Laufey: Bringing back Jazz to a new generation

Are you struggling to look for a new artist or genre to listen to, just to get something new? A solution to your problem is Laufey (pronounced LAY-vay), a Chinese-Icelandic Jazz singer-songwriter. She is currently my second most listened artist on Spotify, and currently the most listened Jazz artist on Spotify. Despite having around 21 million monthly listeners on Spotify, people are still confused as to who she is whenever I mention her name. While being very popular, I still believe she deserves even more recognition for the effort she has put into everything.
While she’s in the Jazz category, and it absolutely fits her music style, she is also in the Pop music category as well, with her twist to the Jazz genre. From the covers of famous jazz songs such as Christmas Dreaming by Frank Sinatra and Misty by Erroll Garner, bringing back nostalgia to those familiar, she also creates her own music and adds her own touch to the jazz world.
Laufeys’s newest album “Bewitched” is her second studio album and it was released on Sept. 8, 2023. While she has only released two albums, this is by far my favorite one. Not only is “Bewitched”’ her most popular album, but she already has gotten a Grammy nomination for “Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.” With its romantic themes and lovey-dovey feel, these catchy songs for sure give you goosebumps.
Now, I’ve explained her rising popularity as an artist and her success. The real question is what songs should you listen to? Well, I can easily answer that for you, and give you some of my own favorites and why they bewitched me.
One of my favorites, which is also her most popular song, is “From The Start,” known for the “blah blah blah” part of the song that people scream in concert and its TikTok popularity, this song has now gotten around 192 million listens as of when I’m writing this (Dec. 18, 2023). It has such a lovey yet jealous/sassy sort of feel and there’s even a bit of scatting. It’s about somebody deeply in love with someone, yet they do not feel the same. According to jesus.com, Laufey described the song and who it’s catered to. “The ultimate friends-to-lovers song for all your delusional daydreams,” said Laufey.
Probably the least popular out of them all I’m reviewing, but for sure one of my favorite songs is “Dreamer.” If I could associate this song with something, it would be a cloud, as it has such a dreamy and fluffy feel. She also mentions “cloud” in the lyrics so that’s just more proof that I’m 100% correct. The song is angelic and it feels like you are up in the air with this sort of weightless feeling. This is definitely more of a jazzy feel than the previous song and I can definitely recite at least 90% of this song, it’s extremely catchy and unskippable.
“Promise” is one of the less upbeat songs and it’s one of the more gloomy and sad songs out of the playlists. Known for the part “I’ve done the math, there’s no solution, we’ll never last” that also went viral on TikTok, this definitely has a different appeal than the other two, as it’s a lot slower with a slow piano and a softer voice. However, despite being so different, it’s still one of my favorites. The lyrics talk about promising to stay apart and to be distanced, however, they are still tempted to reach out.
To end it with the song that matches the album name, as well as at the bottom of the album itself, “Bewitched” is another one of the slower songs, but rather than sad lyrics, it’s all lovey-dovey yet again. She got struck by a love spell, which she hasn’t experienced before, and she is left so confused yet it’s such a good feeling. There are a lot of amazing instrumentals which also give a dreamy feel to it, just as falling in love may be. It’s the perfect way to end the album, with the theme of love.
Not only is this entire album so perfect in every way (not subjective), but she is bringing back a genre of music that wasn’t so popular in recent years. That’s probably my favorite part about it; she is bringing back jazz to a whole new generation. While I may just seem like somebody who is just obsessed, and I may be, I still strongly believe that more people would listen to her if they knew who she is, which those reading this obviously do now. My assignment to you now is to listen to AT LEAST one of her songs, and if you don’t like it then jazz may not be for you. If you do enjoy it, however, you’re welcome.