story by editor-in-chief: Ashly Nicole

With A Matter of Time, Laufey shatters any notion of any new music release hesitation; she steps fully into her power, not just as a vocalist, but as a composer, storyteller, and genre alchemist. Her third full-length record is a sweeping, genre-bending journey through heartbreak, heritage, and self-reclamation, wrapped in vintage orchestration and modern wit. While rooted in her signature blend of jazz and classical pop, this album dares to dive deeper into Icelandic lullabies, biting satire, and even country-tinted introspection. Laufey doesn’t just revisit romance here; she interrogates it, parodies it, and ultimately transcends it. This is her boldest, most cinematic chapter yet. All the visuals for this album were art directed and in collaboration with her twin sister and honestly, creative genius, Junia; from first look to first listen, everything about this LP is absolutely stunning.

Post album release day, Laufey took to social media to express her excitement for the new album, and her gratitude for her fellow writers, producers, composers, and her fans, affectionately dubbed Lauvers, by saying, “A Matter of Time, my third album and my most honest project yet, is yours 🕰️. This album is an exploration of time, genre, space, emotion - a true portrait of what it feels like to fall in love and the self discovery that comes with it. With this album I wanted to show the world the multiple layers that can lie within a person. That the happiest of people have moments of chaos and the darkest of souls can have light 🤍 I hope this album emboldens you to express yourself honestly ⭐️
The greatest thank you to Spencer , who produced this album with me and brought these songs to life in the most beautiful way 🤍 Your talent and clever ideas never cease to blow me away.
To Aaron, thank you for letting me into your world and blessing the album with your beautiful sound. My days with you at long pond are some of my most memorable 🤍
To Junia , for turning the music I made into the full whimsical world that it’s become 🤍
To Max and Jackie, Thank you for being the best management team ever 🤍 I appreciate all the heart you’ve put into this project more than you know 🫶🏻
To my lovely label team at AWAL, Bianca🤍 thank you for believing in me from album one and always letting me forge my own creative path. I don’t take it for granted.
To Carmen for being my rock ⭐️ elska þig 🥹
And finally to my lovely lauvers. Thank you for making my dreams come true. I'll love you forever ❤️”

From pre-order to official release, it was only a matter of time before I received my physical (signed…AHHH!) copy in the mail, and it’s been on a constant rotation, so now I’m here to take you track by track into Laufey’s twisty, whimsical, heart-wrenching world that is, “A Matter of Time”.

Track 1, Clockwork: The album begins with ticking motifs and jazzy orchestration; a sonic metaphor for predictability in love. Laufey wraps cynicism in swing: she’s self-aware, even amused, at how romance plays out "like clockwork." The arrangement is dense yet smooth, showcasing her ability to modernize big-band textures. The strings punch, but never overwhelm.

Lyric highlight: “Think he fell in love with me... like clockwork”

Track 2, Lover Girl: This breezy bossanova tune showcases Laufey’s affinity for global jazz traditions. The track flirts, literally and sonically, with a crush narrative, filled with swooning guitar, Latin percussion, and harmonized vocals. It evokes sunshine, espresso dates, and smitten chaos. But there’s also that Laufey twist; she knows how fleeting this all might be. There’s also the little claps throughout the tune that Laufey has expressed, she cannot wait to hear her Lauvers respond with during her lives shows coming up this fall.

Lyric highlight: “27 days alone, means 20 million ways to cope…without you”

Track 3, Snow White: This track is a sharp tonal shift, like biting into something bittersweet after cotton candy. “Snow White” is Laufey’s social commentary moment: examining the way women are reduced to appearances. It’s hauntingly arranged with cinematic strings and low-register piano, nearly Sondheim-esque. This song pulls at your heartstrings and hits where it hurts; it’s eerily familiar to the feeling of learning and trying so hard to be content and confident in your own body. By far, this may be one of the most emotional and relatable songs I’ve ever heard from Laufey.
P.S. Laufey, I hope you know how beautiful the world thinks you are.

Lyric highlight: “A woman’s best currency is her body, not her brain.”

Track 4, Castle in Hollywood: Laufey and Aaron Dessner collaborate on this folk-tinged daydream, which balances whimsy with weariness. It’s a catchy acoustic melody laced with longing. Beneath the magical metaphor is a sadness; promises, fairy tales, and the loss of the person you’ll always hold the dearest. This track gives the vibe of frolicking through the halls of an empty house pretending to be in a dramatic music video. A punch in the gut, longing for something or someone you’ll never be able to return to. This song is truly the epitome of all friendship break up songs, and if you’ve ever lost your best friend, a person you thought you’d have around forever, you’ll relate to this one all too well.

Lyric highlight: “I owe it to the best worst friend I’ve ever had. I think about you always…”

Track 5, Carousel: “Carousel” is a masterclass in metaphor. This slow waltz traps you in the repetitive loops of a dizzying, one-sided love. The 3/4 time signature is used to literal effect, the listener spins, emotionally and sonically, alongside Laufey. It truly feels like you’re spinning inside a music box, or in this case, on a carousel. The best way to describe the feeling this song evokes is when you’re in a dream and riding a carousel, if you’ve ever had a dream such as that. It’s calming and gives you the feeling of floating all at once.

Lyric highlight: “Take my sincere apology for all of my oddities, my recurring comedies”

Track 6, Silver Lining: One of the album’s most cinematic tracks, this one is soaked in melancholy but not despair. Laufey seeks hope in the wreckage of love. The orchestration swells with Old Hollywood elegance, or like a scene out of The Great Gatsby. This may very well be one of the catchiest songs on the album. It’s effortlessly beautiful and timeless; something Laufey is such an expert at creating. It feels like an embrace at midnight before the inevitable goodbye, very much Cinderella leaving the ball at midnight.

Lyric highlight: “Now we pirouette in fields of rosy sin”

Track 7, Too Little, Too Late: This song is most certainly a standout: intimate, violin-led, and emotionally restrained. It echoes her earlier work (Bewitched, Everything I Know About Love), but more grown-up. Laufey sounds wiser here, accepting that timing sometimes ruins what could have been. Every line of this song makes the listener feel the spiral of despair as the lyrics continue. There is so much regret and longing in this song, and it’s something that you can really feel and visualize, especially if you’ve ever experienced a “one that got away”, or “better off as friends” situation. It’s the feeling of always having love for someone, but life just didn’t favor the situation.

Fun fact: Her sister Junia plays violin in this song, make it all the more special.
Lyric highlight: “Lost my fight with fate, a tug-of-war of leave and stay”

Track 8, Cuckoo Ballet (Interlude): A 90-second instrumental that’s gentle, twinkling, and feather-light. It acts as an elegant breath, an intermission if you will, both literally and thematically.
It recalls toy boxes, music boxes, and the delicate chaos of emotion on the edge.

Function: Emotional reset. Like a chapter break in a novel of feelings.

Track 9, Forget-Me-Not: Sung partly in Icelandic, this track honors Laufey’s heritage. With the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, she crafts a piece that feels like both a hymn and a memory. It doesn’t aim to impress, it aches. A pure love letter to home, language, and the kind of intimacy only distance reveals. Laufey’s vocals in this song are the standout on this album, and some of the most vulnerable and beautiful I’ve heard on any of her songs.

Lyric highlight: “Gleymdu mér aldrei þó ég héðan flýg. Gleymdu mér aldrei, elskan mín”
Translation: “Don't forget me, even though I'm leaving. I love you. I'll love you forever”

Track 10, Tough Luck: This is Laufey’s most fiery track. Critics have called it her “jazz-pop diss track.” A sarcastic, “thanks for the heartbreak” moment, it features punchy brass and cutting lyrics.
She’s confident, biting, and slightly dangerous, new territory for her. This song is Laufey’s third most listened to track on the album, only slightly trailing behind Lover Girl and Silver Lining, having already amassed over 32 million listens since its release.

Lyric highlight (the whole bridge tbh): “I should congratulate thee for so nearly convincing me, I'm not quite as smart as I seem. That I'm a loudmouthed nobody, my accent and music are dumb, your tattoos are no better, hun. The proof says you're tragic as fuck…The truth is that's just tough, tough luck”

Track 11, A Cautionary Tale: Folk storytelling takes the lead again. The acoustic production is stripped back to highlight lyrical maturity. Laufey tells the story of a doomed romance with a touch of weary wisdom. There’s something Shakespearean in its caution; echoes of Romeo & Juliet, but quieter and sadder. This song is so eloquently written, and the story telling is so detailed and heartfelt, it’s one that will always have you in your feelings any time you listen to it.

Lyric highlight: “was born to be a giver, destined to pay the toll”

Track 12, Mr. Eclectic: Sharp, witty, and deliciously petty. This one roasts a pretentious lover who probably owns too many records and name-drops obscure filmmakers. It’s giving, if Regina George got into jazz and had a better vocabulary. The bossa vibe returns, but now with more sass and satire. I love how blunt and almost vindictive Laufey has been with some of the tracks on this album, and this one is probably one of the most sassy in your face songs. There’s lots of little jabs making it both comical and embarrassing for whoever it may be about. Lesson learned, never be pretentious in the presence of a song writer, or you just might be dubbed Mr. Eclectic.

Lyric highlight: “Bet you think you're so poetic, quoting epics and ancient prose. Truth be told, you're quite pathetic, Mr. Eclectic Allan Poe”

Track 13, Clean Air: A jazzy folk song meets emotional detox. With breezy acoustic chords and outdoor imagery, Laufey expresses the need to break free from city life, from toxic dynamics, from expectations. This is Laufey at her most grounded, both sonically and emotionally. It’s an easy listen, and something about it is almost refreshing. This song feels like laying in a field of daisys under cloud cover and a nice spring breeze.

Lyric highlight: “Tiny comments ricocheted like bullets. Cyclone on a sunny day, you shook it and dragged me down to hell”

Track 14, Sabotage: The final track is chilling and chaotic. Orchestration builds like a Hitchcock thriller. Piano phrases feel like echoes in a dark hallway. It’s Laufey battling her own internal saboteur; the voice that ruins things before they begin. Laufey has been openly so proud of the composition of this song, reminding fans to, “remember to listen to Sabotage on full volume with headphones on”, really emphasizing the jump scare from the Orchestra about half way through the song.

Lyric highlight: “so prepare for the impact, and brace your heart, for cold, bloody, bitter sabotage.”

Final Verdict: 10/10
A Matter of Time is Laufey’s most daring and intricate work to date. It spans genre, language, and emotional tones with grace and sometimes petulance.
She’s no longer just the TikTok jazz girl people once knew her as. She’s cemented herself as a genre-bending composer, lyricist, and cultural storyteller. I adore Laufey and everything she creates.
Her work was already spectacular from the very beginning, but with each new endeavor, she becomes more and more solidified in her craft, and pushes boundaries a lot of artists in her genre have yet to even explore in their work. With this album, Laufey really immerses the listener into, not just this world she’s visually created (with the creative direction of Junia), but truly some of the inner workings of her mind and feelings as she’s navigated all of these emotions and experiences that are so…human.
I cannot wait to dive deeper into Laufey’s musical journey in the future, and will have this record on repeat for the foreseeable future.

Laufey’s upcoming headlining
”A Matter of Time” tour
with Suki Waterhouse

FIND TICKETS HERE

Make sure to also check out The Laufey Foundation: Accessible Music Education & Resources for All (an excerpt from The Laufey Foundation mission page)

Since achieving a high level of success and widespread critical acclaim as the Gen-Z pioneer of classical and jazz music, Laufey felt it was time to launch the project she’s always felt incredibly strongly about: giving back to the young artist community and ensuring that the next generation of talented musicians have the same opportunities and tools that she had to pursue her dreams.

Throughout her childhood and into adulthood, Laufey received the invaluable mentorship and education required to prepare and encourage her to pursue a career in music. Laufey’s global success can be directly attributed to her experiences playing within esteemed youth orchestra programs and receiving a Presidential Scholarship to attend the Berklee College of Music.
”I’ve become the musician that I needed when I was younger”, Laufey is quoted.
The work of The Laufey Foundation echoes the life-changing support Laufey received as a young musician, leading to a discovery and love of classical and jazz music. As a certified 501(c)(3) non-profit, The Laufey Foundation provides this support through bestowing financial grants and world class equipment to youth music programs around the world.

A primary purpose of The Laufey Foundation is to ensure that young musicians of all demographics have the opportunity to attend youth orchestra programs, as youth orchestras serve as a gateway and conduit for serious student musicians to achieve their full potential by giving them the experience they need to be successful in their college and university ensembles.