Singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Laufey channels jazz-tinged traditional pop into the present day through gentle compositions shaped by Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Peggy Lee, Chet Baker, and George Gershwin. The Icelandic-Chinese artist, often likened to a younger counterpart of Norah Jones and Fiona Apple, entered the public eye in the early 2020s when her viral track “Street by Street” spread across social platforms and drew notice from Billie Eilish and Willow Smith. Her debut EP, Typical of Me, appeared in April 2021. She followed that project with her first proper studio album, Everything I Know About Love, released in 2022, which climbed into the Top 20 on Iceland’s domestic chart. Enhanced by orchestral work with the Philharmonia Orchestra, the more refined Bewitched arrived in 2023, securing broader international attention that included a Top 30 debut on the Billboard 200 and the Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. The 2024 single “Goddess” introduced an expanded reissue of the album, and later that year she issued the holiday EP A Very Laufey Christmas.
Born Laufey Lín Jónsdóttir, she divided her early years between Reykjavík and Washington, D.C., immersing herself in classical and jazz repertoire before joining the Iceland Symphony Orchestra as a teenager. During the same period she performed a solo piano version of Grace Potter’s “Stars” on Iceland’s Got Talent, leaving the judges visibly moved. The following year she appeared on The Voice Iceland with Whitney Houston’s “I Have Nothing.” Awarded the Presidential Scholarship to Berklee College of Music in Boston, she absorbed contemporary influences there while refining her abilities as a vocalist, instrumentalist, and songwriter alongside fellow students.
Laufey had just finished recording her debut single, “Street by Street,” when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down campus life. Confined by global lockdowns, she began sharing performances online, demonstrating her command of guitar, cello, and piano while reaching listeners worldwide. “Street by Street” later topped the Icelandic Radio Charts. She quickly followed with “Best Friend” and “Someone New,” all three tracks appearing on Typical of Me in 2021.
In August 2022 she unveiled her first full-length, Everything I Know About Love. Driven by the bossa-nova single “Falling Behind,” the album reached the Top 20 in Iceland and number 14 on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart. A sold-out North American headline tour began the next month, and the live recording A Night at the Symphony Orchestra, captured with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, surfaced in early 2023 and peaked at number three on the Jazz Albums chart.
Another bossa-inflected single, “From the Start,” surfaced in May and entered the U.K. and Canadian singles charts. Featuring further contributions from the Philharmonia Orchestra, Bewitched arrived in September 2023. The album entered the Billboard 200 at number 23, while also hitting number four in Iceland, the Top 20 in New Zealand, and the Top 40 in Canada. In February 2024 the project earned Laufey her first Grammy in the Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album category. An expanded reissue, Bewitched: The Goddess Edition, followed in April and incorporated additional material, among them the single “Goddess” and a reading of the standard “It Could Happen to You.” She closed the year with the seasonal EP A Very Laufey Christmas, which included a guest appearance by British pop singer Dodie.
