Laufey
- Main StageSaturday 13•July•2024
Whereas we described her as the 'discovery of a new artist’ last year, when we announced she would be playing Gent Jazz 2023, this year’s announcement of twenty-four year old Laufey’s second time at the festival no longer warrants this claim. Since then, the world has not only discovered but also fully embraced this songstress, composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist. In 2020, while she was still a student at the leading Berklee College of Music, the half-Icelandic, half-Chinese artist, who divides her time between Los Angeles, Washington DC, Reykjavik and even Peking, came out with 'Street By Street’, convinced audiences in 2022 with her debut album 'Everything I Know About Love’, became the most streamed jazz artist on Spotify that year with 425 million streams and released her long awaited second album 'Bewitched’ just last year. 'Bewitched’ also earned her her first Grammy nomination for 'Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album’.
The sophomore album sees her do what she has been doing since 2020, which is breaking down the barriers between highbrow and popular genres with a mixture of jazz, pop and classical music that brings together fans of all generations. Her influences run the gamut from Chet Baker, Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald all the way to the likes of Adele, Taylor Swift and Norah Jones. Her streaming and sales figures, the Grammy 2024 win, the sold out shows around the world… all of which is proof positive that she is succeeding in what she set out to achieve. After opening Gent Jazz last year, this year she is returning as a headliner.
