Laufey

Laufey Lín Jónsdóttir grew up moving between Reykjavík, Iceland and Washington, D.C., absorbing two musical worlds at once. Her mother, a classical violinist, set her on the path to piano and cello early on, and as a teenager Laufey performed with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. When she discovered her father's record collection, filled with the work of jazz luminaries like Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday, an entirely new direction opened up. She earned a Presidential scholarship to the Berklee College of Music, where the foundations of her sound were formalized: a sound rooted in jazz and the Great American Songbook but shaped entirely by her own perspective as a half-Icelandic, half-Chinese singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. There is no one making music quite like her, and that has been clear from the very beginning.

Her debut EP, Typical of Me, arrived in April 2021, and she followed it with the single "Let You Break My Heart Again", a lush and aching recording that featured London's Philharmonia Orchestra. The ambition on display, the willingness to think in grand, orchestral terms while still centering deeply personal emotion, announced an artist with a vision well beyond her years. Early attention from artists including Billie Eilish and Willow Smith helped grow her audience, but the music did most of the work on its own.

Bewitched, released on September 8, 2023, elevated Laufey to a truly global stage. The album climbed into the top 30 of the Billboard 200, and its standout "From The Start" became one of the year's most widely shared songs. A breezy bossa nova piece about unrequited love between close friends, "From The Start" captures what makes Laufey such a distinctive songwriter: she understands the conventions of classic jazz and traditional pop well enough to use them expressively rather than merely imitate them. At the Grammy Awards in 2024, Bewitched won Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album, making Laufey the youngest artist ever to claim that honor.

Bewitched later grew into a deluxe reissue, Bewitched: The Goddess Edition, which introduced new tracks including the lead single "Goddess", released in March 2024. Laufey described "Goddess" as her most personal and honest song, a statement that speaks to how fully she commits to her craft no matter how large the platform becomes.

Her third studio album, A Matter of Time, arrived in 2025, co-produced with Spencer Stewart and Aaron Dessner. The record represents a deepening of her artistry, moving from jazz preservation toward more openly vulnerable and emotionally expansive territory. It debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 and reached number one on the Jazz Albums chart. "Clockwork" and "Lover Girl" stand among its highlights. At the 68th Grammy Awards in early 2026, A Matter of Time won Laufey her second consecutive Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album trophy, making her the youngest artist to win the category twice. It is a distinction she has earned through serious, soulful work, and it feels like only the beginning.