It was amazing .”

It was very healing, in a way. It was very healing in a .” way.

So it’s fitting that she’s back in the mix at the Grammys, the show that really kicked things into overdrive for her career and for Come Away With Me, which spent four nonconsecutive weeks atop the Billboard 200 albums chart, including its final week at No. 1 following the 2003 Grammys. She says, “Just when it seemed impossible [any higher], to happen, the Grammys happened, it just went into orbit.” “So yeah, the Grammys have changed my life .”

Also, Keith and Katie discuss the tragic death in the Foo Fighters of drummer Taylor Hawkins as well as how the industry is remembering him. Plus, we checked in with Billboard awards editor Paul Grein for his predictions on the Big Four Grammy categories ahead of this Sunday’s show. Find his full predictions here.

The Billboard Pop Shop Podcast is your one-stop shop for all things pop on Billboard‘s weekly charts. You can count on lively discussions about the latest pop news, charts stats, stories, and new music. Casual pop fans and chart junkies can hear Billboard‘s deputy editor, digital, Katie Atkinson and senior director of Billboard charts Keith Caulfield every week on the podcast, which can be streamed on Billboard.com or downloaded in Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast provider. (Click here to listen to the previous edition of the show on Billboard.com. )