Ashley Pointer | December 13, 2023
“I grew up playing classical music and it’s so special to get to play my songs almost in this chamber-like setting,” Laufey says in her performance. Accompanied by a string quartet, the singer-songwriter’s modern jazz-pop love songs soared at the Tiny Desk, the intimacy of our little corner only heightened its impact.
Laufey’s music undeniably bridges the gap between jazz and younger, mainstream audiences coming to the genre. Her sophomore album, Bewitched, broke Spotify’s all-time streaming record for a jazz debut ever in the platform’s history and resulted in her first Grammy nomination. She opens the set with “From The Start,” a bouncy, whimsical tune about unrequited love with a friend, connecting Chet Baker-like scats with charming and playful lyrics. Taking a more melancholic turn into 2021’s “Let You Break My Heart Again” and “Promise,” her velvety vocals rich with vulnerability dance elegantly with the strings, creating a symphony of emotions. Laufey concludes the set with “California and Me,” which she explains was heavily influenced by her receiving her first baby grand and compositions by Liszt and Chopin. This mesmerizing performance is a captivating testament to the power of collaboration and music’s ability to evoke raw, unfiltered emotion.
SET LIST
“From The Start”
“Let You Break My Heart Again”
“Promise”
“California and Me”
MUSICIANS
Laufey Jónsdóttir: piano, guitar, vocals
Sherri Zhang: violin
Josh Henderson: violin
Aria Cheregosha: viola
Ken Kubota: cello
TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Ashley Pointer
Director/Editor: Joshua Bryant
Audio Engineer: Josh Rogosin
Series Producer: Bobby Carter
Videographers: Joshua Bryant, Kara Frame, Maia Stern
Audio Assistant: Neil Tevault
Production Assistant: Elle Mannion
Photographer: Estefania Mitre
Tiny Desk Team: Suraya Mohamed, Hazel Cills
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins
Senior VP, Programming: Anya Grundmann
#nprmusic #tinydesk #laufey
NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Concerts is a popular video series featuring live, intimate music performances by diverse artists, from major stars to up-and-coming musicians, recorded in the small workspace of Bob Boilen’s NPR office in Washington, D.C.brought to you by SloppBoxx.Com.
Bro, I can’t explain what I feel when I listen to Laufey. She exudes something powerful and deeply poignant. Her music, her voice, her lyrics pierce my heart, and I am truly touched by the sincerity and emotions she experiences and shares 🥀❤️
Awesome
I always come back to this because of how good the songs sound live, I love how Laufey puts way more emotion into the live versions since she has room to express herself and it’s easier over having to do a lot of performance repeatedly when it’s set in stone in a release. Also California & Me sounds way better here than the release, cant stop listening
@ 3:31 name pronunciation
Hello Laufey,im a 68 yr old guy from the nash,tn area, i think your music is awesome, Thanks to the sweetest little figure skater Alysa Liu, i had to check it out, great music!
dang Laufey blows taylor swift off the map!
2:42 got a tear
I just tried to learn to play this. Those are not easy guitar chords by the way. Wonderful!!!
It was time for my yearly rewatch of this tiny desk, and each time at one point or another I’m crying and screaming at the screen asking “who did this to you laufe?” Anyways see yall next year.