Laufey: from Icelandic cello studies to Grammy-winning pop

In “From the Start”, Laufey tells the story of a crush over a light bossa nova rhythm. In “Promise”, a piano leaves room for the hesitation in her voice. Both songs appear on Bewitched, the album that earned her a Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album in 2024. Their differences offer a way into her music. Laufey draws on classical training, jazz standards and older pop arrangements, then uses them to write about situations familiar to listeners her own age. The result can sound intimate even when the arrangement calls for a full orchestra.

The family behind Laufey’s musical education

Laufey Lín Jónsdóttir was born in Reykjavík in 1999 to an Icelandic father and a Chinese mother. Her mother, a classical violinist, taught her the basics of piano and cello. In interviews, Laufey has recalled growing up around rehearsals and spending time backstage at the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. She performed with that orchestra as a teenage cellist, an experience that gave her an early view of how a solo instrument fits into a larger ensemble.

The cello remained part of her musical vocabulary when she began writing songs. A string line can carry a melody while the singer pauses, echo a phrase she has just sung or set a different mood beneath the words. Laufey’s recordings offer examples of all three possibilities. More about her upbringing, training and career can be found in the Laufey profile at https://znaki.fm/is-en/persons/laufey/.

How a song recorded at Berklee found listeners in Iceland

Laufey studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston. In spring 2020, just before the campus closed during the pandemic, she recorded “Street by Street”. The song reached the top of the charts in Iceland, according to Berklee. Its premise is easy to follow: after a relationship ends, familiar streets can feel as though they belong to the person who left. The narrator starts to reclaim the city by returning to those places on her own terms.

“Street by Street” later appeared on Typical of Me, her 2021 EP. The release also included “Like the Movies”, a song about wanting a kind of romance that seems easier to find on screen. That tension between an imagined love story and an ordinary encounter continued on her first full-length album, Everything I Know About Love, released in 2022. The title sounds certain at first. Across the album, the narrator is still finding out how much she knows.

Why “From the Start” and “Promise” work differently

“From the Start” makes unrequited love sound brisk and conversational. The guitar and bossa nova rhythm keep the song moving while the narrator tries to admit what she feels. Its scat passage shifts the emphasis from words to rhythm and melody. Even without following the story, a listener can hear the performance move from the tension of the verses into a more playful exchange between the voice and the arrangement.

“Promise” moves at a slower pace. The piano accompaniment gives the narrator time to hesitate as she describes trying to stay away from someone. The space between phrases is part of the performance. It lets a line settle before the next one changes its meaning. Listening to the two songs back to back shows how Laufey can use tempo to shape a similar subject. One song moves through the awkwardness of a confession. The other stays with the discomfort of a decision that may be hard to keep.

What the Grammy category says about her sound

The Recording Academy awarded Bewitched Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album in 2024. The category places the album alongside recordings that draw on older styles of popular singing and arrangement. Laufey’s music also includes elements of jazz and classical music, which help explain why different listeners describe the same record in different ways. Someone drawn to the rhythm of “From the Start” may hear jazz first. Someone listening to the strings and the vocal phrasing elsewhere on the album may hear a closer connection to orchestral pop.

The combination also helps explain why the songs travel between different formats. A short clip can convey the rhythm or a memorable line, while the full recording gives the accompaniment time to develop. Live performance offers another perspective. In a quieter arrangement, small changes in the voice become easier to hear. With a larger ensemble, an instrumental entrance can alter the scale of a chorus without changing the melody.

A second Grammy for A Matter of Time

Laufey released her third studio album, A Matter of Time, in 2025. Its track list includes “Silver Lining” and “Castle in Hollywood”. The Recording Academy gave the album Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album in 2026, the same category she won with Bewitched. The two awards connect separate releases rather than marking a second win for the same record.

“Silver Lining” is a useful starting point for hearing what carries over between the albums. Laufey still places a clear vocal melody at the centre, but the story depends on the particular character of the arrangement and delivery. The polished sound does not make the narrator’s feelings any simpler. That contrast runs through much of her work: a song can be carefully arranged and still sound as though the person singing it has only just realised what she wants to say.

Where to begin with Laufey’s recordings

Start with “Street by Street” for an early example of how Laufey turns a specific experience into a song. Follow it with “From the Start” and “Promise” to hear the range within Bewitched. Then try “Silver Lining” in the context of A Matter of Time. Pay attention to what happens when the singer stops for a moment. Sometimes the guitar or piano simply keeps time. Elsewhere an instrumental line completes the phrase or prepares the next one. Those brief passages are where the classical training, jazz phrasing and pop songwriting often meet.