Where | Is Laufey From

Laufey isn't just an Icelandic jazz singer. She isn't just a Chinese classical prodigy. She is the product of a violinist from Guangzhou and an Icelander, raised on a volcanic island, trained in Boston, and now loved globally. She represents a generation of artists who don’t have to choose.

When you listen to her music—the melancholy of Icelandic winters, the warmth of a Chinese grandmother’s kitchen, the sophistication of a Boston conservatory—you are hearing all of those places at once.

At just 15, Laufey won Iceland’s Got Talent . But to truly hone her craft, she moved to Boston to attend the prestigious Berklee College of Music on a full scholarship. It was in Berklee’s practice rooms that she began writing the songs that would become her debut album, Everything I Know About Love . where is laufey from

Today, she splits her time between Los Angeles (the heart of the music industry) and Reykjavík. LA is where she records with the Philharmonic and attends red-carpet events, but Iceland remains her home base for peace and quiet. The confusion over “Where is Laufey from?” highlights a modern reality: identity is no longer a single dot on a map.

She is from Reykjavík. She is from Guangzhou. And now, she belongs to the world. Laufey isn't just an Icelandic jazz singer

“Growing up in Iceland, it’s very dark and cold for half the year,” she told The Guardian . “You stay inside and listen to records.” Here is where the story gets unique. Laufey’s mother is a classically trained violinist from Guangzhou, China, while her father is Icelandic. Laufey and her twin sister, Júnía, were raised in a bilingual, bicultural household.

If you’ve scrolled through TikTok or Spotify in the last two years, you’ve likely heard her voice: warm, velvet-smooth, accompanied by a lonely cello or a soft guitar. Her name is Laufey (pronounced Lay-vay ), and she is the bridge between the Great American Songbook and Gen Z heartbreak. She represents a generation of artists who don’t

This dual heritage has deeply influenced her aesthetics. She speaks Mandarin with her mother and often incorporates Chinese musical elements into her jazz framework. Her 2021 song “Above the Chinese Restaurant” is a poignant, nostalgic look at her childhood, where she would practice violin while her grandmother cooked in the kitchen of their family-run Chinese restaurant in Reykjavík. While her roots are in Iceland and China, her career was forged in the United States.