Laufey Isn’t Afraid to Get a Little Messy on Her New Album

Jacket, tank top, jeans, scarf, earrings, handbag, bag charm, and platform sandals, Fendi.

When Laufey looks out at her fans from the stage, she sees an audience full of “direct reflections” of herself. They’re funny; they’re kind; they’re making friends with fellow fans; some even look and dress like her. “Growing up, I really struggled with finding a group of people that I really understood and that understood me,” she says. “The fact that I’ve kind of summoned an audience of exactly that—it just makes my younger self really, really happy.” Laufey is aware that fan bases—hers are called Lauvers—can exhibit some over-the-top behavior, but, she says, even though her fans are “definitely, in a way, a cult, it’s a really positive, happy, cute one.”

The Icelandic-Chinese musician, born Laufey Lín Jónsdóttir (pronounced “lay-vay” in English), is a Berklee grad who plays piano, guitar, violin, and cello, using her jazz and classical training to create a charming spin on pop. She’s attracted Gen Z fans, who edit fancams of her and her twin sister and creative director, Junia, and flock to see her at the symphony. “I always hope that my music is a gateway for people to get to know jazz,” she says.

Last year, Laufey won her first Grammy—Traditional Pop Vocal Album—for 2023’s Bewitched. But she’s also received criticism from jazz purists who claim that her work isn’t true to the genre. “That just couldn’t be further from the truth,” she says. She struggled with the “ill-researched” comments at first, but she’s learned to move on. “I know what I know, and I know what I’m good at, so that’s enough for me,” she says. “At the end of the day, what are genres? I’ve spent my whole life trying to fit into some sort of box. Am I a classical musician, a jazz musician? Am I Icelandic? Am I Chinese? Am I American? I’ve never been able to fit into a box. So I’m trying to distance myself from that. I think that’s quite old-fashioned.”

Her fans have helped her feel a sense of belonging. “All I see is just a community of people that I wish I’d had when I was a little younger,” she says. Many of them are Asian like her, which is no coincidence. “It’s a loud sign that everyone needs representation. We love to see ourselves reflected in the artists we look up to.” Now, Laufey is making sure the next generation of artists can feel like they belong, too. Last month, she launched The Laufey Foundation, which will provide grants to youth orchestra programs around the world so that young musicians will have the resources they need to thrive.

Laufey’s next record, A Matter of Time, which drops August 22, is a concept album about “a young woman unraveling.” It’ll explore her messier side, one that’s hidden behind the frilly Rodarte dresses and Sandy Liang bows. That’s clear on her romantic lead single, “Silver Lining,” in which she sings, “When you go to hell, I’ll go there with you, too,” and in the more recent “Tough Luck,” where she disses a loser ex-boyfriend with angelic vocals and a climactic bridge.

There’ll still be jazz and classical elements, but with bigger “pop sounds” and a “more extroverted” feel. After a childhood of performing classical music for “old people,” Laufey was surprised to play at concert halls and hear young voices sing back at her. Now she wants to earn it: “I want to make music worthy of singing along to.”

What can we expect from your next album?

I say this with every album, but it’s very honest. I feel like my past albums were quite like, “La la la, I’ve never been in love.” Very ditzy. With this album, I’ve experienced a lot more life. I think we all present a very pretty version of ourselves to the world. This starts there, and then starts to dig in and show the darker thoughts and things that are within a woman....It’s about this constant fight with keeping the outside pretty and the inside organized.

As I’ve grown into this success, I really see how much of a role model I am for people, young women especially, and I never want to gaslight any young woman into thinking that everything is just so perfect.

Women obviously create great music every year, but the last year felt like a notable moment when they were really dominating the mainstream. How did that feel for you?

I just think it’s such an incredible time to be a woman in music. It’s not only that women are dominating, but that they’re dominating in every single little corner of music as well. Everyone is so different. Doechii is making completely different music from Sabrina Carpenter. And Sabrina, Chappell Roan, and Charli xcx are pop princesses, but in such completely different ways. That is really, really beautiful, and it speaks to how modern audiences are so open to different types of music. I think women are more versatile than we’re given credit for. That’s the main thing that stood out to me this past year....Though I’m so happy with the progress that women have made in music and how much they’ve been in the forefront of driving culture, there’s such a long way to go when it comes to women in the background.

Why is it important to uplift women songwriters and producers?

You can really see when there’s a woman writing with a woman, the magic that it creates, because there’s a level of honesty. Like, a man could never get into my head, never understand what I’m going through. That’s one of the main reasons that female producers and writers should be highlighted, because nobody understands the female experience like a woman.

How do you feel about being called “Gen Z’s jazz icon”?

It’s weird, because I don’t really see myself as one genre or the other. I think when I started, I needed something to tell people. I’m a trained jazz singer, and when I was younger, before I started writing music, I only sang jazz music. I started my career singing jazz standards on TikTok, so I could see why that would be the thing that people gravitated toward saying. But as I’ve grown as a songwriter and a musician, it’s so much more than that.

“A man could never get into my head, never understand what I’m going through.”

My roots will always be in jazz. It’s informed everything that I do now. There are definitely songs on my albums that are jazz songs, and then there are others that aren’t. It’s really hard to generalize. I mean, there are so many incredible jazz singers today, and in the past, who do more jazz and sing standards and improvise more. I would never want to detract from them by saying that I’m, like, “a Gen Z jazz icon.”

Top, Prabal Gurung. Earrings, cuff, Alexis Bittar. Gloves, Sermoneta.

What you said about genres reminded me of what Beyoncé did with country music on Cowboy Carter. She also had critics who were telling her that it’s “not real country.” She had a line in the album that said, “Genres are a funny little concept, aren’t they?” Did that resonate with you?

I loved that album even before it was Album of the Year. I think she’s a great example of a genre-bending artist. I loved everything that she said about it. I definitely related.

It’s always a balancing thing. I was raised as a classical musician, and I also want to preserve classical music in a way. It’s like a vase that has to be preserved in a museum, and we study it to make new art. It’s always a confusing conversation, because I never want to take away from the art that has existed and has been created, oftentimes, out of suffering or experiences that I will never even come close to understanding. It’s something I never want to ignore, either.

How do you handle criticism? Was that ever something you struggled with?

I’ve learned to handle it now. When I was first receiving reviews, it definitely hurt, because I’ve been a good student my whole life. I’m not a rebel; I listen to my teachers, and I really care about what legends in each space say and what professors say.

And so it definitely felt scary to be getting a critique. Not even critique—just very ill-researched comments and articles about me. I have kind of learned to not care now. At first I was like, “Oh no, what do they mean?” But I don’t think there’s a single important artist in this world who hasn’t received some sort of backlash. Nobody got anywhere by copying what the others did before. You always have to be doing something new, and that’s always going to have something following it.

How would you describe your fan base?

They are genuinely the funniest people I know. They’re so kind. Growing up, I really struggled finding a group of people that I really understood and that understood me—whether that was coming from mixed cultural backgrounds, or having mixed interests that weren’t as simple as soccer or reading. The fact that I’ve kind of summoned an audience of exactly that—it just makes my younger self really, really happy.

For fandoms, there’s this stereotype of crazy fan behavior and cultlike behavior. And though they’re [Laughs] definitely, in a way, a cult, it’s a really, really positive, happy, cute one. Very wholesome. I very, very rarely see or experience toxic behavior. It seems very friendly. I’ve heard so many stories of fans making friends with each other at concerts. It’s the best part of being a musician.

They look like me. I look out into the audience, and I just see direct reflections of me. I didn’t think I could ever gather such a big audience of Wasians. I didn’t know that was possible, but somehow it is.

They dress like me, too. Oh, my God, when it’s little girls, they’re so adorable. I feel such an immense joy, but also a deep understanding of what I am to them and how I should carry myself. It really gets me through anything.

You mentioned having a lot of Asian fans. Was there ever anyone you looked up to as well? Was there a Chinese community in Iceland?

No, because who the hell would I look up to? There was no one. I mean, my mom.

I grew up around a lot of Chinese culture and Chinese women, Chinese musicians—but classical musicians. That was always a part of my life growing up, because my mom’s a violinist and my grandfather was also a violinist, and all of my mom’s friends are Chinese violinists. I always loved pop music; I just didn’t think I could make it. I distinctly remember these girls dressing up as Hannah Montana for Halloween and me thinking, “Oh, I can’t, because I have dark hair.” It’s so simple when you’re a kid. You look at someone and you’re like, “This is not a reflection of who I am. I love it, but I can’t be them for Halloween.”

“I didn’t have an Asian community like that growing up, and now I have it, and it’s through my music.”

I think about that moment more and more as I grow older and I grow further into this career, because I’m like, “That’s it. That’s the representation that matters.” I believed that I could be a classical musician because I saw so many older women who were doing that, who looked like me and had similar backgrounds. But I didn’t see a single woman in pop music. No one cool, no one who stepped onstage in a fun outfit that I got to try to copy, or whose lyrics I could really listen to and have them resonate with me, because no one was writing about those experiences....I write a lot about the experience of being the only Asian girl in my class, in my year, in Iceland, and feeling really odd. This pressure of being perfect, I think that’s something that’s pushed a lot upon Asian kids and Asian Americans especially. My music is a lot about that push and pull of doing the right thing, but feeling the wrong thing. But I really do think it’s as simple as, “Oh, hey, I also celebrate Chinese New Year.” Or “Oh, I grew up taking stinky dumplings to school.”

I didn’t have an Asian community like that growing up, and now I have it, and it’s through my music. That’s another reason I love living in L.A. and I love living in the States. I get to be Asian.

As you look ahead, what are your biggest career goals?

You know what my biggest goal is? It’s just to be extremely content with my music. Not that I’m not. That sounds like I’m not, but I never want to chase some sort of bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger every single time I put out music....I’ve won the Grammy, I’ve gone to the Met Gala, I’ve played my big venues, I’ve gotten to connect with my audience. I think asking for anything more would be greedy. I just want to be content with being a musician and love my music.

Hair by Lacy Redway for Tresemmé; makeup by Alexandra French at Forward Artists; manicure by Ginger Lopez at Opus Beauty; produced by Petty Cash Production.

A version of this story appears in the May 2025 issue of ELLE.

GET THE LATEST ISSUE OF ELLE