Ever since her debut studio album in August 2022, Icelandic singer Laufey (pronounced “lay-vay”) has been working hard to bring lush, airy vocal jazz back to the mainstream. Bewitched, released September 8, 2023, is a personal musical evolution that came at the perfect intersection of musical accolades and internet fame.
Laufey Lín Jónsdóttir took up piano, violin, and singing from an early age, inspired by her mother. Upon exploring her father’s record collection, she fell in love with the works of Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday and deviated from the classical composers with whom she was familiar.
After getting involved with orchestras and music conservatories, she finally began to settle into the middle ground between jazz and classical while attending the Berklee College of Music, releasing her first single in 2020. She attracted listeners by posting clips of covers and originals on TikTok and Instagram.
This internet hype built up exponentially in between her first studio album in August 2022 and her latest project, creating big expectations for the record, and it certainly lived up to the hype.
Bewitched is, as described by Laufey, “a love album, whether it be a love towards a friend or a lover or life.”
The standout single, “From the Start”, a bossa nova bop of unrequited love, is a good example of this theme and accurately represents the genre mixing seen throughout the whole album. There are even some elements of indie rock in tracks like “Lovesick,” a banger about the uncertainty and quickness of love.
Of course, the primary focus of the album is jazz. These “jazz pop” ballads are what makes Laufey stand out among other artists of the era, combining modern lyrics and themes with classic composition. Tracks like “Haunted,” “Promise,” and “Serendipity,” even with their high fidelity digital audio, still manage to sound straight out of a vocal jazz album from the 1950s.
These classic compositions are accompanied by beautiful orchestral arrangements, provided by the Philharmonia Orchestra. The instrumental sounds paired with Laufey’s soft crooning remind the listener of Disney films from decades past. The recording clarity is also a throwback, with a crisp, vintage sound that is a breath of fresh air from contemporary “loudness war” era pop tunes.
Despite being a personal memoir, contrasting the confusion of childhood with the experiences of becoming an adult, the songs on Bewitched will touch anyone listening. It is a 48 minute heartfelt experience sound tracked by string sections that people from all backgrounds can relate to.
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