Norah Jones Is Playing Along
Original podcast
María Zardoya, the voice of The Marías, joins Norah in the studio.
10,386 words · 8 speakers
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Hey, I'm Niall Rogers. This fall, I'll be driving across the country, meeting some of today's coolest and most fascinating artists. We'll explore the stories before the moments that changed everything. Because every musician remembers the moment where it all began. Experience Before the Moment, a Lincoln Original Series on the iHeart Radio app, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.
This episode is also available as video on YouTube. You can visit Norah Jones' channel and be sure to subscribe while you're there. Hey, I'm Norah Jones, and today I'm playing along with Maria Zardoya.
Hi, I'm Norah Jones. Welcome to Playing Along. And with me as always is Sarah Oda.
Hello.
Hi.
I'm very excited about our guest today. We have Maria Zardoya. She's the voice behind the Grammy nominated band, The Marias.
Yes.
She has this super dreamy, sort of ethereal voice that is unforgettable. It's very unique. The Marias put out an album, Submarine, in 2024, which had themes of heartbreak and growth and rebirth, which you touch on in the episode.
Also, she has a new solo project, which we didn't get a chance to play any music from because we recorded this right before she was going up to record it. But you should check it out.
Yep. Her solo project is called Not For Radio, and she's coming out with her debut solo album called Melt, which is something she recorded upstate New York.
In a snowy, isolated moment. And it's about winter heartbreak.
Yep.
She speaks about how you were one of her inspirations early on. She talks about being in a band and how that's like being in a family. And she also sings in Spanish and English, which is super cool.
Yeah, the music in this episode's beautiful, and I'm really excited we get to do this. We had so much fun hanging out. She's just great.
Yeah.
She's my friend now.
Aww.
Yeah. I hope you love this episode as much as we do. Here it is, Maria Zardoya.
Well, thanks so much for coming.
Thank you for having me.
This is so nice.
I'm so excited to meet you. I was trying to come to your Austin City Limits set, but I missed it because it was so hard to get around.
Oh, yeah.
It was crazy.
There's so many people standing in the sun.
I know.
Have you played that festival as well?
I have, yeah, but not for a long time. Maybe it's been like 15 years.
Okay.
So it was a big deal for me, too. And I'm from Texas, so.
Yeah. But you're from Georgia?
I'm from Georgia. I'm from a small town in Snowville, Georgia.
Oh, wow.
Yeah, it was, I try to explain it like it's just a very, very small town vibe. Almost like Stranger Things.
That's crazy.
Where we would just like ride our bikes everywhere. There was a creek in our neighborhood and.
That sounds nice.
Yeah, it was, it was, it was a really amazing place to grow up and like in nature. We would like catch little lizards, go to the creek and catch little crawfish and.
Oh, man, on the string with bacon?
No.
That's what I used to do.
You would just pick them up?
Oh, you just pick them up, okay. We used to go fishing for crawdads in Oklahoma, my grandparents' house. We'd put this string around our finger and tie bacon to the bottom.
Oh, my God, so fun.
Wow.
So where did you grow up?
I grew up in Dallas.
But my grandparents lived in Oklahoma.
Nice.
Well, that sounds nice. Do you visit or do you have family there still?
Yeah, I still have family there in like the same childhood home.
Oh, that's amazing.
And I'm going tomorrow to spend the weekend with them.
That's great.
Yeah. Well, sometimes we just like to dive in and try a song. I know it might feel sudden, but what do you think? You want to try?
You want to dive in?
Let's dive in, let's do it.
All right.
What should we start with?
I was thinking we should start with "No One Noticed."
Perfect.
Let's do it.
All right, cool.
"Breaks the Seal" and then.
You want to play guitar? Yeah. Great. And you just tell me if I'm doing anything wrong.
I doubt it, I think.
Let's just, yeah, let's see what happens.
Okay. Do you come in at the top on guitar?
Okay, cool.
Maybe I.
Lost man made.
No one noticed
It's getting old Kinda like it if you call me All alone Cause I'm so old of being lonely May have lost it I need a virtual connection I have lost it Be my video obsession
No one's trained
To read my eyes
No one but you Wish it weren't true Maybe I Kinda like it if you call me It's not right Cause I'm so old of being lonely Make you mine Have a virtual connection Take over Be my video obsession Come on, don't leave me It can't be that easy, baby If you believe me
I guess I'll get on a plane Fly to your city Excited to see your face Hold me, console me And then I'll leave without a trace Come on, don't leave me It can't be that easy, baby
Believe me, I guess I'll get on a plane, fly to your city Excited to see your face, hold me, console me And then I'll leave without a trace Come on, don't leave me, it can't be that easy, babe If you believe me, I guess I'll get on a plane, fly to your city Excited to see your face, hold me, console me And then I'll leave without a trace Come on, don't leave me, it can't be that easy, babe
If you believe me, I guess I'll get on a plane, fly to your city Excited to see your face, hold me, console me And then I'll leave without a trace
Call me, 'cause I'm so over being lonely
I need a virtual connection Please be my video obsession
Estás tan dentro de mí. Te sigo pensando, te sigo esperando.
Y estás tan lejos de mí. Te sigo pensando, me canso llorando.
Hey, oh man, that's so fun. Thank you.
That was amazing.
Thanks for playing that with me.
That was beautiful on piano.
Your voice sounds so beautiful.
Thank you, same.
It's so soft. And like, I meant soft texture-wise, not volume-wise. It came through very clearly. I'm a quiet singer, so I feel like we have sort of that in common.
Yeah, I feel like you taught me how to sing.
That's hilarious.
I, when I was first taking voice lessons, our first recital, I sang "Come Away With Me."
Really?
That's so funny.
It's such a weird song to have become well-known because it's such a slow, quiet song. So I'm always like tickled, you know, when people know it.
No, it's beautiful.
That's funny.
It's one of my favorite songs. It's my go-to karaoke song, too.
That's the only song I sing.
Oh, that's cool. My go-to karaoke song is "Whip It" by Devo.
Oh, nice. That's, yeah.
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If you're a music fan, I've got a new podcast you have to check out. It's called Before the Moment, a new series hosted by the legendary Nile Rodgers. You know him as the producer, songwriter, guitarist, and co-founder of Chic. But in this series, he's hitting the road to sit down with some of today's most fascinating artists. From hitmakers like Miguel to rising stars like Alex Warren, Nile explores the stories behind the careers, the songs, and the moments that changed everything. Because every artist can point to that turning point, the moment before the breakthrough, before the success, before everything changed. Through candid conversations and personal stories, you'll hear what happened before the moment that made them who they are today.
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So when you were growing up, how did you get into music? Did you have musical family? Or?
I mean, my dad liked, loved music and plays guitar and would always like have mariachi bands over. And like, um, yeah, so I grew up in like a house that loved music.
But, you know, my, my mom's a teacher and my dad's a mechanic. So I think I just grew up like not knowing that I could even pursue music. I think it was just something that, you know, if you want to pursue music, you sing at church on Sundays.
Yeah, that's how I learned.
Yeah, yeah. And I think I feel like that's such a great way to learn. But yeah, and then it wasn't until a friend of mine from Atlanta that moved to LA to pursue music. She was like, you have to come here if you want to pursue music. I was like, well, I guess I'll give it a shot.
That's cool. Were you older at that point?
Yeah, yeah. And then I won a Halloween costume contest at this job that I was working at. And I bought a car and drove to LA.
Amazing.
Knowing just her and then.
I have to know what the costume was.
So I was working.
I'm in Halloween. Really into it.
I was working at like a creative agency. And so I dressed, I was like, okay, I have to like cater to the judges.
Um, so I was like, I'm just gonna be a target market. So we like built a whole like wooden structure that was a market with like fruit. And we had like the client logos on the fruit. And I gave them like money that had a logo on it. It was like very.
Pandering.
Yeah, that's amazing though.
But they loved it and I won $5,000.
And then I bought a car.
Do you still dress up?
I do.
Okay, good.
Mm hmm. Do you?
I do, but I've been really lazy. After I had kids, it sort of went all to them.
And they don't want to do it.
They broke my heart this year. I, I got ready at like two o'clock in the afternoon so that when my daughter got home from school, she would get excited.
Uh huh.
And then I was ready since two o'clock in the afternoon and nobody was excited. And so I had like makeup on for six hours before.
Oh my gosh.
It was pretty funny.
Well, you keep the spirit alive.
Did you grow up trick or treating?
Yeah, me too.
Yeah, I just always loved it.
It's such a fun holiday.
And I like it because it's the beginning of
The fall.
A lot of holidays.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
So this song, "No One Noticed," it's on your new album.
Mm-hmm.
And that came out last year?
Yeah. Mm-hmm. It's, it feels kind of like a slow, like, I'm surprised that it was the one that everybody gravitated towards, kind of like, how, what you were saying about "Come Away With Me," because it's such like a slow, yeah, just like a slow, kind of emotional song. I had always wanted that one to, you know, to be the one that, that people noticed.
And thankfully, yeah, thankfully it was, but...
It's, it's, it's got a striking opening line.
Mm.
You know, it's one of those that just grabs you.
Thank you.
And you can kind of relate, relate to.
I think people don't get enough credit for being open to slow music.
Yeah, I, I agree.
You know, I mean, people are emotional and we're all emotional creatures, so. It's funny when the music industry, you know, or labels want to push something more single sounding, but it all ends up sounding the same sometimes.
Yeah, and that's exactly what happened with, with this album, I think, you know, understandably, like, they just want to push whatever they think is gonna do
the best.
And so they picked like a, like a more upbeat song from our album. It's called "Run Your Mouth." And it's got like a pop groove and, you know, then "No One Noticed," you know, people started noticing that song. And it just made me so happy, like, for the collective consciousness of humanity, because I was like, okay, like, people do like sad songs, like, people do want to connect to something like, a little deeper. Obviously, people also want to dance, but I connect more with like the slow songs and songs that like really make me feel something and
make me feel like nostalgic and cry. And I think if we ever stopped making sad songs, it would just... Be over.
Yeah, I mean, I grew up with a mixtape that was slow and sad songs. The other side was songs to cry to. So, yeah.
I would love to hear that mixtape.
Oh, yeah, it's all just sad, slow songs.
Yeah, that's like, those were my playlist, too.
Yeah, I mean, anything that makes you feel something.
Right? It makes you feel less alone.
Exactly.
Yeah, exactly. I was, I took my son to see Billie Eilish. And I was just like, my God, this music is so melancholy. It's crazy. And then there's some stuff with, that you can really dance to. And it's, it's awesome, but I'm like, I love that it's made it through to people.
Something that emotional.
And it just made me happy.
And then I got really melancholy. Yeah. It was nice.
Yeah, yeah, she's, she's amazing. We, we had the opportunity to, to open up a few shows for, for her.
That's so cool.
And the first time seeing her live was the first, like, the first show that we opened for her.
And I felt the same, like, I, I like was moved to like tears at, at her slower songs because.
Just.
They're so beautiful.
So beautiful.
I'm just so happy that she's successful.
She's so good.
Same.
And her alone on the stage.
It made me really kind of sad, actually, but I know that was part of the whole thing. But I loved how she just carried the whole thing.
And didn't need much. The music was so good.
How did you like that experience, being on a stage that big? Have you been on a lot of stages like that at this point?
No, as a band, no. So we had a song on Bad Bunny's album, Muy Grano Sin Ti.
Also insane.
So crazy.
And it was like a slower song on his album too. And, and so I love that, like he like leaned into that sort of sound. But, um, so I had played a few shows with him just on his tour, um, playing that song. And those were stadium shows.
You coming out on his set?
Coming out on his set.
So not as a whole set?
Correct.
Yeah. Oh, man.
And that was, my nervous system was like, it just, it was wrecking havoc on my nervous system because I was like, oh, my God, can I do this? Can I not? Two seconds before I'd go on stage, I'd be like, okay, I'm not gonna do this. I'm gonna walk away. I'm gonna walk away right now. And then he'd be like, and no, you know, Maria from the Marias. And I'm like, oh, no, I have to go on stage right now. But the second I was like up there and, and singing with him, like all the nerves passed. But, you know, so I had the experience of playing on a big stage like that. Um, so everything since then has felt small.
You know, when you go from...
You started big.
You're good.
Seventy, eighty thousand people in a stadium. I'm like, oh, an arena? I'm good.
I'm good.
I, I'm so good. Um, but it was the first time that like we as a band and the guys had played.
On such a big stage. And so we were, you know, a little bit nervous and just didn't really know what, what to expect if we would, you know, if our sound would like, you know, be big enough for an arena.
Or if our, you know, if our presence would be big enough for an arena. But thankfully, like, we felt really comfortable. And I think it helped that, so her shows were like in the round.
Yeah. And so I think that helped because you didn't just see a sea of people in front of you.
You felt like you were a part of them around?
Yeah, it felt more of like, okay, yeah, yeah. Like we were all kind of in it together and, and, yeah. It, I think that made it a lot easier for us. But I think we like realized as a band, like, okay, we can do arenas. We got this.
You got this.
We got this.
It's funny when people try to be someone they're not, when they're playing a huge stage. So as long as you keep a hold of who you are, I think.
Totally.
Yeah. And I, I thought about that, watching Billie. Billie, or on a first name basis. Watching Billie Eilish, I, I, I was sort of struck by... How she still could do all the intimate stuff and it's still carried. And I mean, everybody was also really excited to be there.
But I also had never been to a pop concert before.
I've been to a million shows, but never like a real pop arena show like that. I mean, what's wrong with me? No, I grew up listening to jazz.
I went to a lot of jazz club shows. But I thought it was amazing. But the whole culture of the audience singing along.
It's kind of intense.
And I really just wanted, I wanted them to be quiet because I wanted to hear her sing. She's so good. It was funny.
It was, but I got it too. Like, I get the collective energy of it is really beautiful.
But it was kind of funny.
I was also like shocked by it.
Yeah, were you?
Yeah, it was so loud. Everyone was singing so loud and I thought it was so beautiful. But yeah, and crying and they were moved to tears. And I remember there were a couple of girls behind me and, you know, they were audibly just, you know, crying. And I just like put my hand out behind me and I just like held their hand for a second. And I just thought it was like so beautiful because you do feel this collective energy when everybody's singing along and like experiencing the same thing at the same time. It can, it can get intense because you feel everybody's kind of emotions.
Yeah, and everybody's egging each other on.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
If you cry, I'll cry.
Yeah, yeah, so I did start crying, you know?
I kind of felt that too.
Yeah. But that was, that was a first for me in terms of like how loud.
How loud the audience was.
I'm glad you had that.
Same, that's cool, yeah.
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Can we try another song?
Yeah, let's do it.
Which one should we do?
I love when you sing in Spanish.
OK.
But I don't speak Spanish, so you're gonna have to pronounce the song for me.
OK. Which one are we doing? Lejos de ti.
Yes, lejos de ti.
Yes, so lejos de ti, it means "far from you."
Far from you, that's beautiful.
And every time I sing it, it just reminds me... I'm the only one that's in L.A. The rest of my family's in Puerto Rico.
And Georgia. And so every time I sing it, I'm like, it reminds me of my family.
Aww, you're close.
Yeah. Do you have siblings?
Yeah. I have two older brothers.
Oh, you're the youngest and the girl. Oh, that's a whole thing.
That is a whole thing. What about you?
I grew up an only child.
But I have a half-sister who I connected with as an adult.
And we've become pretty close.
That's amazing.
But it's not the same as growing up together.
Yeah. Yeah.
So being an only child, that's a whole thing.
I feel like I had a little piece of what that felt like this Christmas.
I spent it with my parents, and it was just me and my mom and my dad.
And I was like, OK, this is different. This is different. I have a little taste of what, you know?
My creative partner, Josh, who's in the band, he's the drum room producer, is an only child. And so I told him, I was like, I feel like I can empathize with you a little bit. A tiny bit, just from what I experienced on Christmas. But, yeah. It's interesting.
It's a lot.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It can be a lot.
Yeah, totally. This one's hard to sing, so I'm gonna just hope for the best on it.
Me too. The only thing is, my Spanish is no... No bueno.
That's OK.
I don't wanna mess it up.
Whatever you feel comfortable with. If you don't want to, that's OK.
I should've learned it better in Spanish. I'm so sorry.
You're fine.
I'll make it intense, though.
Yeah, OK, cool. Sounds good.
El frío, la noche, siempre me acuerdo de ti
Miletas, canciones, siempre me acuerdo de ti
Porque estoy lejos de ti
No te olvides de mí
Tus ojos tan tristes, siempre me acuerdo de ti
Momentos felices, siempre me acuerdo de ti
Porque te sigo queriendo Ya no puedo más entre tus manos Me estoy muriendo Porque te sigo cantando No me queda más entre mis labios A todo llanto
Dormí en tu pecho Siempre me acuerdo de ti
Y no me olvidaré de ti
Sorry, it's a little late, but...
Beautiful!
Yeah, that was pretty!
Yeah, I loved that. That was so pretty.
Oh, good.
That was beautiful. I don't know what you're saying, but it's really beautiful. I'm just talking about things that remind me of them, like the cold and the night and their sad eyes and how I slept on their chest and just different things that reminded me of them and then hoping and saying that, "Just please don't forget about me."
Oh my god, that's so sad and sweet!
You know, because at the end of, you know, a relationship, I think it's easy for, you know, for people to just want to go super eternal sunshine with it and just forget everything and want to forget about you and... You know, and that's, that's a way to cope, right? But I feel like no matter what, I'll always hold on to, you know, the memories because as difficult as a heartbreak might be, I think it makes you who you are and you carry that with you on your next relationship, like what you've learned and, and, and it makes you, I think, a better person and a stronger person to remember.
You know, all the memories and moments.
That's really beautiful. It's also, it's just part of your life.
Yeah, that's sweet.
You've had your fair share of heartbreak.
Oh, my God, yes. Yeah, you know, people always want to know, um, oh, what's that song about? And I'm always a little cagey about it.
Same, same.
But I don't know how you are, but, um.
I think it's like pretty obvious usually.
Yeah, yeah.
Usually if you can't really feel the vibe, then I don't know what to do. I'm not going to explain it to you.
There was one song, um, oh, my God, I'm like drawing a blank right now, but the lyrics are so honest and you're talking about, you know, going over the, the bridge into Brooklyn and.
Oh, back to Manhattan.
Yes, back to Manhattan.
That one, I listened to that song. Um, and it just, like the lyrics, I was like, how did she, how like, she's inside my brain, like how, or how, how are we living the same experience, you know? And, and that's beautiful because it's like no matter, like how personal or what the song is to you, other people are gonna, you know, relate to it as if, you know, I mean, we're human. Like we, we go through the same and similar experiences and.
Over and over and over and over, right?
So that song most recently spoke to me.
Oh, that's cool. I haven't done that in a long time. It's pretty.
Yeah, it's, it's interesting because I, yeah, I always, I don't want to over explain songs because I like that, that people can take them and make them their own. When they're listening and I don't want to be like this detail and then they're like, what?
You know?
So your band, how long have you guys been together? How did it start?
I think it started seven years ago, end of 2016.
That's a long time.
I had just moved to LA and I didn't know anyone. I knew just that one friend that I was telling you about. Nobody.
Just, I didn't know anything about LA. The only, you know, preconceived thing that I knew about LA was, oh, it's like Hollywood, you know, the stars. And, you know, when you're from a small town, that's kind of like what you, I don't know, what you think of Hollywood or Los Angeles. But, so I knew nothing. And so when I got here, I was like, you know what? I'm just gonna play wherever they'll have me. Like me and a guitar, open mics.
Were you writing songs already?
Yeah, I was writing songs and performing in Georgia.
How, when did you start writing?
You know, when I was little, but I think songwriting, like full songs, I'd say like just out of high school. So, you know, it wasn't, it was a fairly new, new thing of like learning structurally, song and the chords on the guitar and, you know, and all of that. I was, I was seeing a guy at the time who was a songwriter and he kind of like, just watching him craft songs kind of helped me develop that. But, so, so yeah, I came to LA without knowing anything. And then I was like, well, I'm just gonna reach out to anybody who'll have me play.
So great.
And so I'd play so many open mics, random restaurants, like just so many random things. And one of the random gigs, it was called the Laurel Canyon Music Revival, at the Kibbutz Room, next to Cantor's Deli. And I played a show that night and.
Solo?
Solo. And the sound engineer came up to me after, his name's Josh. He came up to me after and was like, I love your songs and I love your voice and I'd love to record with you. I'm a producer. And I was like, okay, cool. We got together and then, next thing you know, we fell in love.
Of course.
And we started the band together.
And. Then when we were ready to sort of play the songs live, we were like, okay, well, let's just kind of start a band. And so two of his best friends and childhood friends were just always around and we were like, do you guys want to like be in this band and play shows together? And they were like, yeah, sure. And then it just
That's pretty magical.
Kind of started from there.
Does he play drums?
He plays drums and producer and we write the songs together.
That's so cool. I love the drums on the record. I meant to, I meant to tell you that.
Yeah, shout out Josh.
Yeah, he sounds amazing. I like his groove, you know?
And then I like the little things he adds that are different and it's cool.
Totally. He's such an amazing drummer and has like such amazing taste and knows like when to play hard, knows when to play soft and
yeah, he's very, very talented.
But this last album was the first album that we wrote not in a romantic relationship together.
The plot thickens.
The plot she thickens.
Yeah, so, but we're so good. We're
best friends still and
It's nice when you can make it work.
It's really sad otherwise.
If you have a musical connection.
It's hard to lose that with the everything else.
And it's honestly made us like stronger as a band because it's no longer Josh and Maria, the couple, and then the best friends.
Now it's like a collective unit where I'm best friends with all of them now.
And feel comfortable with all of them and they feel comfortable with me and it just feels like more of a collective now.
Well, the album's beautiful, so.
Yeah. And you still wrote all the songs together?
Yeah, we still wrote all the songs together. They're not all about our breakup or our relationship, but yeah, we wrote them all together.
That's good.
It's weird. You must be almost like closer in a way, writing, in a writing way, I mean.
We are, yeah, we are, just because we went through so much and, you know, after we broke up, we you know, we still wanted the band to stay together. We just didn't know how because it had started with us in a relationship. So we were like, well, if we're not in a relationship, can this band work? But we did a lot of like self-work. We went to therapy and together and as a band and individually and And just went through all the awkward moments and just came out on the other end like just understanding each other in like a whole new way and appreciating each other in a whole new way. And as friends, which is just so beautiful.
That's so evolved. You know what I mean? This is like in the 70s, do you think? If they could have all done that.
I know, I know. Yeah, but it meant, I mean, you know, music was number one for all of us.
And you have such a good thing. You don't want to lose that.
That's great. I'm happy for you guys.
I think the most fun I ever had was in my 20s on tour with my band unit and crew, like people I just loved. And had, we just had so much fun goofing around and hitting milestones and like I was with all these people that I I really loved and that's a really special time. You know?
Yeah, it's like a traveling circus.
It really is. It's like so nice.
But traveling with your family.
Yeah, it really is. It's fun. I definitely still have that. I try to only tour and travel with people I want to hang out with.
Otherwise it's a drag.
Yeah, we're all so close. Yeah.
You have to.
You have to be.
And you have to love everybody that you're around because.
Yeah. Do you have, you brought a lot, a lot of lovely women here today. I was gonna say, are there any women in your touring crew as well?
We have so many like amazing women and that was something that was really important for me because early on in the touring days, it was just me and the guys and, and their friends. And so I was, you know, the only woman and.
It can be weird.
It can be, you know, I can hang with the guys and I love it.
You get really good at it.
Yeah, you do. You, you learn.
You start being the dirtiest joke teller.
Yeah, yeah, totally.
But you know, they're just, you know, it did get to be a little bit lonely because it felt like, okay, I'm here with, you know, a bunch of, a group of best friends and, you know, and so I was hanging out a lot by myself and having a lot of these like solo experiences. And now with so many women on our team, I just, I don't know, it just, it's like a different dynamic and I love it and it was really important for me. How were your early touring days like?
Well, in my early touring days, my bass player was my boyfriend.
Oh, okay. Here we go.
He wrote a lot of songs.
He wrote a lot of songs on my first record and I had just gotten into songwriting. And then on the second record, we wrote a lot of songs together and it was amazing.
It was, it was really nice having it all together. And at the time, my, my best friend was in my band, a woman, and she ended up dating the drummer and so for a long time, it was like this crazy Fleetwood Mac.
We didn't switch or anything, but it was just really fun.
Yeah, I mean, there was some stress in the beginning, but once we kind of settled in, it was, it was amazing. We were all best friends and it all kind of imploded. But if we had gone to therapy, probably it would have done a lot better after that.
Oh, dang.
Sometimes things end at the right time, though.
Yeah, we had a good time.
Oh.
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I would love to do another song.
Yeah. I wanted to do "Sienna".
OK, let's do "Sienna".
This is a special one.
This is a special one, especially playing it here. Yeah, so "Sienna", this one is a special one to play today because I shout you out.
And yeah, the song that I'm shouting out is "Come Away With Me", which will play soon. But your music has just been a part of every single romantic relationship that I've had throughout my life.
So sweet.
And so I just felt the courage and the need to call out that song in particular.
It's pretty cool.
Getting a call out is the highest flattery.
It's awesome. All right. So I'm gonna... Yeah, let's do the intro.
Please tell me not to go.
We've been here long before.
I live under your eyelids. I'll always be yours.
I'll lay on your rooftop in the freezing cold and I'll watch the sunset wearing all your clothes. I can feel you with me like I did before. Like when I sang you a love song by Norah Jones. Ooh, Sienna
would have been cute.
Ooh, Sienna
would look just like you.
I came free
and did feel so good.
But I feel seen
only through you.
I'll wait here tomorrow Outside your door Like I did in December When you held me close Coming up on your corner Pulling out my hair Hear the creak in the floorboards Going up the stairs Ooh Sienna
Would have been cute
Ooh Sienna
Would look just like you
With a temper like you Run around like you Jumping in the pool Like you
Sing to all her pets In the way I did Be sensitive Like you
And I smile when I think of All the times we had On the beach in the winter When the waves were mad Down by the water
Crystal clear See her face in the forest Then it disappears
I started crying at the beginning. It was so beautiful.
Oh, really?
Oh, my God, that's amazing. That one's fun to play together.
Yeah, I know. So pretty, so pretty. I loved that. I've never heard it just on piano.
It was so special.
Yeah, I usually do guitars, right?
Yeah. It has that good thing. I like doing that. It's interesting. I was practicing for this and I was like, the drum grooves are so key and so good. I was like, how am I gonna get the groove going?
Oh, no, you've got it.
But it was great, yeah.
You have a great groove, too.
Super, super fun. I love the lyrics on this song.
It's kind of heartbreaking.
Yeah, they are really heartbreaking.
And also kind of cutting, like, kind of like, like that.
I love that. That's my favorite combo, middle finger, heartbreak.
Yeah, totally.
Yeah, I mean, it's about a child that will never come to be.
Yeah, extra heartbreaking.
Extra heartbreaking.
But the lilt in it has that little conniving, like,
sly, tongue in cheek. I love that.
Yeah, it's really beautiful.
Well, now we have to do "Come Away With Me."
We have to.
Yeah?
Oh, gosh.
Oh, my God, my... I'm just gonna say my all-time favorite song.
Oh, my gosh.
It's just such a beautiful song.
That's so crazy.
Thank you. It's kind of the first song I ever wrote that I liked. I wrote a couple of songs in high school that I...
You wrote this in high school?
No, no. I wrote a couple of songs in high... No.
I went to a performing arts high school and they encouraged us to write songs, which was so cool. But I wrote these two songs and I just... We ended up recording them because they had recording equipment, which I think was my downfall because I didn't like how it turned out. And I was like, I'm not a good songwriter.
You know, like, because I didn't like the way it was. And when I moved to New York, I started going to see a bunch of singer-songwriters at the living room. And I didn't have a piano, of course, because I lived in a tiny apartment. But I had a crappy little guitar and I knew a few chords. And so I came back after being inspired all night seeing all these songwriters. And I just sat in my room at like 3:00 in the morning and I wrote "Come Away With Me."
I wrote it in a notebook with the chord changes over it. And I wrote like one, two, three, one, five, four. Like, I tried to notate the notes so I wouldn't forget it. Because I didn't know how to remember it.
Yeah, that's wild.
And I'm pretty sure the original version of it was way better. But what I remembered is what we have.
Oh, my God, no. I mean, I can't imagine. Because, yeah, I'm sure the song is a little bit different than when you first wrote it.
It's probably a little different, yeah.
But how amazing that you could remember it.
Because there are moments that, you know.
You don't remember anything.
That, yeah, that it's a fleeting song. It comes in and out of you in like an instant. And, you know, there have been so many songs that I'll write. And then I'll be like, oh, how did that go? And it's just gone forever.
I know, but you know it was the greatest song in the world.
Some songs are just meant to be ours, like to be experienced just on our own, I think.
Yes, but it sure is nice when you can.
When you can share it.
Take that inspiration and put it in a bottle.
Totally, totally.
I love imagining you in like your New York apartment with just a guitar, like in the dark, like writing this after just listening to an amazing, amazing shows all night.
It was, you know, one of those quick ones.
Yeah, like, did you feel like you wrote it? Or do you feel like it kind of like came like, almost like you as a vessel, like?
I think the best ones are like that.
Yeah, those are my favorite ones.
Same. It's such a weird.
I definitely wrote it, but, yeah, I mean.
It came out of nowhere.
Came out of nowhere, but it's also just so simple. I like simple songs for that reason.
They're easy. But.
Well, it's such a beautiful song.
Well, thanks for, thanks for liking it. Makes me happy. Do you want to, do you want to trade verses? Or do you want to sing the whole thing?
No, no, no, no, no.
What do you want to?
Um, whatever you, whatever you want. Yeah, however you want to sing your song.
Why don't you just sing it and I'll harmonize on the bridges? You want to do that?
Okay, okay, okay, sure.
What do you think?
Yeah, yeah, okay.
Okay, cool. I play it pretty different usually, so.
Tell me if this feels okay.
I don't know. See if you can.
Do you have like a little intro to it?
All right, okay, cool.
I usually just go like.
Wow. So pretty.
Let's sing it together. Okay, I'll do the first verse. Okay. Then you want to do the second? Yeah. Maybe I should play guitar on it. Like I wrote it. Let's try. I don't know, maybe that way it'll be different. Yeah, that could be, I mean, the piano is so beautiful though. I played a lot on piano.
Let's try it.
The guitar sounds so good. It could be moot. Yes, I love it. So you want me to take the first? Yeah. Okay, cool. Okay.
Come away with me in the night.
Come away with me and I will write you a song.
Come away with me on a bus.
Come away with me where they can't tempt us with their lies.
And I want to walk with you on a cloudy day.
And fields where the yellow grass grows knee-high. So won't you try to come? Come away with me and we'll kiss on a mountain top. Come away with me and I'll never stop loving you.
And I wanna wake up with the rain falling on a tin roof. While I'm safe there in your arms. So all I ask is for you to come. Come away with me in the night.
Come away with me.
That felt good.
It was pretty.
You're so pretty.
Oh, same.
You sound so pretty.
Back to my bedroom.
In 1999, writing this song.
Four in the morning.
Sad, hopeful girl.
It was like, I was really writing it to no one in particular. You know, like Mr.
Your future.
Yeah, like Prince Charming. It was basically a song from Prince Charming.
For your future, for your future love.
That's beautiful.
But I like how open you seem.
And I don't find that all people are like that, musicians. And I think it's great. Because you're gonna find all kinds of crazy things that way.
You're gonna catch it all.
You just never know.
Yeah, you never know what you're gonna catch when you're just open.
I think that's cool. My, my favorite experiences making records have been when I go in with almost just a few ideas, but no real songs.
Yeah, and no expectations.
Yeah, I didn't learn how to do that, though, until I made that Danger Mouse record. And probably, it was a good, it was a good, like, maybe eight, nine years into my career, so.
That was one of my favorite records.
Oh, thanks.
I remember.
One of mine, too.
Yeah, like, when it came out, putting headphones on, I was working at the creative agency I was telling you about.
I was supposed to be working, but I was like, no, no, no. Like, I'm gonna listen to this album right now.
Sad girl music.
So I like put on my Do Not Disturb or whatever, and I was like, I'm listening to this. And it was so beautiful.
Yeah, that was an interesting record to make.
Where did you guys make that?
We made it in L.A. And I had already known him, we had done a project together where I sang on his record called Rome. And I asked him to make a record I made called The Fall. I had all these songs, it was after a breakup. And, but the songs were all done, and I really wanted them to shine, you know? And I asked him to make it with me, and he said, you know, that's not really how I work. I'd rather you come in and we just write stuff together. That's sort of more what I'm good at and what I like to do. And I was confused by it at first. I didn't understand it. I was like, alright, so I made The Fall, I did all that. And then I was like, alright, you wanna try something? So we did.
So all of these songs you guys made in the room together?
Yeah. There was a couple snippets of ideas, but, yeah.
That's, yeah, that's, that's my favorite way of making music, too, of just kind of going in without, and just seeing, seeing what happens.
Yeah, I mean, the collaboration between two people, when you, you have trust and openness, is the best.
Yeah, I mean, I loved that record, I wanna know more.
You have a dish, the real off mic dish?
Yes. Because I relate to a lot of those songs. I'm like, did we live through a similar experience? But this is off the record. You know, it's funny because in a lot of the recent songs that I'm writing, you know, I think you break up and then the real aftermath of a breakup is when they start seeing someone new.
Yeah. Oh, you have to deal with it.
So you have to deal with them seeing someone new. And so a lot of the songs that I'm writing now are from the perspective of like, you know, you're of to the guy, like you're seeing this new person. But I'm like, I, I kind of want to write a song to the girl.
And be like, hey, maybe look out for a couple of these things.
Warning signs.
That's a cool idea.
Did you find that like, um, you know, playing the songs or touring the songs like after they were so fresh and raw? Like, how was that for you? Because, you know, we wrote the record and then immediately toured it. And I couldn't play Sienna for the first.
Few show, I would just like break down. I was like, I can't do this.
It was still so raw.
I could see that. It was okay. I feel like it was a big record cycle push. And people kept asking me about it and I just kept putting it to the side and shutting down part of it. I think it's that point it had dissipated a little and I was already seeing someone. And I didn't feel as raw about it.
But I liked the drama of it. So I leaned into the drama of it. Cause the drama was dramatic when it was happening, but by the time the record came out, none of that felt thick.
Yeah. That's hard though. And also you're together doing it.
Yeah. Yeah. And, and like I said, not all of the songs are about, you know, I was in a relationship after him and I had broken up, but. You know, that's another dynamic. Oh, yeah. He knows, okay, this song's not about me. I have to sing it and perform it, knowing who it's about, you know. And so that that's also another part of our dynamic that That's a whole thing. That we're getting through, and that's pretty interesting. That is interesting. Well, this was the juicy bit. It was the juicy bit.
Yeah. Yeah, well, you got it going on, though.
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Are you guys on tour a lot still?
Yeah, we're doing Latin America for the first time.
Fun!
Everywhere, kind of?
We're doing Colombia, Chile, Mexico, Peru? I'm not sure.
Brazil?
Argentina, Brazil, yes. Have you been before?
I have, it's so fun.
Yeah, I heard the fans are like, just so animated and like...
Yeah, you're gonna have fun.
You're gonna have the best shows probably ever.
The worst travel days and some of the best food.
Okay, yeah, cool. Good to know, good to know.
I'm excited.
This was really fun.
It was so fun.
Thanks so much for doing it!
Thank you so much for having me.
This is such a pleasure. I'm so excited for what you guys are gonna do next.
Yeah, I'm super, super excited.
Awesome.
Sounds good.
Yay! Aw, thank you so much for listening to Maria Zardoya.
That was beautiful.
She's great. Friends for life. Here are the songs we played in this episode in order. The first one was called "No One Noticed", from the Maria's album "Submarine" in 2024. The second song is called "Lejos de ti", also from that album. The third song is called "Sienna", also from "Submarine". And the fourth song was good old "Come Away With Me", my song from my first album that was released in 2002. Special thanks to Maria Zardoya for joining us today. And we'll be back next week with Alessia Cara. Visit Norah Jones' channel and be sure to subscribe while you're there. Norah Jones is Playing Along is a production of iHeart Podcasts, and I'm your host, Norah Jones. This episode was recorded by Kyle Pass, mixed by Jamie Landry,
video editing by Marcus Rutledge, additional recording by Matt Marinelli, audio post-production by Greg Tobler, artwork by Eliza Frye, photography by Shirvan Lanaz, produced by Norah Jones...
That's me.
...and Sarah Oda...
Executive producers Erin Wong Kaufman and Jordan Runtog. Marketing lead, Queen Anaki.
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