‘Bewitched’, the highly anticipated new album from breakout Los Angeles-based Icelandic-Chinese artist, composer and multi-instrumentalist Laufey, is set for release on September 8 via AWAL Recordings. Along with the album announcement, Laufey shares “Promise”, a new single from ‘Bewitched’. “Promise” was written by Laufey and celebrated songwriter/producer Dan Wilson (Adele, The Chicks).
The album’s first single, “From The Start”, has amassed over 16 million global streams since its release last month, with 1 million streams on Spotify in just one day. This new single comes on the heels of Laufey’s first Asia tour, where she played to sold-out venues across Southeast Asia and made her first appearance on stage at the prestigious Java Jazz Festival in Jakarta, Indonesia.
The new album follows Laufey’s 2022 debut full-length, ‘Everything I Know About Love’, which reached #1 on Billboard’s Alternative New Artist Album chart and featured hit single, “Valentine”, that peaked at #1 on the Spotify Jazz Chart. ‘Everything I Know About Love’ was praised by The Fader who said, “Mixing pop with classical flourishes, Laufey captures everyday emotions, like falling in love, and elevates them with a degree of musicality and flair that is anything but ordinary”, while Consequence furthers, “Laufey deftly melds new elements of modern music with more traditional sounds of classic jazz, articulating the push and pull of love and loss with distinct eloquence”.
While ‘Everything I Know About Love’ shows what Laufey calls her “hopeless romantic” side, ‘Bewitched’ has a more mature outlook, although it’s still in love with love. Laufey notes, “This is a love album, whether it be a love towards a friend or a lover or life. The first album also touched a lot on things like moving out of my childhood home and moving into a new city for the first time—being an adult. With this one, I’ve experienced a little bit more of that, and I’m writing about the magic in the love of being young”.
‘Bewitched’ was co-produced by Laufey and Spencer Stewart, with all songs written by Laufey, apart from jazz standard “Misty”. Additionally, the London-based Philharmonia Orchestra played on tracks “Bewitched” and “California and Me”.
Moreover, Laufey will celebrate the album on the road later this year with The Bewitched Tour which sold out in minutes. The tour will make stops at iconic venues throughout North America including two nights at San Francisco’s Fillmore, Chicago’s Thalia Hall, New York City’s Town Hall, and Los Angeles’ Theatre at the Ace Hotel.
Laufey (pronounced lāy-vāy) is looking to bridge the gap between the past and the present, the history books and social media, the Reykjavik concert hall Harpa and the Los Angeles rock dive Troubadour, by writing, recording, and performing songs that are truly timeless, inspired by jazz greats and classical masters while possessing a point of view that could only be conveyed by a 21st-century twentysomething. Laufey explains, “As a musician, my goal is to bring jazz and classical music to my generation through a more accessible road”.
Raised between Reykjavík and Washington, D.C. with annual visits to Beijing, the Icelandic-Chinese artist grew up playing cello as well as piano and became hooked on the jazz standards of Ella Fitzgerald after digging through her father’s record collection. In 2020, while still a student at Berklee College of Music, Laufey released her debut single “Street by Street”, which went on to top the Icelandic radio charts. Following the release of her ‘Typical of Me’ EP, Laufey was named Best New Artist in Jazz and Blues at the Icelandic Music Awards and hosted her own show on BBC Radio 3/BBC Sounds. ‘Everything I Know About Love’ debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Alternative New Artist Album chart, and the lead single “Valentine” peaked at #1 on the Spotify Jazz Chart. In 2022 Laufey was the most streamed jazz artist on Spotify, with 450 million streams across all platforms.
