Laufey’s sophomore album of her career came out last night! She is an Icelandic/Chinese jazz singer and composer who recently completed her first-ever world tour. She grew in popularity over her EP “Typical of Me ” during the pandemic and has gained more followers throughout the past few years. Her newest album, Bewitched, has a whimsical feel and expresses heartbreak while growing up. Each song in her album had its own unique take on modern-day jazz music. This is a breakdown of the 14-track, Bewitched by Laufey:
Dreamer: First of all, the opening harmonies of Bewitched are nothing less than magical. “Nobody is going to kill the dreamer in [Laufey],” or with this whimsical feeling. The song is in Laufey fashion and was very jazzy! Her storytelling gives an Alice and Wonderland feel. Laufey and us are sick of men.
Second Best: In a much deeper voice, she sings, “oh you were my everything, I was your 2nd best.” Its a song for all the second choices, those who are just left waiting for their crushes availability The slower and softer singing with a crescendo halfway is absolutely ethereal.
Haunted: This will definitely be our fall song this year! It’s so descriptive you feel you are there with her. She has such a unique way with storytelling! The sudden pauses as she sings were also a very pleasant surprise! Our favorite lyric of this song was, “I know he doesn’t love quite like I love him, I swear to myself as he leaves at dawn, this will end, till he haunts me again.”
Must be Love: “I’m all in, I’m falling” and “You made a sappy stupid something out of me.” We were surprised to see that our favorite hopeless romantic anthems that Laufey is known fo seemed to be missing from the album, but we are happy to see that a different side of her life is included in this album.
While You Were Sleeping: This song was definitely more folk-inspired than her typical music. Some of our favorite lyrics from this song are,“I’m dancing down streets, smiling to strangers, idiotic things,” and “While you were sleeping I fell in love.” It has a very fresh and freeing feel to it like a breeze in your hair.
Lovesick: This song gives the most ‘main character’ out of this entire album, and it has by far met prerequisite expectations. The beat drop fulfilled our fantasies. “I’m so lovesick, what have you done to me?” The outro was very cathartic; her layered vocals have our hearts.
California and Me: First of all, we love this song so much! Second, the orchestra playing behind her is magical and really adds to the heartbreaking lyrics. “Left me and the ocean for your old flame,” and, “I get so anxious and maybe I’m young, the first sign of trouble I bite my tongue.”
Nocturne: This is Laufey’s interlude, where she plays the piano. In Kit’s words, “slayed the house boots down I’m deceased. STOP THIS MADNESS.”
Promise: This song is so sad. Laufey writes tear jerkers, “it hurts to be something, it’s worse to be nothing with you.” Another favorite lyric of ours is, “So I broke my promise,” as we hear the song come full circle.
From the Start: This song recently blew up on social media, with the “men listen to Laufey trend.” It’s a very sad song with super upbeat jazzy music that teenage boys made viral! Our favorite part of this song is when Laufey sings, “Oh, the burning pain, listening to you harp about some new soulmate, ‘she’s so perfect, blah blah blah.’”
Misty: We get a Laufey cover of Misty by Ella Fitzgerald! It’s pretty much the peak of jazz music. Her unique tone really made it her own.
Serendipity: This song was also very sad. A favorite lyric of ours is, “In years when we’re losing our memory, the worlds taken leaps over time, I hope you’ll still look at me like I’m 23.” Laufey loves street names and lots of references in this song. You could even argue this is one of Laufey’s most hopeless of her hopeless romantic songs.
Letter to 13-year-old self: Some of our favorite lyrics in this song are, “Don’t you worry about your curly hair, clothes that don’t quite fit you anywhere,” super sad but we love it so much! We also enjoyed, “Life is prettier than it may seem.”
Bewitched: This song gave us the chills. “The world froze around us, you kissed me goodnight,” Laufey is our favorite fairytale princess girl—the perfect closing, ohmygawdness.
Overall, our rating of this album is 9.5/10. It was pretty much perfect. We loved every song on this album. Laufey’s lyrics were smart, and the instrumentals were gorgeous. This album would have gotten a higher score if it included a feature on a song because Ms. Laufey has been teasing a song with Beabadoobee for months! And she left us all empty-handed! But with all that said, this album left us Bewitched.
