49 Fun Facts About Laufey

Laufey was born in 1999 in which Nordic capital?

Reykjavík. She still records there: the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, with which she first appeared as a soloist at 15, plays on her third album.

Laufey's Chinese grandparents spoke Cantonese; which southern city is her mother's family from?

Guangzhou. Laufey does not speak Cantonese herself, and says she really misses the food there, dim sum included.

Laufey's grandfather Lin Yaoji taught which instrument at China's Central Conservatory of Music?

Violin. One of her earliest memories is of him giving her a toy-sized one; she moved on to other instruments, but her twin sister stayed with his.

What is the name of Laufey's identical twin sister, who works as her creative director?

Júnía. She shapes the look of everything from album covers to music videos, tours with her sister and now and then steps out on stage beside her.

Laufey spent childhood summers studying music at a conservatory in which Chinese city?

Beijing. Her grandfather had taught at the Central Conservatory there, and she credits those disciplined summers of daily practice for the stamina she now relies on on stage.

With which Grammy-winning singer-pianist did Laufey record the 2023 holiday EP Christmas with You?

Norah Jones. Two decades earlier her own debut had drawn the same is-it-really-jazz arguments that would later follow Laufey.

At 15, Laufey made her solo debut with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra playing which instrument?

Cello. She had taken it up at eight, four years after the piano, and she plays it at her own shows, where one reviewer heard the crowd scream for the cello solos.

Laufey was a finalist on the 2014 edition of which Icelandic TV show?

Ísland Got Talent. A year later she was the youngest contestant yet on Iceland's version of The Voice; she won neither, and has said it stung to watch rivals move on to bigger things.

Before choosing music school, Laufey and her twin were both accepted to which Scottish university?

St Andrews. Her twin took up the place and graduated from the Scottish university, while Laufey gambled on music even though, she has admitted, she was far from sure anything would come of it.

Laufey graduated in 2021 from which Boston institution?

Berklee. It was the only music college she applied to, and she went on its Presidential Scholarship after very nearly choosing a conventional university degree instead.

What was Laufey's debut single, released in April 2020?

Street by Street. She recorded it in a classmate's dorm room on her last day on campus before the pandemic closed it, uploaded it herself, and saw it reach number one on Icelandic radio.

What is the title of Laufey's debut EP, released in 2021?

Typical of Me. It holds only seven songs, yet American Songwriter's staff named it among the best albums of 2021.

Which singer joined Laufey on the 2023 single 'A Night to Remember'?

Beabadoobee. Laufey, who had so often written about being turned down, said the pair wanted to flip that story and show 'a kind of sexier, moodier side'.

Which pop star was among the famous early fans of Laufey's debut EP?

Billie Eilish. Willow Smith was another: Laufey caught both stars' attention with the songs and jazz covers she posted online during the pandemic, around the time of her first EP.

With which company did Laufey sign her first recordings deal, in 2021?

AWAL. She stayed with the distributor through three albums and two Grammys, putting the last one out on her own Vingolf imprint, before moving to a major-label group in 2026.

In 2021 Laufey hosted a weekly show called Happy Harmonies on which station?

BBC Radio 3. The station handed the weekly series to a singer who was still a college student, to choose mood-lifting songs from every genre, not just the classical music it is known for.

Which London ensemble collaborated with Laufey on 'Let You Break My Heart Again'?

The Philharmonia Orchestra. She called the single the most exciting project of her life, and the orchestra came back to play on tracks for her Grammy-winning second album.

Laufey's December 2021 duet 'Love To Keep Me Warm' was recorded with which singer?

Dodie. The two had first sung the old winter standard together online a year earlier, and Laufey counted the English singer among her musical heroes.

Laufey made her US network TV debut on which show in January 2022?

Jimmy Kimmel Live! She had no album to promote: the booking came nine months after a seven-song EP and seven months before her first full-length record.

What is the title of Laufey's debut album, released in August 2022?

Everything I Know About Love. She has called it her hopelessly romantic record: the songs come from her own life, she said, but are written as though they were fiction.

Which song was the lead single from Laufey's 2022 debut album?

Valentine. She wrote it on Valentine's Day, half as a joke, and posted it online; the response persuaded her to finish and release it.

Laufey's 2024 concert film, shown in IMAX cinemas, captured her orchestral show at which famous outdoor venue?

Hollywood Bowl. Reviewing the show, one critic noted that her audiences were almost entirely under 30, many of them dressed in imitation of Laufey herself.

At which California festival did Laufey perform in April 2025, a year before returning for a second appearance?

Coachella. She used her first appearance there to sing a brand-new single in public for the first time, less than two weeks after releasing it.

What did Laufey share with fans shortly before releasing her album Bewitched?

The sheet music. She had tried the idea with her debut album a year earlier, 'leaking' the scores to fans who agreed to pre-save the record.

Bewitched won which award at the 66th Grammys in 2024?

Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. She collected it at the premiere ceremony before the main show, where she also performed, and two years later A Matter of Time won her the same prize again.

At the 2024 Grammys, Laufey played in the band as which veteran star performed a new single?

Billy Joel. The song, 'Turn the Lights Back On', was his first new material since 2007, and the night was his first on the Grammys stage in more than twenty years.

Which Bewitched single became Laufey's first song to enter international charts?

From the Start. She wrote it in half an hour, and it passed a million streams within a day of release, three times her previous best.

Laufey's 2023 breakthrough hit borrows its breezy rhythm from which Brazilian style?

Bossa nova. She names the style, and its great voice Astrud Gilberto, as a big influence on her second album, saying its half-spoken delivery suits her storytelling.

Who is Laufey's longtime co-writer and co-producer on Bewitched and A Matter of Time?

Spencer Stewart. He has made all three of her studio albums with her, and she calls him her musical soulmate, someone who shares her obsession with jazz and classical music.

Bewitched entered Spotify's global album-debut chart at number two, behind a record released the same day by which pop star?

Olivia Rodrigo. Her blockbuster Guts came out on 8 September 2023 as well, yet Bewitched still logged the biggest opening day for a jazz album in Spotify's history.

The 2024 deluxe reissue of Bewitched carried what subtitle?

The Goddess Edition. Named for its new single 'Goddess', it took her into the top 20 of both the US and UK album charts for the first time.

Which member of the National co-produced songs on A Matter of Time?

Aaron Dessner. Laufey brought him in as she turned from guarding jazz tradition towards a more exposed, indie-leaning sound, a shift credited partly to him.

Which was the first single from A Matter of Time, released in April 2025?

Silver Lining. She described it as a love song about setting your true personality free once you fall for someone, and gave it a video full of masked, faintly spooky stage performers.

Laufey's 2026 live album was recorded on her arena tour at which New York venue?

Madison Square Garden. Demand was so strong that a second night there was added within a week of the tour being announced.

The 2026 extended edition of A Matter of Time is subtitled what?

The Final Hour. Laufey trailed it with 'How I Get', one of its four new songs, and sang it with a full concert orchestra in a radio session the week it came out.

Laufey has named which two artists as her biggest influences?

Ella Fitzgerald and Chet Baker. She heard Fitzgerald on her father's records as a girl but came to Baker only in her twenties, and says he is probably why she began writing her own music.

After six years as an independent artist, Laufey signed in 2026 to Interscope and which historic jazz label?

Verve. Pairing a pop label with a jazz one was meant, Variety reported, to reflect the mix in her own music; her first three albums had come out through a distributor.

In autumn 2025 Laufey fronted a whimsical fashion campaign for which American clothing retailer?

Everlane. The campaign renamed the brand's world 'Everland', and Laufey said the result felt like a little cartoon film that had come straight out of her own head.

In January 2026 the President of Iceland made Laufey a knight of which order?

Order of the Falcon. Iceland's national order was founded by a Danish king: Christian X, who then reigned over Iceland too, created it during a royal visit in 1921.

Vocally, Laufey is usually described as what type of singer?

Contralto. It is the lowest female voice type, and she has said that as a girl her deep voice made her scared to try pop, which helped steer her towards old jazz records instead.

Laufey published a children's book in 2026 with what title?

Mei Mei the Bunny. The rabbit, whose name means 'little sister' in Mandarin, was already her mascot before the picture book came out and made the New York Times bestseller list.

A dance from one of Laufey's music videos went on sale in 2025 as an emote in which video game?

Fortnite. The game came back for more: in 2026 she headlined a season of its music mode, with her songs and outfits added for players.

In which US city did Laufey spend part of her childhood before her family moved back to Iceland?

Washington, D.C. She has said that shuttling between two countries as a child was very hard and left her 'in a constant state of culture shock'.

Which subject had Laufey planned to study at university before she chose music college instead?

Economics. Her father works in finance, and she has put the fallback plan down to being 'a little bit of a realist', unsure that music would ever lead anywhere.

Which veteran star recorded a duet version of Laufey's 'Letter to My 13 Year Old Self' for a 2025 album?

Barbra Streisand. For her 2025 album of duets the veteran chose to join Laufey on one of the younger singer's own songs, a track first heard on Bewitched two years earlier.

Which song did Laufey perform for her US network television debut in January 2022?

Like the Movies. She has called the song 'a big middle finger to Nora Ephron', whose romantic comedies she adores but whose picture-perfect love no real romance lives up to.

Which rock veteran's covers album did Laufey's Bewitched beat to win her first Grammy in 2024?

Bruce Springsteen. A 24-year-old's album of mostly her own songs won out over Only the Strong Survive, a set of soul covers by a star fifty years her senior.

Which Olympic champion figure skater appears in the video for Laufey's 2026 song 'Madwoman'?

Alysa Liu. The cast, which also includes two actors and a pop singer, was chosen from stars who share Laufey's mixed white and East Asian heritage; Laufey herself skated as a child.

After graduating in Boston, Laufey settled in which US city, her home as of 2023?

Los Angeles. She has said it was only there, among a community of other young musicians, that she first felt she had arrived somewhere she belonged.