From the start, Icelandic-Chinese singer Laufey has captivated audiences around the world with her fresh take on Jazz music.
The music style originated in the 1920s and was popularized in the cities of New Orleans, Chicago and New York City, and was highly promoted in the African-American communities where it originated from. The music style heavily involves brass instruments with hints of low bass tones. Jazz also has a large focus on improvisation and “going with the flow.”
The 24-year-old got her first taste of classical music when she was only 15, playing the cello with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. She then went on to become a finalist and semi-finalist on Iceland’s “The Voice” and Iceland’s “Got Talent.” Six years later—in 2020—Laufey released her debut single, “Street by Street.” Due to the growing popularity of TikTok, she was able to build a large presence there. One of her most recent accomplishments was The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences nominated and awarded her “Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album” at the 2024 Grammys for her second studio album “Bewitched.”
I first discovered Laufey’s music in Oct. 2022 after finding her in the similar artist category on Apple Music. The feature shows recommended artists based on the artists you enjoy. I was initially drawn to her because of her profile picture—specifically the green fairytale aesthetic since she had released her first studio album, “Everything I Know About Love,” a few months prior to my discovery. The first song I ever listened to by her was “Like the Movies,” which came out on her first EP in 2021. I really enjoyed this song because it reminded me of a songmy cousin wrote, which was also largely influenced by Jazz and Ballad music.
Recently, I have found myself really appreciating Jazz music, especially from the 1950s. One artist that Laufey helped introduce me to was Erroll Garner, a piano jazz artist. He is known for bringing together jazz musicians who performed in nightclubs and concert halls. Erroll Garner taught himself the piano when he was only three years old, though he never learned how to read sheet music as he played off of his ear and feeling. I enjoy this music, because it is all instrumental, allowing me to focus when working on school work.
Laufey has also greatly grown in the social media world with there being 178.3k videos on TikTok that use her song “Falling Behind.” Creators on TikTok enjoy using her songs in their videos because of the relatable lyrics about love, heartbreak and growing up. Although her lyrics describe modern ideals, I admire Laufey’s way of incorporating older music styles and songs for newer generations to experience. For example, the song “Misty,” which was featured on her album “Bewitched,” has many different versions. The original instrumental was performed by Erroll Garner in 1954 and five years later, the lyrics were written by Johnny Burke.
Laufey’s genre is considered to be pop jazz and is described as a combination of various Jazz types like funk, R&B, and soul music with hints of pop to give it more of a commercial sound. She has also done various music collabs with other artists who, similarly, gained popularity off TikTok. Her most recent collaboration was with Jazz artist Norah Jones in 2023 for their Christmas song, “Christmas With You.” Norah Jones is known for her jazz and R&B music that she made in the early 2000s.
Laufey kicked off the “Bewitched” Tour in San Francisco in Oct. 2023. She continued to play throughout the U.S. until mid November. She just recently launched the European leg of her tour in early Feb. 2024. On Dec. 4, 2023, she announced her return to North America for “Bewitched: The Goddess Tour” in spring 2024. Along with “The Goddess Tour,” Laufey released a single by the same name. “Goddess” is one of the four new tracks that are featured on “Bewitched: The Goddess Edition” the extension of Laufey’s second studio album “Bewitched.” The titles of the other three new songs are “Bored,” “Trouble” and “It Could Happen To You.”
[Concert experience]
With her popularity growing, getting tickets for her upcoming shows in San Francisco was a struggle. Originally, Laufey only had two shows set for San Francisco for April 12 and 13. On Dec. 6 at 10 a.m., the presale tickets were scheduled to go on sale. Considering the show dates for San Francisco lined up with spring break, I desperately wanted these tickets. My mom set a timer on her phone that morning so she could make sure she was able to get them. With the tickets selling out for those first two days in just 15 minutes, I was not able to buy any. That was until I got home and received the joyous news that she had added an additional show date for San Francisco and many other cities. With great luck, I was able to secure four tickets the next day for the April 11 show for around $85 per ticket.
I went to the concert with my sister, cousin and mom, all people who I got interested in Laufey’s music. Out of the four of us, my sister and I were the most excited. We were already familiar with the area because we had watched the band Mother Mother in the same venue we saw Laufey in: the Masonic. We arrived at the venue at around 6:40 p.m., 20 minutes before the doors opened. The lines moved considerably fast compared to my past concert experiences. After we entered the masonic at around 7:15 p.m. we headed straight to the merch booth. Once again, I expected the line for the merch booth to be much longer than it actually was. We were able to purchase our merchandise and arrived at our seats by 7:30 p.m. I purchased a navy blue t-shirt with the tour dates for myself and a set of 4 postcards for my friend. The shirt was $40 dollars and the postcards were $15 coming out to a total of $55. While waiting for Laufey’s opener Grace Enger to perform, the house music created a jazzy mood. They played songs from a variety of artists such as Mitski, Bruno Major and the La La Land soundtrack. We were seated in the balcony area so we had a pretty clear view of the stage. Since the Masonic is a small venue, even if you are in the balcony area you are still considerably close to the stage.
The aspect I enjoy the most about going to concerts is the excuse to dress up. Laufey is very much a coquette, “ballerina core,” icon. The phrase, “being coquette,” popularized by TikTok, is a person or thing typically has bows and gravitates towards a pastel palette. Laufey is often sporting a different color pair of ballet flats in each of her Instagram posts. Along with these, she usually ties a little satin bow in either her hair or clothes to enhance her coquette style. Many, including myself, were dressed in flowing skirts and dresses paired with some type of knitted aspect. Laufey’s fandom, known as Lauvers, also rocked bows throughout their outfits. Lauvers is a play on the word lovers since Laufey is pronounced lay-vay.
There was a platform setup in the lobby where fans could take a photo replicating Laufey’s photoshoot for the Goddess Tour. There were also “Little Laufey Libraries” scattered around the venue. They were used to promote Laufey’s online book club which she started in Oct. 2022. The fans brought books to put inside and trade, similar to the “leave one take one mini” libraries seen in neighborhoods. Although I did not check out all the activities set up for the fans, it seemed like a nice way to incorporate more fan interaction.
The show opened with a jazz solo performed by the pianist of the band around 9 p.m.. Laufey had a band composed of a drummer, bassist, pianist, multi instrumentalist and a string quartet. Laufey herself played the cello, piano and guitar throughout the show. The first song she performed was “While You Were Sleeping,” the fifth track on the “Bewitched”’ album. This was followed by one of her most viral songs, “Valentine.” I was blown away by the live background music and vocals. Laufey’s raw vocals sounded exactly like if not better than the recordings. She also incorporated a lot of jazz elements in the empty spaces between songs. At one point, her bassist and drummer were doing a freestyle type of jazz.
Both the setup of the stage and the live music created an atmosphere similar to a jazz club. This type of atmosphere is very different from those I usually experience at concerts, however I found that this made me enjoy the music more. Contrary to concerts held in bigger venues, everybody was seated the entire concert and there was not really any jumping or screaming super loud. When I attend other concerts, I tend to feel the need to capture everything on my phone, but during the Laufey concert I found myself putting down my phone and just enjoying the music. Laufey’s performance itself was stunning. She truly had such a strong stage presence and really made the audience feel the emotions in the songs not only through the music and her voice, but her facial expressions and movements.
Her set lasted for an hour and a half. Her setlist included most of her songs from her “Bewitched” album, a few of her most popular songs, and “Bored,” one of the new tracks on her upcoming album. After Laufey performed her final song –“From The Start” – some people started to leave assuming the concert was over. However, some of the crowd started to chant for an encore and Laufey came running back out. For her encore, she performed one last song from her “Bewitched” album and one of my favorites, “Letter To My 13 Year Old Self.” Lauvers joined in shining their phone flashlights and singing along. In response to the line “One day you’ll be up on stage, little girls will scream your name,” everybody screamed Laufey’s name. That moment made me realize just how much her fans look up to her and relate with her. This concert was truly like no other concert I have experienced before and definitely is one of my favorites. It was a night to remember.
