Grammy-winning jazz-pop star Laufey: ‘When I was 17, Bill Murray told me I was a very powerful woman’ With deep, diving vocals that recall jazz icons of yesteryear, the 23-year-old from Iceland is now more popular than Björk and Sigur Rós.
By 2023, Jónsdóttir had beaten Björk and Sigur Rós as the most streamed artist from Iceland, and this year won the Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album at the Grammys for her second record Bewitched – and all without the backing of a major label.
I always felt very foreign, different, and heavy,’ says Laufey] Only four years later, the Icelandic-Chinese singer went viral on TikTok with her Forties-inspired classic jazz croons, which introduced Generation Z to the famously stuffy genre.
Laufey songs are comforting yet mischievous, indebted to her background in classical music, with deep vocals that dive effortlessly into those roaring low registers of female jazz icons before her.
She speaks with Ellie Muir about learning to love her distinct voice, her pivot to Christmas music – and her chance encounter with Hollywood star Bill Murray.
