In the UK, they call her the new Norah Jones. But, as 19-year-old ingenue Katie Melua begins to get airplay internationally, she just wants to be herself.
'I've been asked about her about 70 times already,' Melua sighs on the phone, lamenting those Come Away With Me comparisons during a promotional tour of the US.
'What I say now is they could've compared me to someone much worse. I am a fan of Norah and I love what she does. But the music is different and it's a shame the media has to put you in a box.'
In fact, it's quite hard trying to pin London-based Melua into one simple box. Her music is slightly bluesy but it's certainly not blues. It's jazzy but not really jazz. And there are traditional folk nuances too.
'It's sort of weird having people try to slot my music into a category because I find it hard defining what sort of music this album is myself. There are elements of jazz, blues, folk, pop music.'
The reason why the press needs a quick handle is because Melua's independently released album, Call Off the Search (distributed by Universal Music) has become a rather surprising success.