“Jazz!! is!! back!!:” The release of Laufey’s “Bewitched” and thoughts on the future of the genre

In early 2021, a friend of mine sent me a link to a TikTok accompanied by an innocuous message somewhere along the lines of, “Thought you’d like this.” Intrigued, I clicked, and a curly-haired girl in a pink tee shirt and beaded choker holding a cherry red guitar bloomed onto my screen, lit warmly from the big window positioned behind her. I had no idea who she was, but when she started singing, I was spellbound. It was one of my favorite jazz standards, “Makin’ Whoopee,” sung in a rich contralto, every syllable pronounced to perfection, by someone who looked not much older than me. What stunned me, however, was the virality of this video– tens of thousands of likes and fawning comments from other young people. For the person who had written “40s swing jazz” on her icebreaker list of favorite things from elementary through middle school, it was life-changing to hear someone clearly devoted to jazz bring the genre I was considered an “old head” for loving back into the spotlight. 

That girl with the guitar, of course, was Laufey. After seeing that video, I fell deep down the rabbit hole. I watched every cover of every jazz standard she had ever posted, gained a love for the raw takes of original material she would tease, and added her only release at the time, the five-song “Typical of Me” EP  (2021) to every playlist I was listening to. Nobody in my real life knew who she was, but she had just racked up one million streams on Spotify for an original jazz-pop composition, and other people my age were praising her in social media comment sections. It was enough for me; I staunchly believed that ‘jazz was coming back’ if Laufey’s success was anything to go by.

Two and a half years later, Laufey has risen to astronomical heights, blowing her prior success out of the water. Her single “From the Start” has accumulated over 125 million streams on Spotify. I’ll walk into class or clock into work and see at least one person sporting her merchandise. Best of all, her recently-released sophomore album, Bewitched (2023), has become a hit with my peers, jazz-lovers and non-jazz-lovers alike. In fact, Bewitched has shattered Spotify’s record and has become the biggest jazz album debut in Spotify history, prompting Laufey herself to post a TikTok captioned “jazz!! is!! back!!”, celebrating the successful release. 

“Bewitched” (2023) by courtesy of Laufey / Warner Chappell Music

Of course, this article’s title and Laufey’s caption is a sweeping generalization. Jazz was never dead, and it would be foolish of me to imply such a historically important genre has ever left the mainstream. There are many talented young jazz musicians and jazz lovers who spend time in bars, school ensembles, festivals and recording studios, keeping the music flowing and dynamic while performing to audiences all over the world. What Laufey has done with her music, however, is make jazz sell among a diverse crowd of young people that previously weren’t buying; non-musicians and band kids, pop enthusiasts and audiophiles, hopeless romantics and the romantically-challenged. With lyrics that pull from the current dating scene while retaining vocabulary and musical arrangements aligned with jazz standards from the 1940s and 50s, Laufey has modernized a classic style just enough for it to be relatable to young adults who may have bypassed older works simply because they were just that– “old.”

Laufey at Rickshaw Stop (October 13, 2022)

I saw Laufey at Rickshaw Stop in San Francisco last October, and while queuing, I began talking to a girl a little younger than me. I ended up asking her if she found Laufey through jazz, or jazz through Laufey. She picked the latter, explaining that Laufey’s original jazz compositions piqued her interest in this older form of music she hadn’t previously acknowledged. This is where I think it’s appropriate to say “jazz is back,” this time as a popular form of music amongst young people who see it as an earnest reflection of their hopes and dreams. For fans who have just been introduced to Laufey through Bewitched, the album is a beautiful introduction to both the jazz standard style and the songwriter’s signature jazz-pop fusion.

As a self-proclaimed sucker for tight, Boswell Sisters-esque harmonies, my personal favorite off Bewitched is the leading track “Dreamer,” which invokes a sort of Singin’ In the Rain (1952), swinging-around-a-lamppost kind of joyful jazz, playfully dealing with the decisively modern approach to dating around. I am also partial to “Haunted,” a dark, sultry bossa nova with its mature voicing and strategic usage of a minor key that never seems to resolve. A popular album track amongst my peers is “Lovesick,” an orchestral pop song favored for its gut-wrenching lyrics, chorus of harmonies and the feature of Laufey’s violinist twin sister, Junia. Also included is a cover of a standard, “Misty,” which has excited my music school peers to no end, and an underrated, heartbreaking, second-to-last track, “Letter to My 13 Year Old Self” that keeps the focus on Laufey’s healing of her inner child.

What remains apparent is that Laufey is an immensely talented jazz musician who has found her forte in blending a traditional style with contemporary pop and indie techniques. Her music is tailored towards old and young jazz lovers alike, drawing a fresh crowd who’ve come to realize that jazz can be relevant to their present life experiences. I can only hope we continue to see the blossoming in sales of new jazz records and jazz-influenced popular hits, as well as a greater appreciation for the past artists who gave new age musicians like Laufey a voice on which to stand on. 

Article and design by Gianna Caudillo