The Norah Jones Phase

I am a firm believer that every woman needs to have a Norah Jones phase at least once in her life. That may sound a bit strange, but allow me to elaborate:

Now the Norah Jones phase isn’t always at a certain age or length of time, and I believe that the phase finds you exactly when you need it. For instance, I started my Norah Jones phase whenever I was at the end of my senior year of high school and entering college. I give a significant amount of credit to Norah Jones for helping me grow more into a woman at that time. At that point in my life I was eager to leave my small town and start my next chapter, as well as having quite a bit of negative emotions that I hadn’t yet learned to process. I remember somehow getting my hands on her album “Come Away With Me” and I would just lay in my room and listen to that CD on repeat processing every emotion but feeling at peace at the same time. The funny thing about it is that although most of her music is about love, I hadn’t even had my first real relationship (or even come close). But something about her lyrics and her voice just made me feel more in control of my emotions, as well as more confident in just becoming a woman.

However, the phase didn’t stop there. As I eventually moved off to college and began living on my own I would find comfort in her songs. When I finally started to date around and eventually ended up in my first real relationship, the significance of her music went up an even higher notch. Navigating an adult relationship is tricky for pretty much anyone, but her music made all the uncertainty a bit easier. She has a way of being able to put into words all the confusing, frustrating, and heartbreaking moments in relationships and that in and of itself makes you feel a bit more understood. Throughout my life of dating and having relationships, her music was always something I would turn to in order to really process how I was feeling or help navigate the questions I would have with myself about the situations I was in at the time.

As probably most women in their “coming of age” moments experience, I didn’t have as much self love as I should have, plus I was in the process of figuring out who the hell I actually was. Diving into Norah’s music was truly an empowering experience through that. I could remind myself that these things are common for most women and that I wasn’t alone. She also has a way of putting her experiences into songs that embody femininity and a bit of mystery. Because of that, I would feel more secure in who I was becoming as a woman and gain the confidence to keep doing my thing.

Enough about me and my personal Norah Jones phase, I also know of so many other women who have had a Norah Jones phase. Their experiences and timing of it are different than mine, but the common factor is that it was healing and beneficial to them as well. I also understand that there are plenty of other artists who also have this ability, trust me I have a list of those myself, but what makes me feel that Norah Jones is the phase that most women should have is because she isn’t genre specific and her music is timeless. She isn’t considered pop and isn’t played on the radio often, but almost everyone knows who she is. People of all differing tastes also enjoy her music. I know people who really only listen to one type of music, whether is be country, rock or pop, and still listen to Norah Jones.

I can just see a woman in her 50s going through a divorce and starting to enter the dating scene again having her Norah Jones phase and getting back the confidence she needs. I can see an older woman in her 70s listening to Norah and feeling nostalgic for the days when she was putting up with too much from men, reminiscing on meeting the love of her life, or even reminiscing on lovers of the past that didn’t quite fit the bill. I see a woman going through her first heartbreak and feeling completely alone finding comfort in the soothing tunes of Norah Jones. The phase can be beneficial for anyone at any age and situation.

Something I should clarify is that although I used the word “phase” it doesn’t necessarily have to end. While I did listen to Norah Jones almost every day when I first discovered her, she is still a constant in my music taste but not necessarily listened to at the same frequency. Listening to her also helped open the doors for me to discover plenty of other artist and really put me down a rabbit hole of finding all types of new music, old and new.

I went out on my own for the first time during my Norah Jones phase, had my first love, my first heart break, navigated the muddy waters of dating, and even met my now husband all during my Norah Jones phase. When will yours be? Or have you already experienced it? Let me know!