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[title]Laufey is not a Londoner – not yet, anyway. The 24-year-old star is talking to me after her Time Out cover shoot, squeezing in an interview before she heads to soundcheck for her Earth show. She’s playing a run of three relatively intimate gigs at the Hackney venue, returning to play the Roundhouse next month and then is back in the capital to play the Royal Albert Hall in May. You’d think that many London dates would give you a better chance to cop a ticket, but sore luck: all shows sold out immediately.
If you’re aware of Laufey’s work none of this will surprise you. The singer (whose name is pronounced ‘lāy-vāy’) boasts a dedicated global fan base which could be comparable with the likes of Taylor Swift (her fans are known as ‘Lauvers’ instead of ‘Swifties’) and a TikTok and Instagram following of more than seven million. She’s playing the Hollywood Bowl later this year, and her second studio album, ‘Bewitched’, just won her a Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.
With this sort of hype, you’d expect her sound to be more obviously Gen Z-flavoured: angsty pop-rock anthems like Olivia Rodgrigo or flirty, low-key rap like Ice Spice, perhaps. What you wouldn’t expect is classic jazz standards, dreamy, storytelling lyrics, big orchestral moments and bossa nova tendencies. It’s all stuff that’s more readily associated with the 1940s or ’50s than 2024. And it’s a vibe that Laufey – and her fans, clearly – adore.
That’s not to say she’s a complete throwback. On closer listen, there’s something distinctly modern about her sound. It’s deceiving in a way that’s similar to Laufey herself: at first, the singer comes across as deadpan and serious, then she’s cracking jokes and calling an old white guy in a 17th century painting ‘daddy’. In other words: it’s easy to see why Gen Z are falling head over heels.
Seeing double
Those who know Laufey will also know Junia, her identical twin sister.
‘Shall I do a spin?’ Laufey says.
‘All I see is my butt!’ Junia follows.
We’re in the Great Hall of the Charterhouse in Farringdon – a very ‘Saltburn’ former Tudor mansion which previously functioned as a monastery – and the sisters are spinning like ballerinas. A sliver of February sunlight filters through large, stained-glass windows, and the mesh of their tulle skirts – Laufey in blue, Junia in red – overlaps like a pair of magnificent peacock tails.
It’s a similar scene to a video on Laufey’s Instagram which shows them, as children, pirouetting in front of a Christmas tree. ‘I was watching home videos over the holidays, back in Iceland,’ says Laufey. ‘In almost all the videos it was us dancing to music or to our grandmother playing piano. Just spinning around.’
Junia sees herself as the more spontaneous, daring of the two – and Laufey agrees. ‘I’m more careful,’ Laufey says. ‘But maybe that’s because I’m the older twin – I’m eleven minutes older – and I was always told to be the responsible one.’ The sisters grew up in Iceland, with some stints in Washington DC, where they learned English and picked up their American accents. ‘It was a fun existence growing up in Iceland – kind of like a fairy tale,’ Laufey says. ‘But being half Chinese, I definitely felt a bit like an outsider. Music was my whole life: that was my safe haven.’
Up until the age of 19, the pair essentially shared a single life. ‘The same school, same classes, same music, school, same extracurriculars,’ says Junia. Then, Junia went to university in Scotland and Laufey studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston.
‘Sisterhood is something you don’t really think about when you’re little because it’s all you’ve ever known,’ says Laufey. ‘But I’ve grown older and we’ve spent time apart. You start to realise how much you need it – it’s just recognising the value of having a built-in best friend.’
These days, Laufey lives in LA and Junia is in London, where she works as her sister’s creative director (‘I’m aiming for nostalgia with a level of Scandinavian coolness’, she says). She also joins her on stage as an accompanist violinist at gigs. ‘I’ve always been caught between different cultures and felt like a foreigner in Iceland, but when I’m in London, I’m truly just a Londoner,’ says Junia, when I ask her why she moved here. ‘There’s not many cities where you’re able to feel that way.’ She feels most at home in the city’s north-east: walking down New River Walk in Canonbury, eating at Toconoco by the canal and drinking pints at The Compton Arms.
As I’ve grown older, I’ve recognised the value of having a built-in best friend
Perhaps unsuprisingly, Junia gets mistaken as Laufey ‘all the time’ – and increasingly, vice versa. ‘The fans know I live here, so she also gets recognised as me quite a few times,’ Junia says. The pair seem happy, as in-sync as you’d stereotypically expect twins to be, but it’s hard not to wonder how easy it is to really be Laufey’s sister: to be thought of as ‘the other twin’, the lucky sibling who got to come along for the ride.
‘Every sibling has its comparisons,’ says Junia, nodding in acknowledgment when I ask about the suspiciously nepo-shaped elephant in the room. ‘There have been times when I was at university and I had a lot more friends and I had the normal experience, and she almost felt like I was having a better experience in life. Now, she’s going into this amazing career, and at first I was quite stressed: how will I also make a career for myself like this? But all ships rise with the tide and I’m so proud of her. Her wins feel like mine as well.’
Back in time
Now, we’re upstairs in The Great Chamber, a frog-green room with a shiny grand piano in the corner. ‘Flowers’ by Miley Cyrus is blasting from a Bluetooth speaker – but before we’re even through the first chorus, Laufey has opened the piano and is playing along to the melody by ear, twisting it into a strange but beautiful Chopin-meets-Miley-meets-‘The Shining’-soundtrack improv.
Both sisters grew up listening to classical: their mother is a classical violinist who plays with Iceland Symphony Orchestra and their grandparents were professors at China’s Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. It’s part of the reason why Junia feels so at home in London. ‘There is no city in the world where you can go to a concert – classical, jazz, or an opera or ballet – every single night,’ she says. ‘I often find myself having to choose between my two favourite composers, which is, like, insane. It’s not something that you get to experience in any other city.’
And while Laufey is no stranger to belting out Britney in the club, classical is still the type of music to which she feels closest. These days, she knows that’s an anomaly. ‘I understand how hard it is for young generations to access classical music,’ she says. ‘The very nature of going to a symphony concert is so daunting. Tickets are expensive. What do you wear? How do you get tickets? When do you clap?’
That’s why part of her mission is to use her platform to teach younger people about the joys of classical. ‘My fans come and often it’s their first time seeing a live orchestra play – my hope is maybe they’ll come back next week and listen to a Mahler symphony or something,’ she says. ‘I like to keep the message that music is just music. Back in the day, classical music was just pop. It can just be something that follows you through the day, or lifts your spirits or makes you feel something. And there really is nothing more powerful than seeing a live orchestra.’
Model behaviour
That said, head to a Laufey gig and you know you’ll be singing along – hard. The confessional, narrative aspect to her lyrics – painting scenes of giddy lovers kissing goodbye in the London night, or mimicking the feeling of being shot in the heart by Cupid – wouldn’t feel out of place on stage in the West End. ‘The majority of jazz standards come from musicals,’ Laufey says. ‘I love the harmonic density that the old musicals have, so I’m very inspired by that.’ She lists ‘American in Paris’ and ‘Waitress,’ and musicals by Rodgers and Hammerstein, George Gershwin and Irving Berlin as her favourites – she also went through a ‘big “Hamilton” phase’.
Still, though, she’s quick to brush off any labels – even if ‘writing for musicals’ one day is high on her bucket list. ‘I don’t identify with one kind of music or just as a singer,’ she says. ‘I studied jazz singing. I studied classical cello and piano. I guess you can put those tags on me – but the music that I create is just a mix of everything.’ Perhaps the reason Laufey is such a big win with Gen Z is because, unlike earlier generations, they seem to care less about labels and genres. Laufey agrees: ‘I think Gen Z really just wants to feel a sense of relatability.’
There’s a trend on TikTok where fans will play her track ‘Letter To My 13 Year Old Self’ – specifically the lines ‘don’t you worry about your curly hair’ – on top of an image of them embracing their natural locks. ‘I remember being a young girl and looking up to singers that were probably my age now and just devouring every word that they said,’ Laufey says, when I ask about it. ‘I definitely feel that weight as a role model. Now that some of my dreams have come into fruition I just wish I could go back to a younger version of myself – which now is my younger audience – and just tell them it’s going to be okay.’
For the win
Laufey found out about the Grammy nomination while in a hotel room in Austin. ‘I didn’t even write ‘‘Grammy win’’ on my bucket list,’ she says, eleven days after the win, still elated. ‘I just wrote ‘‘Grammy nomination’’ because I thought it was so impossible to get a Grammy win. I cannot believe it. I truly can’t.’ At the ceremony, she met some of her musical idols, including Taylor Swift and Lana Del Rey. ‘Lana is someone who, to me, has always stayed true to herself,’ Laufey says. ‘But the masses seem to take whatever she does. I really admire how she does that.’
She hints that news of new music is coming very, very soon. But going forward, it looks like 2024 is going to be the year of touring all over the world – and ticking off yet some more bucket list items. (In case you’ve not clocked it, bucket lists are big for Laufey.) ‘The Royal Albert Hall has been my dream venue forever – any venue where the worlds of classical, jazz and pop music have crossed,’ she says.
She brought out a load of surprise guests at her three Earth shows to make them feel cosy and special before the larger Roundhouse and Albert Hall gigs. ‘I decided to do a London takeover and invite all my favourite artists from London to play,’ she says, when I speak to her again over Zoom, five days later. ‘I had Tom Odell, Matt Maltese and Dodie duet with me for a song and then I had Eloise, Matilda Mann and Annika Kilkenny, who’s from Ireland.’
Smiling from ear to ear while talking about the shows, it’s clear that London is carving out a special place in her heart. But could Laufey ever see herself moving here? ‘I love Islington,’ she says. ‘I love the areas around London Fields.’ She pauses. ‘Yeah, I want to live in London in the future.’
Laufey is playing the Roundhouse on March 13 and the Royal Albert Hall on May 16.
Photographer: Jess Hand @jesshandphotography
Design Director: Bryan Mayes @bryanmayesdotcom
Photo Editor: Laura Gallant @lauramgallant
Stylist: Kate Sinclair @katesinclair___
Hair & Make-Up: Elena Diaz @trinie_hmua
Location: The Charterhouse @thecharterhouse_events @charterhouselondon
In look one both Laufey and Junia are wearing @thevampireswife. Junia’s earrings are @_anni_lu_ and Laufey’s earrings are @margauxstudios. In look two, both Laufey and Junia wear @mrselfportrait and jewellery by @_anni_lu_ and @margauxstudios and @maisonlumierecn. Laufey wears @selezzalondon in look three. Look four both Laufey and Junia wear dresses by @ajaneofficial, bodysuits by @hanro.official and shoes by @ganni.