Laufey on Bridging the Gap Between Traditional Jazz Singing and Gen-Z Pop: Young Fans ‘Connect More With a Vibe or an Energy Than a Genre’

variety.com:

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Is Laufey a jazz artist, or a bona fide pop star? The qualified answer, with asterisks to spare, is “both.” And that’s part of the fun in discussing everyone’s favorite Icelandic-Asian-American singer-songwriter-guitarist-pianist-cellist.

Genre discussions can be a drag for artists and fans alike, but they’re suddenly a lot more fun when the overriding question is whether to talk about someone in the same terms as we would an Ella Fitzgerald or push her more toward the Taylor Swift side of the ledger.

Good thing that, with Laufey, we don’t really have to choose. Laufey is being honored at Variety’s 2024 Hitmakers event as the Crossover Artist of the Year.

Much of the jazz world seems pleased enough to claim her, as there was no resistance when her sophomore album, “Bewitched,” came out in 2023 and made history as the first album ever to top both Billboard’s jazz and traditional jazz charts in its very first week of release.