Ruth Leon recommends… Laufey
Ruth Leon recommendsLaufey
This keeps happening to me. I keep coming across artists I’ve never heard of who have become famous and highly successful while my attention was elsewhere. One is Laufey, half Icelandic, half Chinese, brought to my attention by my friend Harvey who says she is the hot new thing, playing three sold-out concerts at the Masonic Auditorium in San Francisco and gaining traction as a major attraction.
Laufey’s music bridges the gap between jazz and cabaret, aiming at younger, mainstream audiences. Her sophomore album, Bewitched, broke Spotify’s all-time streaming record for a jazz debut ever in the platform’s history and resulted in her first Grammy nomination. Playing the piano for herself, accompanied by a string quartet, her songs connect her melodies with Chet Baker-like scats combined with charming and playful lyrics.
Her videos are soupy and clearly aimed at the pop market but her voice is the real thing. Warm, accurate, tuneful and appealing, this young artist knows what she’s doing and she does it confidently and with panache. Harvey is right, unless I miss my guess, Laufey is heading for stardom but, of course, in some quarters she’s a star already and it’s taken me this long to catch up with her.
Why don’t they play this stuff in all those concert halls? All problems solved!
Sally
My friend did some photography for her recently and I remarked on how the image she was projecting that day was very different from the ‘pop’ one on the cover of her album.
A good crossover artist, disgustingly talented.
Raye (who my friend also photographs) is worth investigating too.
Raye is an absolute genius, in my book! Wow, what a talent and at the ridiculous age of 26. Delivers live too.
She has been bubbling under for the last couple of years, all achieved through word of mouth and some fabulous internet releases. She is a wonderful talent, it’s great to see it being recognised and that success is coming along nicely for her!