For her third LP, A Matter of Time, Laufey had a clear image in mind. “The whole album to me is just that moment when Cinderella finds out it’s struck midnight and she’s running,” says the Icelandic pop star, 26. “The heartbeat that she has, that’s the album.”
It’s the perfect analogy for a project filled with heartbreak, fictional weddings, and fairytale motifs. But Laufey is adamant about flipping the storybook idea on its head, especially when it comes to herself as an artist. “It’s really easy to peg me as this very soft-spoken, sweet jazz girl who wears ribbons in her hair and prances down the street. But I’m so much more complex than that,” she says.
When Laufey came onto the music scene in 2021 with her debut EP, she had yet to graduate from the Berklee College of Music, and was still very much on the journey of shaping who she wanted to become. Her first two albums, Everything I Know About Love and the Grammy-winning Bewitched, introduced fans to Laufey’s penchant for jazz trills and romance. With A Matter of Time (out Aug. 22), Laufey wants to show the world how she’s matured since her early releases — and what else she has to offer.
“I wanted to experiment with new techniques and new sounds, to see how far I could push while still staying honest and true to myself,” she says. “I wanted to push myself to the breaking point.” In order to pull her sound in new directions, Laufey tapped a new producer for select tracks: Aaron Dessner.
“He was the only person I worked with that I was like, ‘This is a really honest opening of my story and my sound,” she says. “I don’t know if it’s because he’s also an identical twin.” (Dessner, who has worked closely with Taylor Swift, Gracie Abrams, and others, is in the long-running indie rock band the National with his twin brother, Bryce. Laufey’s twin, Junia Lin Jonsdottir, is her creative director.) “I was really excited to see how our sounds would work together, and he brought a level of shine and speed to my music that I was really craving,” she adds. “It expanded my range in a really fun way.”
Here, she talks about six songs that show just what she means, including her new single “Snow White.”
“Lover Girl”
I’ve been dabbling with bossa nova since my first EP. “Lover Girl” was so fun because I got to play around with it more. The song also seems like the most stable, lovey-dovey song on the album, but it’s actually laden with anxiety.
“Tough Luck”
I was excited to write a song that was that angry. It’s a modern thing to be that angry in a song, but still have the most classical string writing that I’ve ever done. I tried to see how far I could push the two ends together. I had so much fun making that song for that reason. It was very easy because I didn’t have to make many things up. I just said what he said in the song. I’m sure you know what you’re getting into when you date me.
“Snow White”
This was such an important song for me to write. At first, I was worried because I know that I have so many young women listening to me and to my words. And I remember clinging onto the words of singers that I loved like that. I never want to send a bad message out there. But my goal with this album was honesty, and how could I tell everyone to believe in themselves when I don’t even believe in myself? It’s not a nice song. It doesn’t end with a ribbon: “But you’re beautiful and you’ll be OK.” It was written at this moment where I just felt like how I look or how my body is mattered more than my brain, and that’s a really disgusting feeling.
I realized when I’m feeling bad about myself, no one can really talk me out of it. They try to tell me I’m wrong, it doesn’t really work. But when my friends are like, “I feel like shit too,” that’s the best feeling in the world. So many of these songs are just transcribed from my conversations with friends. I hope people don’t relate, because it’s not fun to relate to, but if they do, I hope they feel seen.
“Too Little Too Late”
I had so much fun writing this one. It might be one of my favorite songs on the album. It was one of those that I was rolling over at 2 a.m. being like, “Oh shit, I need to add these lyrics.” It’s not written from my perspective, it’s written from a male perspective. That was a practice of understanding characters and another person. I wanted [the sound] to be tense the whole time. No distinct chorus, no distinct verse, just a constant uphill and then for it to bang out into a wedding scene. It’s so dramatic.
“Castle in Hollywood”
Most women I know of had a friend breakup that’s just as bad, if not worse than, a romantic breakup. Women have such a strong, deep empathy that it makes friend breakups, especially female friendships, really hard sometimes. It’s a whole lot harder to be like “Fuck you” to another woman who’s changed your life in some way. I wish them the best, but I’m also messed up for life because of it. It marked the end of my girlhood, so I just wanted to write about it. I’m a whole lot more stressed about that song than I am about any songs about relationships.
“Forget Me Not”
This song sounds like a love letter to a guy, but it’s a love letter to Iceland and about how I had to leave to chase my dreams. I love my country so much and I hope it never forgets me. The Icelandic lyrics are just, “Don’t forget me, even though I’m leaving. I love you. I’ll love you forever.” It’s very simple, but it had to be in Icelandic. I tried an English version of it and it just sounded dishonest. It felt like saying “I love you” to someone in a different language. I recorded it in Iceland with the Iceland Symphony, and the melodies are based on Icelandic folk tunes. It was a very cathartic, healing song to write.
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