Classical music for Gen Z

Young star Laufey brings jazz to the TikTok world

Only 25 years old, but already Grammy-winning and often compared to Taylor Swift in the hype segment: Icelandic breakthrough artist Laufey.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/AWAL, Gemma Warren)

Modern pop, jazz and classical music don't have to be a contradiction in terms, nor do they always have to be equated with David Garrett. Laufey, a highly talented Icelander with Chinese roots, has not only conquered a Grammy and the Spotify charts with her second album "Bewitched", but also the hearts of Generation Z, which normally doesn't have much to do with the sounds of high culture.

In the all-consuming frenzy over Taylor Swift's new album, it almost goes unnoticed that a kind of second Taylor has achieved global prominence in another musical segment. Laufey Lín Jónsdóttir, singer, cellist and pianist from Reykjavik in Iceland with Chinese roots, is currently conquering the planet with her second album "Bewitched" and is seen as the savior of a music genre that has been languishing commercially for some time. Laufey, not a stage name by the way, lends her angelic voice to the sophisticated corset of jazz, igniting a wildfire that transcends all genders and age groups. Around four million TikTok followers and two million fans on Instagram prove that jazz is by no means a dusty relic for jacket-wearers with a fat wallet, but can also work at a low threshold when presented in the right way.

Lifelines converge
"Bewitched" not only won Laufey a Grammy in the "Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album" category two months ago, it is also the most streamed jazz debut album in the history of Spotify. So you see - all the lifelines come together for the Icelander. "My goal is to bring jazz and classical music to my generation in a more accessible way," she was quoted as saying during the "Bewitched" recording sessions. At first, the shy Northerner could not have guessed that it would work out so well. Laufey's parents come from a classical background, play the violin professionally and taught their twin daughters (Laufey's sister supports them like a shadow from the background) to love older music at an early age. So it came about early on that Laufey, while easily playing the Gen-Z social media game, counts Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and Frédéric Chopin among her most important influences.

Driven by a passion for creativity and music, her musical path was mapped out early on. At the age of 15, she was already working as a cellist with the Icelandic symphony orchestra and was the youngest contestant to achieve considerable success in the Icelandic versions of "Got Talent" and "The Voice". She later graduated from the prestigious Berklee College of Music and for the past year has been trying to steer her rocket-fueled career from the western music metropolis of Los Angeles. While still a student at Berklee, she launched her career with the single "Street By Street" and the subsequent EP "Typical Of Me", which has already received its sanctus from "Rolling Stone". Willow Smith and Billie Eilish were enthusiastic - of course, you can't get better publicity than that.

Youth-free love stories
She came into contact with the London Symphony Orchestra, networked with musicians from different genres and crowned her young career in 2022 with the debut "Everything I Know About Love", which hit the scene like a bursting grenade and caused more than just a stir. It was there that Laufey's lyrical direction, reminiscent of Taylor Swift, emerged. The Icelander sang then and now about love in all its facets and perspectives and always remains so youth-free that you don't even have to put "Parental Advisory" stickers on the freshly printed CDs. The song material ranges from bows to the greatness of jazz to orchestrated, epic songs and gentle ballads whose tenderness cuts through the silence like a knife at the slightest note.

The romantic content is dissected down to the smallest detail by the so-called "Lauvers", yes, Laufey also has her own personal tribe of "Swifties", in order to reconstruct the puzzle into a large Faberge egg of the artist's life. Bewitched" wanders between piano interludes and bossa nova approaches, but for all its beauty and dense production, it sometimes veers too close to kitsch. There is a fine line between a serious examination of classical music and an unmistakable Disney stink, and Laufey does not always succeed in choosing the right side effortlessly. Particularly in the middle section of the album with "California" and "Promise", she spackles a lot of sticky putty over the body of sound and loses touch with her own idols in the process.

Searching for her musical self
In order to be able to offer new material for the - mostly already completely sold out - tour stops from Chicago to Taipei to Barcelona (only Austria is not included anywhere), Laufey is now releasing the "Bewitched: Goddess" version, which is enriched with a handful of new songs and should present the artist in a slightly different light. The content of the song "Goddess" itself plays with the changes in her own life. "It's about a guy who falls in love with my stage self, then goes home with me and realizes that I'm a completely normal person. That the image he has of me doesn't necessarily correspond to reality." The post-Grammy stress of the last few months in particular has made Laufey reflect on herself and her identity. Between hopeless late-teenage romanticism, pompous kitsch moments and serious jazz reminiscences, Laufey is currently searching for her true musical self. The direction is right, but it still needs some fine-tuning.