MUMBAI – Acclaimed Los Angeles-based Icelandic-Chinese artist, composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist Laufey reveals “California and Me” featuring the London-based Philharmonia Orchestra—a favorite of Hollywood who’ve scored films such as Iron Man 3, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Baby Driver, The King and I, and many more. They are also featured on Laufey’s 2021 single “Let You Break My Heart Again”. “California and Me” is Laufey’s final single ahead of the release of her highly-anticipated new album ‘Bewitched’, coming out September 8 via AWAL. Fans can stream “California and Me” here and pre-save ‘Bewitched’ here: laufey.ffm.to/bewitched
Last week, Laufey also released the music video for her viral single “From The Start”. The video was directed by Jason Lester (Hozier, Phoebe Bridgers), with concept and creative direction by Laufey’s identical twin Junia Lin. It is a mid-century fantasia, drawing inspiration from the minimalism, shapes, and colors of Piet Mondrian, Bauhaus architecture, modernist design and Golden Age Hollywood movie musicals. Filmed on 16mm film, the visual centers around a charismatic performance from Laufey, choreographed by Molly Long (founder of the acclaimed dance studio, Project 21).
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Since its release in May, “From The Start” has seen a meteoric rise. The track topped 1 million streams in less than 24 hours upon release and continues to garner 1.75 million streams per day across DSPs, with 95 million global streams to date. Moreover, “From The Start” is the most streamed jazz song in the world, and has reached U.S. and Global Top 50, as well as Top 10 on Spotify Viral charts around the world including Singapore and the Philippines, and Top 20 in Malaysia.
‘Bewitched’ 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”, which 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”.
The new music is receiving early critical acclaim—NPR Music calls “Promise” “delicate poetic music,” while UPROXX praises the title track “Bewitched” (which also features the Philharmonia Orchestra) as “a dreamy spin that pushes the boundaries of what pop music can be.”
Additionally, 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’s performance at The Ford on September 16 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic is also sold out, and she is set to perform at the Kennedy Center with the National Symphony Orchestra on release day.
