Laufey: “Lover Girl” (2025)
Whatever the leanings of your playlist, Laufey’s bossa nova-inflected “Lover Girl” will leap off it as it did from the collection of rather mundane mainstream pop on which I first came across it.
Is the American pop music scene of 2025 broad enough to encompass an Icelandic-Chinese jazz-influenced cellist who sings like Peggy Lee?
Seems unlikely.
But if her accomplishments in her brief career’s span are any indication, Laufey (pronounced LAY-vay) isn’t someone to doubt or dismiss. To wit:
She was a cello soloist in the Iceland Symphony Orchestra at age 15.
She was a finalist on Iceland’s Got Talent in 2014.
Appearing on The Voice Iceland the following year, she was the youngest contestant in the history of that show.
She graduated from the Berklee College of Music in Boston.
In 2020 her debut single “Street by Street” charted at number one in Iceland.
Her debut album Everything I know About Love led to a sold-out headlining North American tour.
Her second album Bewitched won the Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album Grammy Award in 2024.
In addition to her ability to render lushly arranged Chet Baker- and Billie Holiday-inspired jazz pop with a pitch-perfect, technically flawless voice; Laufey is effortlessly adept on cello, piano and guitar.
Her goals? “Bringing jazz back to my generation” and “doing for jazz music what Taylor Swift did for country music”.
Is it possible? Stay tuned. She’s not off to a bad start.
Every Moment Has A Song 