More than the Performative Aesthetic: Laufey’s Rise to Popularity
Album cover from SoundCloud.
Mollie Westfahl
Over the past couple of years, listening to the music of Laufey has been an indicator of the “performative” aesthetic, along with wearing quarter zips and drinking matcha. Taking inspiration from classical and jazz music from the 20th century, Laufey’s music is appealing to those looking to appear more sophisticated. But Laufey’s had a bigger impact on our society than just this Gen Z social categorization.
Laufey Lín Jónsdóttir, known professionally as Laufey (pronounced LAY-vay for English speakers), is an Icelandic singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who gained popularity in the early 2020s for her unique music style. As of now, she has released three studio albums: Everything I Know About Love in 2022, Bewitched in 2023, and, most recently, A Matter of Time in the summer of 2025.
Born on April 21, 1999, Laufey grew up around music; her father was constantly playing jazz records in their home, her mother was a classical violinist who played with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, her grandparents were both music professors, and she was classically trained in piano and cello while her twin sister, Junia, played piano and violin. She attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she was sent home with the rest of the students, where she began posting videos of herself singing jazz covers while playing guitar, cello, or piano.
Laufey is one of the most decorated Icelandic musicians. In 2024, Laufey won two awards at the Icelandic Music Awards for Performer of the Year and Vocal Performance of the Year for the Pop, Rock, Hip Hop, and Electronic genres. Earlier that year, at age 24, Laufey became the youngest recipient of the Best Traditional Vocal Pop Album Grammy award for her album Bewitched. Recently, at the 2026 Grammys, she received the same award for A Matter of Time. On New Year’s Day of 2026, she was awarded the Order of the Falcon, the highest state honor in Iceland, for her contributions to music across the world.
One of the most remarkable aspects of Laufey is her vulnerable and poetic lyrics. Laufey sings about relatable themes of love & heartbreak, insecurities, and personal growth.
Sometimes her writing is more conversational; sometimes it’s written as a letter to the listeners. There’s no doubt that Laufey is a talented songwriter. Just take a look at these examples of some of her creative and powerful lyrics:
A Cautionary Tale: “I’ve always been smart, my chameleon heart / Took your draining personality and gave it to me”
Dear Soulmate: “Dear soulmate, one day I’ll give this song to you / Dear soulmate, I can’t wait to fall in love with you”
Dreamer: “And no boy’s gonna be so smart / As to try and pierce my porcelain heart / No boy’s gonna kill the dreamer in me”
Forget-Me-Not: “Love you forever, don’t let go of me / I left my own homeland to chase reverie”
Goddess:“I can’t even tell / Who you want to know / I’m a goddess on stage / Human when we’re alone”
Letter To My 13 Year Old Self: “I wish I could go back and give her a squeeze / Myself at thirteen / And just let her know / Know that she’s beautiful”
Night Light: “Up the staircase, first door to your left / Walls of white, a window ten-by-ten / A treasure chest off everything I’ve ever known / Safe inside my childhood home”
Snow White: “I don’t think I’m pretty, it’s not up for debate / A woman’s best currency is her body, not her brain”
With these lyrics, Laufey peels back a layer of herself for the reader, revealing emotions that lie under the surface. It’s easy to sing your heart out to these tunes. Relatable music makes it easier to connect to the artist; it helps the listener view them as human, without putting them on a pedestal. Of course, catchy lyrics contribute to popularity as well, which Laufey knows from her hit songs “From The Start” and “Falling Behind.”
Along with songwriting, Laufey has also gained immense popularity through blending the jazz and classical music that she listened to as a child with the pop music of the 21st century. Due to her combination of music, she is often credited with bringing jazz back into the mainstream, especially for the younger generation. Music from the 21st century is filled with pop, hip-hop, and rap, so it’s refreshing to hear bossa nova and smooth jazz return to the spotlight. Though calling Laufey a jazz artist comes with some controversy, there is no doubt that her songs include elements of jazz: jazz chords and the ii-V-I chord progression, frequent syncopation, and common jazz instrumentalization. She takes inspiration from jazz singers Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, and Chet Baker.
So why doesn’t she meet jazz standards? To put it in simple terms: Jazz is more than just a music genre— it's a culture, and Laufey isn’t quite immersed in that culture. She rarely incorporates blues—the backbone of jazz—in her songs. She gained popularity through social media like TikTok, instead of working her way to jazz clubs. She is also experimental with her music; sometimes it leans towards classical music, other times it’s closer to pop. Laufey herself acknowledges this, saying the following in an interview with Variety, “I think one of the reasons I don’t fully call myself a jazz artist is because I don’t think every one of my songs falls directly under that category, and it could be insulting to those who do full jazz to say that it is a fully jazz album.”
Regardless of whether she is a full jazz artist, she has become the gateway to jazz for many people, and her music has influenced millions. As she sang in “Letter to My 13 Year Old Self,” “One day, you'll be up on stage, little girls will scream your name.” Selling out tours, over 20 million monthly listeners on Spotify, reaching over 1 billion streams on her most popular song, Laufey has achieved even more than her biggest dreams.
References
Davis, B. (2024, October 8). Laufey: Gen-Z's Gateway to the Realm of Jazz. AllMusic.com. Retrieved February 9, 2026, from https://www.allmusic.com/blog/post/laufey-gen-zs-gateway-to-the-realm-of-jazz
DeSantis, R. (2025, April 21). Laufey Says She's 'Been Able to Stay Me' While Finding Success (Exclusive). People.com. Retrieved February 9, 2026, from https://people.com/gen-z-jazz-pop-star-laufey-stayed-true-to-herself-now-its-paying-off-exclusive-11718369
Freeman, S. (2023, September 28). Laufey pays homage to a lost jazz era. u-high midway.com. Retrieved February 9, 2026, from https://uhighmidway.com/21316/arts/laufey-pays-homage-to-a-lost-jazz-era/
Gross, T. (2025, October 8). Icelandic musician Laufey is a jazz-pop star. NPR. Retrieved February 9, 2026, from https://www.npr.org/2025/10/08/nx-s1-5561773/laufey-fresh-air
Laufey | Artist | GRAMMY.com. (n.d.). Grammy. Retrieved February 9, 2026, from https://www.grammy.com/artists/laufey/54021
Sandiford, K. (2026, January 3). Laufey receives Icelandic Order of the Falcon. The Line of Best Fit.com. Retrieved February 9, 2026, from https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/news/laufey-receives-icelandic-order-of-the-falcon
Willman, C. (2024, December 5). Laufey on Bridging the Gap Between Jazz Singing and Gen-Z Pop. Variety. Retrieved February 9, 2026, from https://variety.com/2024/music/news/laufey-hitmakers-crossover-jazz-pop-singer-1236236885/
Yeung, N. Z. (2026, February). Laufey Biography. AllMusic.com. Retrieved February 9, 2026, from https://www.allmusic.com/artist/laufey-mn0004032762#articles




