POP MUSIC Norah Jones stays grounded amid a whirlwind of success

Her second album hits stores this week.
By JIM FARBER
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
NEW YORK -- Just one year ago, Norah Jones swept Grammy night. So what does the 24-year-old do for an encore?
Her second CD, "Feels Like Home," hits stores Tuesday as the most anticipated CD of the year.
"My life has changed so much, I'm still figuring it out," the singer says.
"I feel like we've been in a tornado that picked us up and spat us out. I could have landed on my head. But I think I landed on my feet."
"I'm not sure. But I think it's gonna be OK."
Last year on Grammy night, Jones' debut CD, "Come Away With Me" seemed to win every award outside of Best Polka Album -- and she filled her arms with statuettes.
"I remember feeling like I was at a party and I ate all the cake without giving anyone else a piece," she recalls.
Now the question is: Will she pull an Alicia Keys, another Grammy-anointed gal who followed up brilliantly, or end up like Lauryn Hill, a winner who soon began acting gaga in public?
Keeping it together
Jones admits that keeping it together mentally this past year wasn't always easy.
She kept her sanity, she says, thanks to Lee Alexander, her bassist and boyfriend of four years.
"If I didn't have Lee, I would have been nuts," says Jones. "Every decision I make I mull over with him. He's half of this whole thing."
She considers it a blessing that they hooked up three years before her career breakthrough. "I wanted to marry him before all this happened," Jones says. "Not that we're getting married, but we practically are now.
"I don't see us breaking up. I mean, God, I hope not."
Jones and Alexander recently bought a Manhattan apartment, her only real indulgence since her mega-success. She had to move when a New York newspaper printed a photo of their old place right after the Grammys.
"I got a lot of letters," Jones says, laughing. "Some people sent demo tapes. Some sent lyrics. "My favorite was a real-estate agent who wrote, 'You'll have to move now. Call me."'
Busy schedule
Not that Jones has spent much time at home.
She toured the world right after Grammy night and recorded her second album with the producer of her first, Arif Mardin. A music-industry legend, Mardin has worked on the classic recordings of some of pop's greatest singers, from Aretha Franklin to Dusty Springfield.
"Norah embodies the soul of a great jazz musician," Mardin says. "She's truly an extraordinary singer."
The folks at Blue Note, her label, recognized that immediately upon hearing a three-song demo she recorded in New York several years ago.
Jones had been performing at local clubs such as the Living Room.
She was born in the city, to concert promoter Sue Jones and Indian sitar star Ravi Shankar. But her parents split when she was just 4, and Jones spent her teen years in Grapevine, Texas.
Jones moved back to Manhattan in her late teens, formed her group and honed her neo-cabaret sound.
The new album
Jones stays close to that sound on "Feels Like Home." The music isn't wildly different from "Come Away," sticking to carefully tailored ballads and tastefully sparse arrangements. Again, the focus is squarely on Jones' gorgeous, understated vocals.
"It's not a heavy-metal record," Jones notes, laughing. "I'm still with the same group of people. I'm the same person."
Namely, a humble one.
Ask Jones about her songwriting and she says, "I'm a beginner, it's nothing profound."
Press her about her live show and she offers, "I'm not a great performer. I'm really uncomfortable and edgy on stage."
She even criticizes "Come Away With Me," which sold 8 million copies. "I probably wouldn't have even put it out if I knew millions of people were going to hear it," she says.