Laufey Shares Viral Song "From The Start" Live From Manila

Following her first-ever sold-out Asia tour, breakout Los Angeles-based Icelandic-Chinese artist, composer and multi-instrumentalist Laufey continues to blaze a trail in the region. Since the release of her upcoming album's single "From The Start" two months ago, the song is seeing over 1 million streams per day on Spotify alone, and nearing 1.5 million daily streams across DSPs every single day. Laufey is celebrating the song's exponential traction by releasing the video of her performance of "From The Start" Live From Manila.

The single is reaching global virality – on Spotify, "From The Start" has entered the Top 50 tracks on Spotify in the USA and is sitting comfortably at #72 in Singapore, and #141 in the Philippines. The song is #14 on the US Viral Charts, #54 on US Shazam charts, and #154 on Global Shazam.

"From The Start" is taken from 'Bewitched', Laufey's highly anticipated new album, set for release on September 8 via AWAL Recordings. She has since released a second single from the album titled “Promise”, which was written by herself and celebrated songwriter/producer Dan Wilson (Adele, The Chicks). Fans can stream "Promise" here laufey.ffm.to/promise and pre-save 'Bewitched' here: laufey.ffm.to/bewitched

Making history for herself, Laufey has just concluded her first Asia tour where she played to sold-out venues across Southeast Asia and made her first appearance at the prestigious Java Jazz Festival in Jakarta, Indonesia.

The new album follows Laufey’s 2022 debut full-length, 'Everything I Know About Love', which reached #1 on Billboard’s Alternative New Artist Album chart and featured hit single, “Valentine”, that peaked at #1 on the Spotify Jazz Chart. 

While 'Everything I Know About Love' shows what Laufey calls her “hopeless romantic” side, 'Bewitched' has a more mature outlook, although it’s still in love with love. Laufey notes, “This is a love album, whether it be a love towards a friend or a lover or life. The first album also touched a lot on things like moving out of my childhood home and moving into a new city for the first time—being an adult. With this one, I’ve experienced a little bit more of that, and I’m writing about the magic in the love of being young”.

'Bewitched' was co-produced by Laufey and Spencer Stewart, with all songs written by Laufey, apart from jazz standard “Misty”. Additionally, the London-based Philharmonia Orchestra played on tracks “Bewitched” and “California and Me”.

Moreover, Laufey will celebrate the album on the road later this year with The Bewitched Tour which sold out in minutes. The tour will make stops at iconic venues throughout North America including two nights at San Francisco’s Fillmore, Chicago’s Thalia Hall, New York City’s Town Hall, and Los Angeles’ Theatre at the Ace Hotel.
 
Laufey (pronounced lāy-vāy) is looking to bridge the gap between the past and the present, the history books and social media, the Reykjavik concert hall Harpa and the Los Angeles rock dive Troubadour, by writing, recording, and performing songs that are truly timeless, inspired by jazz greats and classical masters while possessing a point of view that could only be conveyed by a 21st-century twentysomething. Laufey explains, “As a musician, my goal is to bring jazz and classical music to my generation through a more accessible road”. 

Raised between Reykjavík and Washington, D.C. with annual visits to Beijing, the Icelandic-Chinese artist grew up playing cello as well as piano and became hooked on the jazz standards of Ella Fitzgerald after digging through her father’s record collection. In 2020, while still a student at Berklee College of Music, Laufey released her debut single “Street by Street”, which went on to top the Icelandic radio charts. Following the release of her 'Typical of Me' EP, Laufey was named Best New Artist in Jazz and Blues at the Icelandic Music Awards and hosted her own show on BBC Radio 3/BBC Sounds. 'Everything I Know About Love' debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Alternative New Artist Album chart, and the lead single “Valentine” peaked at #1 on the Spotify Jazz Chart. In 2022 Laufey was the most streamed jazz artist on Spotify, now with over 6.4 million monthly listeners across all platforms, the songstress managed to secure more achievements by recently crossing 1 million followers on Spotify and Instagram, with nearly 2 million on Tiktok.