Everyone Desires This—Laufey Reflects on Her Unforeseen Music Journey

      As a child in Iceland, artist, composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Laufey participated in several local singing competitions. "I don’t often discuss this," she reflects on her early musical experiences. "I sang songs like 'Singing in the Rain' while everyone else performed pop music. I didn't win. I thought, 'Okay, this isn't what people want.'" However, she advanced enough in the competition to believe in her abilities, prompting her to enter again multiple times. During one of her final performances, she chose to sing "Feeling Good" by Nina Simone. "I selected songs that suited my voice and were more classic, yet still familiar," she explains. "But I primarily listened to jazz and classical music while growing up. It felt like I existed in a completely different musical realm than what was popular."

      Laufey's mother and grandmother were both classical violinists, which led her to anticipate a future as an instrumentalist rather than a singer. "Given my lifelong experience with the cello, violin, and piano, that path felt natural," she admits. "I thought, 'That’s what I should do.'" The other competitors, often petite and white, would perform mainstream pop songs and exit the stage with modeling offers and small record deals from local producers. Laufey's journey was different. "I wore glasses, was somewhat chubby, and had naturally curly hair I struggled to manage," she shares. Her mature voice and song selections meant that people perceived her as an adult woman, but she felt like a child inside. Their validation reinforced her belief in her talent without suggesting she was destined for any special recognition or career. "Everyone else was saying, 'I’m going to be the next Hannah Montana,' and I thought, 'No, you’re not … and neither am I!'" she laughs. With no indication that a pop-star existence awaited her, she decided to "focus on something practical" in college.

      "I thought, 'I’ll study really hard and get into the best university possible,'" Laufey notes. Nonetheless, she did apply to one music institution—Berklee College of Music in Boston—where she not only gained admission but also secured a presidential scholarship to study cello. Ultimately, her mother encouraged her to pursue pop and jazz instead of attending her first choice, the University of St Andrews in Scotland, alongside her twin sister Junia.

      Upon arriving on the Berklee campus, Laufey felt overwhelmed by how limited her life experiences seemed compared to her peers. "By that point, I was a jazz singer, classical cellist, and fan of pop music, but I had never kissed a boy, gone on a date, or attended a party," she recounts. She came to realize it was time to step outside her comfort zone. "I recognized that adhering strictly to the rules wasn’t taking me far. I had maxed out on playing it safe!" she says. "The last time hard work paid off was getting into a good college or receiving a scholarship. Something clicked for me at Berklee. I thought, 'Let's shake things up a little!'"

      Berklee was a transformative experience for Laufey. Surrounded by classmates writing and producing music in unconventional ways—some without even reading music—she found it both exhilarating and intimidating; a nightmare for a classical musician but a dream for a creative. "I suddenly found myself in various jazz combos with skilled musicians, forced to improvise for the first time, while simultaneously improvising with my life. I started writing, dating, drinking, and embracing a bit of rebelliousness!" she laughs. She finally had experiences to inspire her writing and the confidence she had long sought. The eager young girl from those competitive stages began to feel like a distant memory. "There were no more restrictions," she adds.

      However, the rules of classical, jazz, pop, and soul music were still at play, and she studied them daily. "I realized nobody had been creating modern songs in jazz standard form, which was what I wanted to sing, infused with my own stories," she states.

      Laufey remembers the excitement of writing her first song. "It was the first piece where I thought, 'Wow, this is my style! This is my genre,'" she expresses. It told a contemporary story from her life set to jazz harmonies influenced by the Great American Songbook. Just as she was ready to record it, COVID-19 led to campus closures.

      She thought, "What if I don’t finish this today? It may never get done." As her family packed her dorm room, she went to a friend's home to complete the song. Once back in Iceland, the pandemic's stillness inspired her to share a video of herself singing jazz standards on Instagram for her nearly 2,000 followers. With nothing else to do and everything to gain, she posted a video performing "It Could Happen