The Intersectionality of Jazz: Laufey

Today we will be talking about the intersectionality of jazz: global expansion of jazz and its influence on East Asia, as well as its impact on the American pop music industry. More specifically, this post will discuss "Laufey", jazz's influence on their music, and audience reception of their work and how that represents the impact that the media has had on jazz as a genre. 

Many artists have altered how they make music and identify as performers along with generational shifts in music consumption and distribution. For instance, artists like Laufey are able to combine various genres and musical categories without the scrutiny of expanding past their own niches. This transgression of genre allows for further creative liberty, and allows artists to expand their music in ways they wouldn't have been able to had they been limited by genre.  

This expansion has allowed music to cross geographical boundaries as well. Music has surpassed language, and the rise of genres like K-Pop have demonstrated the power of music, its expansion, and its impact on cultural and regional diversity within the music industry. With groups like "BTS" and Blackpink headlining events like Coachella and various music festivals, not only has Korea's social "soft power" expanded, but audience reception of genres like K-Pop have grown too. This diversity empowered artists like Laufey, who is from Iceland to grow into the American pop industry. Social media has largely allowed this growth to occur; over the internet, limitations with regard to language and region disappeared. . 

Now, the big question: is Laufey jazz? How do we define modern jazz, and where is the intersection between jazz and popular music? There can be an argument that Laufey's music is more in the realm of musical theatre with its various musical characteristics like classical inspiration, orchestral tone, and authentic lyricism. However, when we consider her audience, we need to reframe how we analyze and observe her work through a jazz lens. Her target audience is primarily teenagers, especially teenage girls. Inspired by Taylor Swift, her songwriting and honest, candid interpretations of her experiences as a young woman resonate with her target demographic. While this is very different from the traditional audience of jazz, especially since many jazz clubs are 18+ or 21+, she brings a new accessibility to the genre, and various aspects of it. 

This new sense of accessibility upsets some audiences, due to the innate knowledge and education required to appreciate jazz at a theoretical level. Ergo, many are reluctant to call Laufey a jazz artist since her writing style is very characteristic to the 21st century. Regardless, she incorporates elements of genres not frequently embraced within the pop music industry, and finds a delicate balance between her own experiences with classical, jazz, and pop. Her unique musical style speaks to her rich cultural background, and as a Chinese-Icelandic artist within the United States, her influence is undeniable. 

Laufey Lín Bing Jónsdóttir, known as Laufey, is a 24 year old singer songwriter from Iceland. She attended Berklee College of Music and her second album, which was released this past September, is called Bewitched. It went number one on Billboard's Jazz Albums charts. Her mom is a violinist, and her grandparents were music professors in China. She was born in Reykjavík, and started playing the piano when she was four and the cello when she was eight. Later, she started singing jazz music. Growing up, she moved from Iceland to Washington DC, and also attended Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, China over the Summer. When she attended school at Berklee, she started pursuing songwriting, which caused her to start releasing her own music. 

On social media, she posted vocal covers of various jazz standards by the greats like Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald. During the height of covid, she began rising to popularity, uploading videos from home. After this, she signed to AWAL. Her originality and inspiration from famous singers and artists allowed her to create her own sense of musicianship. Her rise to fame initially stemmed from her ability to build her social media presence, as she uploaded videos regularly. 

In August 2022, she released Everything I Know About Love. She then started touring small venues in the US, which helped her develop a fan base she could perform for. Following this, her popularity continued to grow. She wrote the lead single and focus of my analysis "From the Start" in only 30 minutes, and released the song on TikTok. It received over a million views in only 24 hours, but she stated “Sometimes you put a song on TikTok and it does well because it’s visually stimulating or it has a hooky lyric, but it won’t go past that,”

Regardless, she continued to release other singles. She grew her management team too, and signed with Warner Chappell Music. Her album Bewitched was on top of Traditional Jazz Albums and Jazz albums for eight weeks, while the leading track went number 1 on the "Bubbling Under Hot 100" chart, now having 3.5 million streams. 

Her tour around North America went on for 30 days, and was completely sold out. She then created a song with Beatrice Kristi Laus, known as "Beabadoobee". She is a Filipino singer songwriter from West London, known for her "bedroom pop" music. They collaborated to make a single called "A Night To Remember". When reflecting on the piece, Beatrice states “I’ve been writing with a lot of different rhythms recently, also with strings and nods to more classical sounds. Laufey is a great fit for this sound…We wrote ‘A Night To Remember’ and decided we wanted to write something that sounds grand but a bit more sexy lyrically and have fun with that theme.” 

When reflecting on her career thus far, she states “When I started out, people were always asking me, ‘Who do you want to be like? “I had no idea what to say. I still have no clue what to say. The difference is, now I don’t need to. I’m just going to keep making the music I want and hope that it reaches as many ears as possible.” Through exploring various genres, Laufey is able to express herself in a way that feels true to herself. Her approach to music makes her particularly unique and memorable, allowing her to stand out in the large numbers of musicians within the industry. 

In Hrishikesh Hirway's podcast "Song Exploder", Laufey breaks down her piece "From the Start". After listening to many Bossa Nova records, she tried writing something in that style. She started with the song title, and wrote this piece on the guitar. Due to her extensive knowledge of the piano, guitar has more limitations, so she can focus on the writing. She captures a feeling of unrequited love.

She grew up classically trained, expecting to become a classical musician like her family. She expands on her ability to learn a piece of music after looking at it, and essentially reproducing what is on the page. When she went to Berklee, she was inspired by others to not take music too seriously; she transitioned from typical conventions of classical music to challenging these conventions and using music to express herself. She initially went in as a cello student, but wanted to incorporate various aspects of her own musical identity, like songwriting, singing, and more. 

Spencer Stewart, her producer, contributes a comprehensive understanding of her jazz and classical references. For “From The Start”, Laufey and Steward  recorded each instrument live, while Spencer played the guitar and the bass. She recorded the piano on a felted piano, which brought a playfulness to the track. As a part of her vocal training, she would transcribe Ella Fitzgerald vocal solos. The scatting in the song is something she practiced a lot, and her technique is described as "letting go, and letting your voice catch you". Bossa Nova style singing is like storytelling, with a spoken quality to it; she uses this style in this song. 

The moving piano arpeggiation of “From The Start” works against the rhythm of the guitar, which interweaves a new melody within the piece to add complexity. The many layers of cello are played by Laufey, creating a string orchestra-like sound with just one instrument. She's intentional about recording close to the mic to get a sound like an ocean breeze, playing close to the bridge. This sound imitates a harp, and follows the pentatonic scale, which is inspired by her own Chinese cultural influences. The outro of the song is a full confession, with only strings and voice, which she describes as her "two voices to the core". This soft resolution speaks to her own artistic representation.

Growing up, she listened to only classical and jazz music, as well as Taylor Swift. Taylor Swift's writing style inspired Laufey, particularly the relatability of her songwriting. She reflects on her love for jazz standards, but the lack of relatability she felt towards the composers. She combines her love for these different genres. She alludes to the modern lack of genre within music, and how people don't listen to her piece as a bossa nova standard, but rather, "just a song".

Laufey's artistry speaks to the modern creative freedom within the music industry that should be embraced. Her unique music, and utilization of jazz and classical music adds to her well deserved, large fanbase.