Grammy award winning singer songwriter Norah Jones has released a new record, Little Broken Hearts, which some critics have called her "darkest work to date".

"Sonically it's dark and lyrically it's dark," she agreed in an interview on CBC radio's Q with Jian Ghomeshi. "I tried something different on my last album but I wanted to go even further."

Still, Jones disagreed with American Songwriter magazine, who called the album, “The most dramatic and rewarding departure she’s made in her career."

Norah Jones said the album cover was a deliberate imitation of the movie poster for the movie Mudhoney, which was hanging in the studio where she wrote and recorded the album. (EMI Music Canada)"Nothing feels like that to me ... I'm not planning to jump off a bridge with no bungee," she joked, adding that she isn't trying to prove anything to anyone.

"I try to just make music that I love, and if I believe in it that's all that matters."

Jones said much of the album's feel was born of her collaboration with Grammy award-winning producer Brian Burton, or Danger Mouse, who produced the album. She characterizes Little Broken Hearts as a series of little stories with an almost cinematic feel.

Even the album cover is based on a poster for the 1965 movie Mudhoney by Russ Meyer, which was hanging in the recording studio as the two wrote and recorded each song. Jones thought the image was scary, mysterious and sexy without revealing too much.

"It was a little bit surprising that we came up with something that was actually so cohesive," Jones told CBC News.

"But I guess it makes sense because we were writing in a very intense period of time, so all the songs really connect."