Laufey: How the 27-Year-Old Became a TikTok Sensation with Jazz

TVS News AI, editorially supervised, presents Laufey: How the 27-Year-Old Became a TikTok Sensation with Jazz.

Born on April 23, 1999: Laufey’s Family Roots

Laufey Lín Bing Jónsdóttir was born on April 23, 1999 in Reykjavík. Her father is Icelandic, and her mother is a professional violinist. Her mother introduced her to a passion for music when she was still a small child. Laufey grew up surrounded by instruments with her twin sister Júnía.

She learned to play piano, violin and cello. At age 15, she was already performing as a soloist with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. She also took part in televised singing competitions. Her career therefore did not begin with TikTok, but with classical training that largely took place in the everyday life of a music school.

Laufey only discovered jazz during her youth. She listened to Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday and loved the melodies of those years. She later received a scholarship to Berklee College of Music in Boston. There, she developed the style that defines her today: classical knowledge, jazz and pop in a distinctive blend.

From the Pandemic to a Song with More Than a Billion Spotify Streams

The decisive turning point came during the pandemic. Laufey began singing on TikTok. Her interpretations of classic jazz pieces and early original songs initially spread among thousands of users. The decisive breakthrough did not come immediately.

Her first single, “Street by Street,” was released in 2020, followed by her debut album “Typical of Me” in 2021. It was only with her second album, “Bewitched,” in 2023 that Laufey achieved international stature. The single “From the Start” became her biggest social-media success to date. The song has now recorded more than one billion plays on Spotify.

This is where the special part of her story lies. Many unknown artists were spreading music through TikTok at the time. Laufey chose a different sound: instead of fashionable electronic production, she drew on the great voices of the 1950s. Her music combines Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and Chet Baker with the immediacy of Taylor Swift.

Jazz thus reached a generation that had previously dismissed the genre in many cases as something for “the older generation.” According to Clarín, millions of teenagers and people in their twenties began taking an interest in it. The strongest argument against portraying it as a pure platform success story is therefore not the age of her sound, but the combination of a historic sound aesthetic and a storytelling approach that spoke directly to young people.

What the Two Grammy Awards Actually Recognized

In 2024, Laufey won her first Grammy for “Bewitched” in the “Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album” category. The success had therefore also reached the established music industry. The fact that “From the Start” also went viral and streamed millions of times was no minor matter: social success and the award confirmed one another.

After three released albums, the second Grammy followed in 2026. This time, the award went to “A Matter of Time,” Laufey’s third album. It had been released in August 2025. The title also marks a change within her career: from her TikTok discovery and first Grammy to an artist whose latest work received direct recognition from the music industry.

Discussions about Laufey’s style nevertheless continue. Some experts questioned whether her mixture of jazz, classical music and pop was actually jazz at all. This is the strongest counterargument to her role as a pioneer. Laufey herself defended her intention of bringing jazz closer to new generations. In terms of content, both positions can indeed be reconciled: the sound colors are reminiscent of the 1950s, but the production and themes have long moved beyond that era.

From Her Room in Reykjavík to the Royal Albert Hall

Laufey’s journey also led from videos she recorded in her fourth-floor room to sold-out shows at historic venues such as Madison Square Garden in New York and the Royal Albert Hall in London. She also performed live with an orchestra at the Rockefeller Center Christmas ceremony. Such appearances show that her fame did not remain confined to social-media metrics.

She became particularly visible at the Coachella Festival in the United States in 2025. Laufey performed there with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. She thus brought a musical form to one of the best-known festivals on the current music scene, which traditionally features pop, electronic music and rock.

Laufey’s career thus comes together into an unusual overall picture: classical training, a discovery through TikTok during the pandemic, two Grammy Awards and performances before some of the world’s biggest names in music. She did not reinvent jazz. She built a bridge to its history for a generation that discovered it through videos—and showed that bridge to the millions of people who might otherwise have considered it inaccessible.