Laufey’s “A Matter of Time” Tour brings vintage sounds to a new generation

Last Monday, singer-songwriter Laufey kicked off her highly anticipated A Matter of Time tour at the Kia Center in Orlando, the first stop on her North American stadium run.

The show began in near silence, broken only by the sound of ticking clocks echoing through the dark arena. Then came her voice: “Swore I’d never do this again. Think that I’m so clever I could date a friend.” The bouncy melody, backed by a string ensemble and grand piano, felt less like a pop concert and more like a 1960s Broadway revival, a deliberate divergence from today’s synth-heavy soundscape.

Laufey has made a career of standing apart. Where much of the music industry leans on digital beats, she leans on orchestras. Classically trained in piano and cello, the 25-year-old often performs with ensembles around the world, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Iceland Symphony Orchestra.

Pronounced LAY-vay, Laufey was born in Reykjavík in 1999 to a Chinese mother, who is a classical violinist, and an Icelandic father. Awarded a scholarship to Berklee College of Music, she began releasing music online before breaking through with her debut single “Street by Street.”

Her first studio album, Everything I Know About Love (2022), introduced her distinct mix of jazz, bossa nova, and pop, while its follow-up, Bewitched (2023), won the Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. 

Now, with A Matter of Time (released this August), she shifts toward a sound shaped by Broadway musicals and her classical background. “It’s an exploration of romance and time, with songs that portray relationships as they blossom or fall apart,” she told The New York Times.

In interviews, Laufey has described A Matter of Time as her most personal and daring work yet: one in which she allows herself to explore vulnerability, anger, confidence, and the messy edges of love. She refers to it as an album about “female emotion” in its many shades: soft, fierce, insecure, hopeful.

Her inspirations span eras and genres: vocal icons like Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Julie London, and Peggy Lee, alongside classical composers such as Prokofiev. She credits the Royal Ballet’s production of Prokofiev’s “Cinderella” and Gershwin’s “An American in Paris” with reaffirming her love of blending jazz and classical traditions.

Visual storytelling is a family affair, with her twin sister, Junia, serving as her creative director. Junia contributes not just conceptually but also musically. She handles creative direction (merch, visuals, videos) and even plays violin on some tracks. 

Outside of her music, Laufey has founded the Laufey Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to making youth orchestras and music education more accessible to young musicians of all backgrounds. It provides grants and instruments to youth programs.

Growing up in Iceland, Laufey has spoken about the importance of representation, of Asian role models, and of mixed-race artists, especially because she did not see many people who looked like her. She says that anything she can do to lift up underrepresented voices is central to her mission.

Her rapid rise to fame hasn’t gone without criticism. Some have accused her of being “not jazz enough.” Laufey pushes back:

“That’s where things have gotten convoluted, people saying I’m the ‘savior of jazz.’ I don’t consider my music jazz. I record jazz standards, I can be a jazz singer, but 90% of what I put on my albums is not jazz music. I think it’s really easy to point at a young woman and say she doesn’t know what she’s talking about, but I know I’ve studied this enough to understand exactly what it is.”

Still, her ability to connect older musical styles with a young audience has become her defining strength. “These older styles of music are so beautiful, and I don’t see many young people advocating for them. But I have an audience of young people that are willing to listen,” she explained.

The A Matter of Time Tour will span over 40 shows across North America and Europe into 2026, with British singer and actress Suki Waterhouse joining as the supporting act on this North American leg.