Crossing the musical spectrum

Young Icelandic-Chinese performer makes mainland debut in Beijing with classical and jazz-tinged songs, Chen Nan reports.

Standing in front of the China Philharmonic Orchestra at the Poly Theater in Beijing on Sept 26 and singing songs blending jazz and classical music, 24-year-old singer-songwriter Laufey Lin Jonsdottir, with Laufey as her stage name, who is half-Icelandic and half-Chinese and known domestically as Lin Bing, gave her first concert on the Chinese mainland.

Playing guitar and cello, Laufey performed about 20 songs, including Let You Break My Heart Again, Beautiful Stranger and Bewitched. Their sonic landscapes, which portray moments of everyday life, have gained Laufey a global following since she started releasing songs online during the pandemic.

"I am not nervous about this first concert on the Chinese mainland. I am more nervous about wearing high heels onstage. I don't want to fall over," the young singer-songwriter told China Daily, a few hours before her concert in Beijing.

After touring the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States, she finally had the chance to perform for Chinese fans.

"The rehearsals with the China Philharmonic Orchestra have been incredible," she says. "And it just feels special to be back in Beijing again."

Laufey's grandfather, Lin Yaoji (1937-2009), a well-known violinist himself, is credited with teaching many other violinists.

"Because lots of my grandfather's students are in the orchestra, it feels like his music is running through them," she says. "It's definitely running through me."

Lin Yaoji died when Laufey was 9 years old but her memories of him are vivid. She describes her grandfather as a very lively person.

"I have been told that I am very similar to him", she says. "He was a musical genius and he did it all out of love for the art. He loved singing, dancing and teaching violin. He also loved jazz.

"People who are new to my music can expect an escape and a different time. A lot of my fans are young and are going through difficulties at school and in friendships, and suffering heartbreaks. I hope my music provides a way to escape those sad times, and brings them somewhere really beautiful."

Growing up in Iceland and now living in Los Angeles, Laufey used to visit China for a few months every summer to study piano and cello. This is the first time she has returned to Beijing since the pandemic.

Classical music has always been an important influence. Her mother, Lin Wei, is also a violinist, and has been a member of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra since 1988. Laufey grew up learning to play the violin, the piano and the cello and took classical music very seriously as a child.

Jazz was also part of her life thanks to her father's love of the genre.

"I remember that my father played jazz music at home," she says. "I have a low voice, so when I started singing, jazz felt appropriate."

While Laufey's parents have always been supportive of her pursuing a career in music, she wasn't sure herself, writing her first song when she was 16, which she hid for years.

"In classical music, you learn to be a player, not a creator of music. Then when I was 20 and studying at the Berklee College of Music, I realized that I had started writing songs again. This time it felt honest and about myself," she says.

She started releasing those songs during the pandemic, and spent a lot of time on social media like TikTok and Instagram, which was her "stage". Last year, she released her debut album, Everything I Know About Love, and this September a follow-up album, Bewitched, which she calls "the second chapter" of the first album. She plays piano, cello, and guitar on most of the tracks and she breaks the walls between classical and jazz music.

In one of the songs on the second album, Letter to My 13-year-old Self, she sings: "Don't worry about your curly hair, clothes that don't quite fit you anywhere… and grow so tough and charm them, write your story, fall in love a little too. … I wish I could go back and give her a squeeze myself at 13.… Keep on going with your silly dream".

She says: "I was so worried when I was 13 years old. I wanted to be a singer, but I wasn't sure if things would work out. The song is for the 13-year-old version of me."

Besides her parents, Laufey's twin sister Junia is also a big supporter, and takes care of the visuals accompanying her music.

"She is my creative director," Laufey says. "The whole visual world behind my art project is all her. It is great to have someone who can be so honest with you without making you angry for being honest. It's very special."

Asked about her songwriting process, she says that before writing anything, she knows what the song is going to be about and what its message or title will be, and hopes to write music for movies one day.

Zou Shuang, artistic director of the Beijing Music Festival, says that she is excited to have Laufey in Beijing as part of the ongoing annual event, which highlights young musicians.

"Laufey's music has received critical praise. She melds elements of modern music with the more traditional sounds of classical and jazz," says Zou. "With her family's musical legacy, she has made a name for herself by producing a captivating sound that is uniquely her own."

Contact the writer at chennan@chinadaily.com.cn