Laufey Is Blooming
Congratulations on your recent Grammy win! How does it feel to have won for your first nomination?
It means the world to me. Just to be nominated was amazing, and then to win — I honestly still can’t believe it. It’s one of those dreams you have as a kid that seems as impossible as going to the moon or becoming a princess. It’s really, really special, especially since I started putting out music quite recently and I’m still young. Even just to be at the ceremony was incredible — I mean, I got to meet Taylor Swift! Seconds after I won, Boygenius won their first Grammy too, and we were all bused into the same room. When they walked in, we all screamed together and hugged. It was a moment I’ll never forget!
What was the creative process like behind Bewitched?
With my first album and EP, I was just starting out playing around with jazz sounds and classical sounds and didn't want to go too far. After that first album, I found that the songs that seemed to stick out were the songs that resembled classic jazz standards or the songs that were recorded with orchestra. I figured for Bewitched, I would just lean in; if a song was leaning jazz, I'd just let it live in that world, and if a song was more classical, I did it with an orchestra and really leaned into that sound. Some of the songs are a little more fun; there's a song called "Lovesick" on it, which is kind of the dark horse of the record. I think it's almost like a rock song, even though it still has sweeping strings. I was just unafraid to let the songs be what they're meant to be and not think too much about what made them make sense together as an album. At the end of the day, it is cohesive because it's all my writing and it's all my voice and my cello playing and string arranging.
You've achieved a lot of success online, specifically on TikTok and Instagram. How do you respond to critics who say that spending time online and having such a large social media presence detracts from your art?
With every new wave of music, we're going to have different ways of promoting. When I started, I had this genre of music that was borrowing from old genres of music that hadn't been in the pop scene for a very, very long time. To be able to prove myself as an artist, I had to go to the people before I went to the industry. I think the fact that as an artist that you're diminished in some way for going directly to the audience is unfortunate. I built a social media audience before I signed to management, before I released music, before I recorded these albums or signed to a label, and the reason I was able to do all those things and do them in a way where I was in complete control is because of my following. I still own my masters; I own my publishing. I've been able to do that because of my fan base online. I think one of the reasons that my songs resonate a lot with my audience is because they know who I am. It's not filtered through some establishment or anything; it's directly from my mouth to their ears through social media. Especially with the genres of music that I use, my first thought was, “Okay, I love jazz music, I love classical music. I want to feed it to new ears. Where is Gen Z?” There was no question that Gen Z is on the internet, so I went straight to the internet. In the past few years I've been able to harness social media to bring new ears to classical and jazz music in a way that would only be possible using social media. I also think social media gives artists a level of control and, especially as a woman in music, a level of control that we never, ever had before.
Speaking of social media, I’ve noticed this trend of you being identified as “delulu,” as in delusional, online. This seems to be something of a positive — in the comments of your posts a lot of your followers have started to self-identify as “delulu” too. I was interested if you had any thoughts on this, particularly because being labeled delusional is something that happens to young women a lot, though usually in an adverse sense.
I think it started with a wave on TikTok where people were talking about how they were “delulu” and kind of happy with it. People then started pinning my music to that trend because my music, especially the first album, is very hopelessly romantic and about dreaming up scenarios and living in a little bit of a dream world — who am I kidding, the second album is also like that. But with owning this “delulu thing” — that was one of the biggest weapons that men could use against women to write off any comment: “Oh, she's delusional. She's crazy.” Now there are hordes of people and my audience just owning the fact that they're delusional. It's like, yeah, I'm delusional, I'm kind of crazy. Of course, that’s what it feels like to be falling in love or having a crush on someone who doesn't feel the same, that's it’s delusional. But we're all delusional; now we're just owning the narrative. I think being delusional is just being hopeful.
You've spoken before about your relationship with your twin sister, Junia, who's also your creative director and has played violin on several of your tracks. While you sing primarily about romantic longing, do you feel that the theme of sisterhood has influenced your work at all? A lot of your songs feel like they are being sung for a close confidant or equal, even if the lyrics revolve around a love interest.
Absolutely. I think with having a sister, you grow a certain sensibility towards women or other girls your age, right? Because you're not only looking out for yourself, you're looking out for another woman in your life, another girl in your life. I think I almost use that sense of sisterhood that I have towards my female fans as well. When I write songs like "Letter To My 13 Year Old Self," which is a song that I addressed to my younger self, it's also addressed to your 13-year-old self; it's addressed to little girls all over the world. I also wrote a song called "Magnolia" which is about what I say is the most beautiful girl in the world. These are all songs that I think have come from sisterhood. It's like a love for another girl's beauty. Also, with my EP, I'd never been in love before, and I literally just had to make stuff up that was appropriate. The song "Best Friend," I wrote about Junia because I still felt like I had to resonate with a song before putting it out. I was like, okay, how can I resonate with a love song? I'll write a love song for my best friend, who also happens to be my sister.
There’s a new wave of young singers of Asian descent like Mitski, beabadoobee and mxmtoon coming up in the industry who you often get compared to. It’s exciting, because you are all diverse artists who are both highly visible and very popular, but does it ever get frustrating to be grouped together?
It doesn't bother me at all. I think if anything, I had such a lack of Asian artists and pop musicians to look up to that the fact that you can even create a category with more than one person is just a win. I'm very happy being able to connect with those artists as well and just being able to talk about our similar experiences is such a wealth for me as a musician. I can also see the connections between us all; none of them are out of left field. We're all songwriters; Mitski and I both write these very literal lyrics, although mine are definitely a little more delusional and hers are probably a little more straight hitting. In a way, we've also both had a similar internet background. I see the connections, and it's been really fun to talk to my friends who are also Asian and artists. Being categorized with them is honestly just a blessing. A win for another Asian artist is a win for me.
You have a very distinct fashion sense; a lot of your fans even style themselves similarly to you when they attend your shows. Do you feel like clothes are a big part of your performance? In your case, it’s interesting because they seem to constitute this permeable thing between you and your fans.
Definitely. I mean, you've seen how I dress since before I released music and it's still very much the same. I just continue embodying my own self and my personal style, and the fact that now I see my fans coming to my shows and dressing like that is really, really cool. It gives a sense of community. Music has become a visual world as well, so I think the clothes are just as important. They can show people who you are before you start singing — you can kind of look at what I'm wearing and be like, oh yeah, I can see a little bit of who she is. Clothes really illustrate the story.
You also run your own book club where you invite your fans and followers to read and discuss your favorite literary pieces with you. Do you find literature influences your songwriting at all? If so, what books or writers have particularly stood out?
I use books as songwriting inspiration. If I sit down and I don't really know what I'm going to write for the day, I will just open up a book and read a chapter and actively look for words or ideas or themes that stick out that I can then in turn use in a song. It’s kind of just like this wealth of words and thoughts that you can use and interpret your own way. When people ask me songwriting advice, I always say, go to the bookshelf. I really like Tove Jansson's writing. I read The Summer Book and A Winter Book; especially with The Summer Book, I liked the way that it was almost like a children's book, but for adults. The way that she described the nature on this Finnish island was very beautiful to me; I think it touched me, coming from Iceland. I also read a lot of Joan Didion's essays and took those essays and particularly her autobiographical writing as inspiration to then write "Letter To My 13 Year Old Self." I liked the way she was writing about herself while still writing to other people; you know, writing in a way that doesn't feel so personal that other people won't relate.
Looking towards the future, what’s next for you?
I think my work isn't quite done with introducing jazz and classical sounds to the pop audience. I'm also going to be touring a lot this year and I'm excited to see the fans in person, that's just my favorite thing to do. Hopefully I'll be working; I'm always working on something. I see my music and albums as my journals that follow me throughout life — as long as I'm still living, I'm going to write about it.
