Laufey, the Icelandic-Chinese jazz artist, has rapidly risen to fame. She first gained popularity in late 2020 by becoming a sensation on social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram. It happened after she recorded a video of herself singing a new, unreleased song titled “Let You Break My Heart Again.” The internet immediately fell in love with her soft voice and heartfelt lyrics about the challenges of unrequited love. Laufey manages to create a captivating way to modernize jazz that appeals to audiences of all ages worldwide while also conveying personal stories in her music. She has always had a deep passion for modernizing classical and jazz music so that everyone can enjoy the beauty of these genres.
From a young age, Laufey loved listening to jazz artists like Chet Baker and Frank Sinatra, who ultimately influenced her jazz sound. Unlike most young kids in Iceland who wanted to spend their time enjoying their youth and playing with other children, Laufey devoted all her time to practicing and learning to play instruments like the cello and piano. In a Vogue interview, she gratefully reflected on her youth, stating, “I’m so thankful my mom pushed me to practice and instilled that kind of discipline. I’m still building upon that foundation, stamina, and technique to this very day.” This upbringing led Laufey to be selected as a guest soloist in the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra at the age of 15 and to audition for “Iceland’s Got Talent” and “The Voice Of Iceland.” On both talent shows, she didn’t win and had to watch the shows from the sidelines.”This experience was a turning point in her teenage years and fueled her desire to achieve success. When reflecting on this experience, she said, “It felt so stark, like somehow, I wasn’t special.”
She attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston and began to cultivate her passion for writing songs. The songs she started writing had a sound that was very different from typical mainstream music. Her song “Let You Break My Heart Again” had so many views on TikTok that she was extremely encouraged by her new followers to release it. When asked about what sets Laufey apart from mainstream artists, Nicky Li, a sophomore at Harrison High School and an avid listener of Laufey replied, “It’s just the style of the music. It’s calming, relatable, and gives me the feeling. It is very nice to vibe to.”
All of these factors contributed to her rapid rise to fame. Laufey released her album “Bewitched” at the beginning of September, and on the same day, it broke Spotify’s jazz streaming records with 5.7 million streams. The album also debuted at Number 23 on the Billboard 200 and has been at that spot for a month. The title track, From The Start, gained 1 million streams in the first 24 hours and has steadily gained 1.7 million views every day since. When asked about why Laufey is so popular, Hina Kamada, a sophomore at Harrison High School responded, “She became popular due to her style of music, the way she tends to layer her voice over itself in her songs. She sings about her deeply personal life experiences.” Laufey has brought back the popularity of jazz by tailoring her songs to a younger audience and sharing relatable personal experiences that most teens go through.
Laufey has managed to contribute to the revival of the popularity of jazz and made it more appealing to younger audiences.
