“A Night to Remember:” Laufey strikes a chord with USC student community

Fresh off her Grammy victory and the release of her hit single “Goddess,” jazz-classical artist Laufey has seamlessly traversed musical boundaries, enchanting audiences worldwide with her unique fusion of traditional and contemporary sounds.

“I really can’t be boxed into one thing,” Laufey said, reflecting on her boundary-pushing artistry.

Just days following her return from a successful tour of the UK and Europe, the musician visited Bovard Auditorium on Thursday night for a panel and performance, jointly hosted by the USG International Student Assembly (ISA) and the USC Speakers Committee. The artist gave insights on navigating and balancing multiple cultural backgrounds and identities, while also offering personal anecdotes and reflections on her own musical evolution and journey.

The Icelandic-Chinese singer-songwriter and record producer rose to mainstream fame in the United States around 2020, captivating listeners with her distinctive blend of jazz, classical and pop influences. Laufey’s debut album, “Everything I Know About Love,” released in 2022, hit the charts in both Iceland and the United States. Building on this success, the artist’s sophomore album, “Bewitched,” released in 2023, became the biggest jazz debut in Spotify history.

Celebrated for breathing new life into jazz and classical genres, “Bewitched” received this year’s Grammy award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album — a title previously claimed by musicians including Frank Sinatra, Joni Mitchell and Michael Bublé. Earlier this month, Laufey released her latest single “Goddess,” her self-proclaimed “most honest song yet,” slated to appear on the musician’s highly-anticipated third studio album.

At 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, students began camping outside of Bovard Auditorium, over nine hours before the jazz-classical artist was set to arrive. Tucked beneath umbrellas to block out the blazing sun, fans donned Laufey t-shirts and bows in their hair — the signature “Lauver” ensemble — patiently awaiting the artist’s arrival after hours of anticipation.

Abigail Lambert, a freshman and fan of nearly three years, sat at the front of the line. Lambert had arrived at 11:30 a.m., saying the wait to see the artist was “for sure” worth it as she maintained her spot in line.

“I feel like you don’t get a lot of contemporary jazz artists, especially with the following she has,” Lambert said, “so it’s kind of cool.”

The freshman was just one of 1,200 students who filled all three tiers of the auditorium for the event, which kicked off with a conversation between the artist and student moderators Luisa Luo and Morgan Ma, two members of ISA.

The Q&A began with a conversation surrounding Laufey’s personal experiences living between Iceland and the United States as a half-Chinese and half-Icelandic individual during her formative childhood and young adult years.

“Growing up in Iceland, I sometimes felt a bit like a foreigner, and I felt like the community didn’t entirely accept me,” Laufey said. “Even though I’m born and raised there […] I kind of felt like I wasn’t that confident in being an Icelander. And now, when I return, I think just because I’ve grown more confident as a person as well, I kind of claim a little more ownership over it now.”

A graduate of the Berklee College of Music, the 24-year-old artist also described the exhilarating and challenging aspects of adapting to American college life as an international student. Beyond generating laughter from the audience on several occasions with her relatable college anecdotes, the musician offered her insights and advice on living as an expat.

“I think it’s all about finding a community,” the musician said. “I really do find that my closest friends and the people I get along with the best are people who understand that experience of growing up in one place, and being born in another place, or holding passports for a different place, and going to school in another place. And I think finding a community of people who share those experiences has been really, really important.”

After years of adjusting to culture shocks and language barriers that left her feeling “very lost and alone in so many ways,” living in Los Angeles has provided the artist with “much more opportunity” and freedom to “break out of [her] classical box,” both as a musical artist and as a person.

“I definitely had to learn to adapt, and it was really difficult […] I think that’s one of the reasons I really do like being in a place like Los Angeles because it is such a melting pot,” Laufey explained. “So I don’t feel that foreign here.”

Growing up between different locations and cultures, music remained a constant in the artist’s life. With a mother who is a classical violinist and a grandfather who was a violin teacher, the art form and classical genre were “always in [her] nature.”

However, while the musician fell in love with the art form at an early age, the artist said she lacked artists to look up to who shared her similar background, experiences and unique blend of jazz, classical and pop styles.

“The things that I’ve done as a singer have come so much from what I felt was missing when I was younger,” Laufey said. “So I kind of made it a point to become that.”

The musician said she has used her multicultural background and blend of genres as a bridge to connect with fans of all ages, musical tastes and identities, creating music that serves as a “gateway” to the classical genre for Gen Z’s “versatile” listeners. By experimenting with different styles and disregarding strict genre norms and expectations, the Laufeyseeks to create art that will withstand the test of time, she explained.

The artist’s musical performance embodied this musical variety. Accompanied by just a single guitar, amp and microphone, Laufey set the stage with “Valentine,” a slow, jazz-inspired track about the complexities of experiencing a first relationship. The song was followed up by a performance of “From the Start,” a comparatively pop-influenced, upbeat track about unrequited love, and the artist’s most-streamed track, with 280 million listens on Spotify alone.

The audience remained silent for the duration of the two-song set, captivated by the artist’s intimate performance, with the auditorium only erupting into applause at each ending note. As soon as the artist waved goodbye to the crowd, some audience members hurried towards the exit in hopes of meeting the artist, while others lingered in their seats in the hope of another song.

Laufey will return to Los Angeles with the LA Philharmonic on August 7 for the last stop on her upcoming “Bewitched: The Goddess Tour” set to begin next month, which will feature shows across North America and Europe.