DREAM GIRL

IN RECENT YEARS, THE CELEBRITIES WHO’VE DOMINATED MUCH OF WESTERN POP CULTURE SEEM TO FALL INTO THREE MAIN CATEGORIES: THE OTT, THE SCANDAL-PLAGUED AND THE UNTOUCHABLE GODDESS TYPES HAIL QUEEN BEY). THE FAST-RISING GEN Z JAZZ-POP CHANTEUSE LAUFEY PRONOUNCED LAY-VAY”) 1S A NEW AND DIFFERENT KIND OF STAR ALTOGETHER: ONE WHO UNABASHEDLY WEARS HER HEART ON HER SLEEVE, ESPOUSES WHOLESOME VALUES AND READS BOOKS WITH HER FANS. KENG YANG SHUEN DELVES INTO HER SPECIAL KIND OF MAGIC.

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The Laufey vibe is akin to sipping hot cocoa by a crackling fire her lustrous voice a warm blanket that swaddles its listeners and paints a portrait of young adulthood with flashes of old-school romance. Cue Bewitched, the 24-year-old's soaring sophomore LP that was released last September and won a Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album just last month - a week and a half before this shoot took place. On the titular track, she croons: "You bewitched me / From the first time that you kissed me / Waited all night / Then we ran down the street in the late London light / The world froze around us / You kissed me goodnight". Feel the nostalgia?

As much as the Icelandic-Chinese singer (full name: Laufey Lin Jonsdottir) is an expert at conjuring such wistful pictures though, her songs are ultimately written from the POV of a 24-year-old living in a 21st-century world. The song Dreamer, for example, is an anthem that would resonate with anyone who has experienced modern-day dating: "I'm giving up / I'm throwing in my hat I can't take another lifeless little chat". This expert blend of the dreamily old time-y with the relatable is possibly one of the mononymic performer's greatest strengths, accounting for her ability to introduce millions to a genre that many in her generation might previously have thought of as elevator music. (Bewitched clocked 5.7 million streams on day one of its release the largest debut for a jazz album in Spotify's history.)