Whos Laufey Now Just two years after graduating, the alumna breaks record for the biggest debut of a jazz album on Spotify.
By
Cheston Knapp
November 14, 2023
Laufey B.M. 21
Image by Gemma Warren
Back in the spring of 2020, on the day before Berklee's campus was shuttered because of the pandemic, Laufey (pronounced Lay-vay ) recorded her first song. She was 19 and nursing a broken heart, and had been trying to write something that might free her of its hold on her psyche. After weeks of dead ends, something finally clicked and Street by Street came pouring out. It's an intimate, confessional song about young love gone wrong and about taking back the reins of your life. Sung in a smoky vocal timbre and accompanied by minimalist jazz guitar, it dares you not to bob your head while listening to it.
In the lonely and frightening weeks that followed, she released the song, more or less on a lark. And then she watched, with quiet awe, as it rose like a Chinese lantern, buoyed by the resilient light inside it. Soon enough, Street by Street was at the top of the charts in her home country of Iceland and she was on her way to becoming an international star. In many ways, she's been preparing for this heady trip her entire young life.
The daughter of a Chinese mother and Icelandic father, Laufey L n J nsd ttir B.M. '21 grew up surrounded by music in Reykjavik and Washington, D.C., in an environment that sounds like a souped-up Baby Einstein program. Her mother is a world-class violinist and her grandfather taught the instrument back in China. Laufey was studying violin and piano at an age when most kids can't pronounce those words and, by 15, was playing cello solos with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and appearing on Iceland Got Talent. (She finished in a humbling second place.)
Though trained as a classical musician, she's always nourished a love of jazz singers like Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, and Chet Baker and had a fondness for the Great American Songbook. When it came time for college, she received a prestigious Presidential Scholarship to attend Berklee, where she found a way to harness all of her influences and pursue all of her interests.
My whole goal as a musician is to bring these older styles of music to a new audience and frame it as something that's new and relevant and cool, she said with a guileless charm.
Success on the order she's achieved-she's amassed over 1 billion streams across all platforms and been nominated for a Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album-can be disorienting for an artist at any age and disastrous for one so young. But Laufey has managed it with all the aplomb you'd expect from an old soul. She seems to know that success's truest blessing is more work. In September she released Bewitched, her second studio album in two years, and the biggest debut for a jazz album on Spotify. It features elaborate and playful arrangements that honor her classical background-a couple of tracks feature London's Philharmonia Orchestra-and her voice sounds as mature and seasoned as ever. And while she's still mining the vein of young love, her lyrics have a knowing, wry wisdom to them, as when she sings, It hurts to be something / It's worse to be nothing with you. Bottom line is, everything Laufey touches bears the thumbprint of authenticity, which is exceedingly rare to find. A true gift.
Related Categories
Berklee Today
News
Most Popular
Laufey B.M. 21
Image by Gemma Warren
Whos Laufey Now Just two years after graduating, the alumna breaks record for the biggest debut of a jazz album on Spotify.
Latest
Bruce Hornsby '74
Image by Tristan Williams
Bruce Hornsby Is Still Seeing What He Can Get Away With Since The Way It Is, the visionary songwriter has made his mark on so many genres. His latest, Deep Sea Vents, dives once again into something new.
Image courtesy of the artist
Student Spotlight: Mehrpouya Daneshvar The clarinetist from Iran talks about discovering a love for Iranian classical music and how coming to Berklee has allowed him to expand his style by exploring jazz and Latin music.
Arturo Sandoval will receive an American Master Award from Berklee on March 8.
Image courtesy of the artist
Berklee to Present American Master Award to Arturo Sandoval Berklee will recognize the Cuban-American legend's legacy and impact on jazz and Latin music.
Read All
Subscribe The latest sounds, stories, and ideas, sent to your inbox weekly.
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
28/11/2025
Nadia Fall attends the 2025 Sundance Film Festival premiere of Brides at the Egyptian Theatre on January 24, 2025, in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Donyale West/...
28/11/2025
It's easy to ignore those little red update available badges. But when it ...
28/11/2025
WASHINGTON Federal Communications Commission has released a tentative agenda for the December Open Commission Meeting scheduled for Thursday, December 18, 2025 ...
28/11/2025
The Professional Fighters League is looking to super-serve fans of mixed martial...
28/11/2025
Fubo has released in beta on select Roku devices a new feature that lets users display up to four simultaneous streams at once....
28/11/2025
The WNBA playoffs and Week 4 of the NFL regular season highlight the list of live sports events airing on television this weekend....
28/11/2025
The 32nd class of honorees to the B+C Hall of Fame took to the stage at New York's Ziegfeld Ballroom on September 26 for a gala induction event. Click below...
28/11/2025
We hold in our hands the very last Next Text for Next TV, the weekly back-and-fo...
28/11/2025
DirecTV said it made a deal with EchoStar to buy EchoStar's video businesses, including satellite-TV provider Dish TV and virtual MVPD Sling TV, for $1 plus...
28/11/2025
The Broadcasting+Cable Hall of Fame, the premier industry event paying tribute to the influencers, innovators and shining lights of broadcast, cable and streami...
28/11/2025
Friday 28 November 2025
Sky Sports x Slawn drop limited-edition football jersey...
28/11/2025
Rohde & Schwarz shows resilience in a challenging environment, revenue exceeds t...
28/11/2025
Unwrapped: The Toy Show Appeal - airing this Sunday on RT One and RT Player- s...
27/11/2025
LONDON Vizrt has added several AI-driven advanced features offering improved speed, intelligence and accuracy in the newest version of its media asset managemen...
27/11/2025
Prime Video has launched AI-powered video season recaps in a beta version for select English-language Prime Original series in the U.S., a move Amazon is callin...
27/11/2025
Back to All News
Netflix's Raat Akeli Hai: The Bansal Murders Marks a Grand...
27/11/2025
27 Nov 2025
GSMA brings M360 Eurasia 2026 to Samarkand in partnership with VEON...
27/11/2025
Tahar Rahim and Izuka Hoyle star in the gripping six-part Sky Original from Acad...
27/11/2025
Thursday 27 November 2025
Sky Arts Reveals the Nation's Greatest Basslines - and Queen Reign Supreme
The UK's most iconic basslines have been revealed...
27/11/2025
Back to All News
Stranger Things 5': Prepare for One Last Adventure With O...
27/11/2025
The media industry has a paradox at its core. It's an industry built on light, color and imagination, yet behind the scenes, it's powered by one of the ...
27/11/2025
Rating reflects rating progress across areas including policies, diversity & inclusion, health & safety and Net Zero leadership
Winchester, UK, 27 November 202...
27/11/2025
What are the industry standards for Retail Media? Kathryn explains that certification is based on the IAB Europe Retail Media Measurement Standards and the IAB ...
27/11/2025
World champion boxer and Irish sporting icon Katie Taylor will be in studio this...
27/11/2025
Roblox, one of the world's most popular online gaming platforms for primary ...
27/11/2025
Black Friday is leveling up. Get ready to score one of the biggest deals of the season - 50% off the first three months of a new GeForce NOW Ultimate membership...
26/11/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Prime Video EP Mike Muriano Previews Massive Black Friday Slate Fe...
26/11/2025
A cinematic snow sculpture at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival. Photo by Randall Michelson...
26/11/2025
Book podcasts are booming. On Spotify, you'll find everything from celebrity book clubs to deep dives with bestselling authors. And in markets where audiobo...
26/11/2025
Mumbai, November 24, 2025: In a first-of-its-kind initiative, JioStar, in collab...
26/11/2025
LONDON Factual content producer ITN Productions has launched a new low-latency IP gallery for news bulletins....
26/11/2025
MIAMI TelevisaUnivision said it struck a new multiyear distribution agreement with YouTube TV that includes distribution of TelevisaUnivision's U.S. network...
26/11/2025
OpenDrives, Inc., a leader in software-defined data storage and data services, today announced the launch of the Atlas Corporate Creative Solution. This new Atl...
26/11/2025
Disguise, the industry-leading company powering the world's biggest live performances, is partnering with pioneering LED wall manufacturer DVS to give atten...
26/11/2025
HighField AI, the pioneer in agentic and multimodal automation for broadcast and media production, today announced the expansion of its global channel partner n...
26/11/2025
As high-stakes Premier League fixtures approach and additional premium content launches, with MONO positioning themselves to dominate Thailand's sports stre...
26/11/2025
Hosting a wide variety of events from high-intensity NHL games to complex live music concerts and major entertainment productions, Montreal's 21,000 capacit...
26/11/2025
Vizrt, the leader in live production technology revolutionizing viewer engagement and experience, releases AI-driven advances focusing on speed, intelligence, a...
26/11/2025
ITN Productions, an award-winning factual content producer, today launched a new low-latency IP gallery for news bulletins. Responsible for delivering a leading...
26/11/2025
Ikegami reports ongoing advances throughout 2025 in developing and delivering coordinated television production solutions that maximize quality, versatility and...
26/11/2025
Following the Nov. 21 blackout of NBCUniversal channels on Fubo, the two sides have traded barbs about their inability to reach a new carriage deal....
26/11/2025
LONDON As TV sports rights become increasingly important for both broadcasters and streamers, Ampere Analysis predicts global investment in the genre will surpa...
26/11/2025
LOS ANGELES Vubiquity said it has achieved the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Media & Entertainment Competency as part of the AWS Partner Network (APN). This designa...
26/11/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission's Enforcement Bureau said it has entered into a consent decree with Comcast calling for the cable company t...
26/11/2025
Berklee Named to the Hollywood Reporters Top Music Schools List The publication highlights the college's screen scoring program, industry partnerships, and ...
26/11/2025
Back to All News
Animated Series Love Through a Prism' Casts New Light on ...
26/11/2025
Back to All News
NALIP Unveils Fifth Cohort of Director Incubator
Social Impact
26 November 2025
United States
Link copied to clipboard
The National Assoc...
26/11/2025
YouView Achieves Greenly Gold Certification for SustainabilityNov 26, 2025
YouView is proud to announce a Gold Certification award from Greenly for our perform...
Whos Laufey Now Just two years after graduating, the alumna breaks record for the biggest debut of a jazz album on Spotify. 
