Bewitched
One of Icelandic singer-songwriter-pianist Laufey’s primary concerns beyond just making her style of vocal jazz is to bring jazz, in general, to a younger audience. Hosting live sessions on TikTok and Instagram and getting co-signs from Billie Eilish and WILLOW are a couple ways she’s managed to connect to her peers, but it is the music—and, more specifically, the lyrics—that really does the heavy lifting. Laufey (pronounced *LAY-vay*) is a traditionalist at heart, and her influences (think Billie Holiday and Chet Baker) shine through in the melancholic torch songs that make up her second album. (She also regularly covers the standards, and includes a version of Erroll Garner and Johnny Burke’s “Misty” here.) But it’s in the decidedly modern words she sings where she makes new breakthroughs. A tune like “While You Were Sleeping” could be a lost Songbook addition, but its lyrics—“I\'m dancing down streets/Smiling to strangers/Idiotic things/I trace it all back/3:30 am”—draw a solid line between today and the past. Yet still, her voice’s richness and her phrasing are as spellbinding as those of many of her icons. Her songs can be inventive and playful, forlorn and wrenching, and she sings of love and lack thereof with a depth beyond her 24 years. But it’s in those unexpected, fanciful twists where Laufey really impresses. In “Letter to My 13 Year Old Self,” she sings about the awkwardness of teenage years with a sensitivity and frankness that’s very much a product of the present day.
TikTok’s favorite neoclassical jazz singer gives contemporary heartache a misty, out-of-time quality.
TikTok’s favorite neoclassical jazz singer gives contemporary heartache a misty, out-of-time quality.
The Icelandic-Chinese star's dazzlingly second album is confident and musically ambitious, melding jazz, pop and modern classical composition
Maybe it’s because Laufey doesn’t fix what wasn’t already broken – her traditional, classical and jazz-influenced style is just as effective as when she started. But, on Bewitched, she refines and perfects that style.
The Icelandic-Chinese star's dazzlingly second album is confident and musically ambitious, melding jazz, pop and modern classical composition
Maybe it’s because Laufey doesn’t fix what wasn’t already broken – her traditional, classical and jazz-influenced style is just as effective as when she started. But, on Bewitched, she refines and perfects that style.
Her crystalline voice and effortless charisma make this album into a gorgeous display of a unique talent.
Her crystalline voice and effortless charisma make this album into a gorgeous display of a unique talent.