Laufey's the kind of artist you don't easily forget about.

From the way her music engulfs you with such warmth to the way she speaks with so much grace and sincerity, the Icelandic-Chinese singer-songwriter certainly leaves a lasting impression. She makes the kind of music that you just fall so deeply in love with, even more so when experienced live. So, it's no wonder she draws in such a vast fanbase that spans across the world.

Laufey fills the air with magic and romance at first-ever Manila concert — gig report

Ahead of her first-ever show of her Asia tour in Manila, Bandwagon caught up with the 'Magnolia' hitmaker to talk about coming to Southeast Asia and learning more about love in her upcoming sophomore album, as well as draw what fans can expect in her upcoming shows. 

Welcome to Manila! Your Manila show and your entire Asia and Australia tour is sold out, what was your reaction when you found out?

Oh my god! We went up with the shows and kind of had no clue what to expect because I'd never played here before. So I mean, we went in hoping for the best—I remember kind of thinking in my head if no one really buys tickets, like, it's okay, I'll just cancel it quietly (laughs). That didn't seem to be the issue at all, which is so cool.

It went pretty fast. I was like, in shock. Honestly, I was like, 'what the hell?' I like tried going in line for the tickets here and I was like 3000 in line. Thank God, I'm not buying tickets to my own concert.

 

 

 

 

 

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What are you most looking forward to for this leg of the tour?

I mean, just seeing this part of the world. I've never been to Southeast Asia so none of the countries I'm going to I've been to before. Everything's new.

That's exciting! Are there any songs you're most excited to play?

Oh, my God, the new songs. I'm like so ready to leak some songs.

You studied music all while growing up, training in classical and jazz music. So, what was it like going from performing pieces from other artists to then creating your songs and now performing them in front of thousands of people?

I think when I started, and when I was so used to playing classical music, I was so not confident playing my own music. [At the time], I was playing like Bach and all these composers who have proven themselves over and over and over, and I just had to play it to the best of my ability.

Whereas now, I'm actually way more confident singing my own music because I wrote it and I can make it however I want. I love it, there's no comparison. It's the best thing in the world because you get to interpret it the way that you wanted it to and tell your own stories.

 

 

 

 

 

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What do you love most about music?

I think it's just the way that you feel, the way that it makes you feel. It can bring out any emotion within you. You know, if you want something to make you happy, you can listen to something happy—like yesterday, I was really anxious on the plane. so I was listening to Taylor Swift trying to keep my energy up.

But then if you want to listen to something that just brings you to a mellow place or something that just fully makes you sad, you can do that too.

What's the most important thing to you when you're making music? 

I think conveying a message and telling the story that's become kind of the highlight. So yeah, telling a good story.

You're already working on your next album, right?

Yes... It's actually done.

Oh, wow. Well then, how does it compare to Everything I Know About Love?

Everything I Know About Love is a little bit more clueless. You know, it's a little bit more aloof in nature. It was also a collection of all the songs I'd written up to that point and every song almost felt like an accident. It was like, 'oh my god, I managed to write another song. Okay, I like it, let's put it on the album'.

Whereas with this new album, I wrote it all from scratch. I already knew what the title was going to be, I already knew what the theme was going to be. This one's more confident than I was with Everything I Know About Love. I was also trying out a couple of different styles, seeing what the audience took to and what they enjoyed the most. But with this one, I'm leaning more toward my jazz and classical roots.

I think I've matured more as a songwriter as well. I started writing when I was 19, 20 and I just turned 24 so I've had a bit more time now and my songwriting has matured a lot. I think it's more confident, it's more daring and it's a love album.

What kind of stories can we expect from this one? In your first album, it was you figuring out how to love for the first time, what's it going to be like for this new one?

It's not deviating too far from that. I'm still figuring it out for sure. It's a little bit more of a love album but you'll get the same rhythm of stories. I think the fans will like it

One last question—well, more of a task. Draw what you think you look like when performing on stage.

What I think I look like when I'm performing on stage? Oh god, honestly, I'm really bad at drawing but okay.

That doesn't look quite right—oh no, it really doesn't look quite right but there's no way out of this. I'm really trying to draw but that looks really bad (laughs).

Listen to Laufey's 'From The Start' here.