Laufey (pronounced lāyvāy) is a 24 year old Icelandic-Chinese artist with a goal of bringing jazz music back to this generation. From the time she was still in college, in 2020, her debut single “Street by Street” topped Icelandic radio charts. Shortly after the release of her first EP, Typical of Me, she was named Best New Artist in Jazz and Blues at the Icelandic Music Awards. Her first album, Everything I Know About Love, made the #1 spot on Billboard’s Alternative New Artist Album chart. Some of her songs, such as “Valentine,” “From The Start,” and “Let You Break My Heart Again,” were all over TikTok, and “Valentine” even peaked at #1 on the Spotify Jazz Chart. In 2022, Laufey was the most streamed Jazz artist on Spotify, with 425 million streams across all platforms.
On September 8, 2023, Laufey released her new album, Bewitched, which features 14 songs. Upon the release of the album, it gained over 5.7 million streams, breaking the record for the biggest debut jazz album on Spotify in history. Additionally, the week of September 7th-10th, Bewitched became the second biggest debut album globally on Spotify top charts, just below Olivia Rodrigo’s newest album, GUTS.
The album has a mix of beautiful love songs and melancholy songs about unrequited love.
The first song in the album, “Dreamer,” has a very 20s vibe to it. In the song, Laufey talks about how she refuses to let anyone take away the dreamer in her.
“Second Best” is about how Laufey feels always being her lover’s second choice and how much she loves him and wishes she was his first.
“Haunted” is about how Laufey refuses to be with anyone but the person she’s in love with and how she’ll wait until he’s with her again.
“Must Be Love” the fourth track on the album, and “While You Were Sleeping”, the fifth track, are about how Laufey’s life changed and her being much happier as she realized she’d fallen in love.
“Lovesick” is an incredible song. I love the lyrics, instrumentals, and overall feel of the song, and the chorus is my favorite of all of the songs in the album. As the title of the song implies, this song is about feeling lovesick. The song even made it on The Global Chart Show on Apple Music.
“California and Me,” was released as a single in 2023. This song is about Laufey feeling bitter and hurt over the fact that her lover left her and upset at herself for not trying to stop him.
“Nocturne (Interlude)” is a beautiful piano transition from “California and Me” to “Promise.” It’s a song I feel like I could listen to on loop for hours without getting tired of.
“Promise” is her fourth most streamed song on Spotify. It’s my personal favorite song in Bewitched, and my favorite song of Laufey’s overall. It was released early as a single as well.
“From The Start” was released as a single in May of 2023. It quickly gained popularity across TikTok, and over 2 million videos were made using the audio, and in July 2023 it hit the US top 50. It is currently Laufey’s most streamed song on Spotify. The song talks about how she’s loved her crush “From The Start,” and how even though she knows his feelings are unrequited, she wants him to know she’s loved him all along.
“Misty,” is about how Laufey notices she feels “Misty” around somebody, and in the following track, “Serendipity,” Laufey realizes that she’s falling in love and how she’s blinded by that.
“Letter To My 13 Year Old Self” is a song Laufey wrote that she wishes she could share with herself when she was younger. She tells her 13 year old self to stop worrying about her appearance and what others think of her, “One of the tracks on this album takes the form of a letter addressed to my younger self. In the song, I tell her to continue forging her own path, chase her dreams and drown out the voices that tell her to conform. With this album, I feel I’ve done exactly that.”
The title track, “Bewitched,” was released as a single. The beginning of the song has a whimsy intro that feels like the beginning of a song from a Halloween movie, that fades into a blend of guitar, piano, and violin paired with Laufey’s beautiful vocals. This song is about how Laufey was enchanted by the person she talks about in the song, as if he had casted a spell on her.
Laufey has shown her beautiful talent for songwriting, singing, and music throughout this album. “Growing up with a jazz and classical background, I always knew I wanted to introduce the music I so loved to new audiences. In Bewitched, I leaned closer to my musical roots than I ever dared to before.” Bewitched was an amazing album, and I can’t wait to see the next release in Laufey’s journey to bring back jazz music.