How can somebody who says she has never been in any relationship compose poignant, heart-wrenching love songs? That is Laufey, only 24, so talented and beautiful. If she was my age and we were classmates in college, I would have run after her, only to plumb her inner thoughts and feelings. She can pen lyrics that evoke longings like the legendary Johnny Mercer did, but Laufey goes a step further by lacing in the notes, sing and play them so gorgeously with a guitar, piano, or the cello.
Laufey is part Chinese and part Icelandic. Her mother plays classics with a violin, while her father loves jazz. Their influences have made for a magical daughter. She has a twin though. The way I piece it, Laufey came to California to take formal music studies in Berkeley. When the pandemic struck, she took to the social media, sometimes, to show her days-in-a-life but, oftentimes, to sing to her then few followers; she got excited with four hundred subscribers. Now, she has almost 500 thousand, way past another of my favorites, Melody Gardot, whose music videos are well-produced.
Laufey either sung covers of old jazz ballads, and her own compositions. People, including me, fell in love with her songs, her soothing voice, and an endearing countenance that seems timid but at the same time seductive.
I tried to catch Laufey’s concert in San Francisco late last year but the tickets got sold out in two days. I was so slow on the draw. The same thing happened right here in the Philippines when she performed for a single evening in Alabang a few weeks ago as part of her first ever Asian tour. The tickets were gone a few hours after it was announced two months back that she was passing by.
I checked the Internet and there were still seats available in Jakarta, but the heck, I dread the thought of swooning with fans, mostly young people, whose language I don’t understand. Last I checked, her concerts in the USA for the last quarter of this year are again selling hot. I don’t think I can afford to follow her to Paris.
My favorite of her original pieces is “Let You Break My Heart Again.” I will not try to describe what it says. Just let me cite a reaction from one of Laufey’s fans on her YouTube account: “Out of the many sad ones I have listened to, this is the one of only two songs that have brought me on the verge of tears, and sent shivers down my spine.”
Laufey just came out with an exquisite “Promise,” and has a much older one that I really like “Above the Chinese Restaurant.” I agree with some of the observations that listening to her songs is like watching a movie. They come really alive, you get entangled with the emotions and you have to be careful; they could put you into shreds.
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