Laufey (pronounced lay-vey) is an artist who is often celebrated for her creativity and originality, but her latest effort, “A Matter of Time”, takes it to a completely new degree and sets a high bar for her new music moving forward.

She comes from a musical background, with her mother being a classically trained violinist, and her maternal grandparents being professors at China’s Central Conservatory in Beijing.

Her music is consistently praised for her unique style that mixes genres like Classical, Smooth Jazz, and Bossa Nova with pop sensibilities, creating a sound that is both original and deeply reflective of her roots.

“A Matter of Time”, while it retains much of its foundations, is a complete departure from all her previous music.

Lyrically, Laufey took a very different approach to songwriting.

Her earlier music was very romance-focused, with more formulaic love songs that were about themes more akin to traditional pop and crooner jazz. Almost all of that simplicity was completely gutted on this album. Those basic ideas were replaced by songs that feel introspective, vulnerable, and tackle issues such as body image, negative portrayals of women in media, beauty, and self-identity.

 “I wanted to take this idea of beauty that’s often around my music and throw it in the fire a little bit, just for the sake of showing the complexity of female emotion… of my emotion,” Laufey said in an interview with Time Magazine. 

All of this led to an album that is more emotionally complex and thematically interesting than any of her previous works.

Musically, it expands upon ideas that were already present in her music, while also bringing much more variety to the table.

Past albums, such as Bewitched and Everything I Know About Love, lead more toward Smooth Jazz and Bossa Nova than pop. Although it was, and is, incredibly unique and creative, it didn’t fully feel like Laufey.

A Matter of Time searches for something new while retaining the foundations of what made her style to begin with.

It feels much freer to experimentation, with songs like Castle in Hollywood that veer more into the direction of mainstream pop in the vein of artists like Conan Gray, Taylor Swift, and Olivia Rodrigo, in addition to songs that are more reminiscent of her Jazz influences like Clockwork and Lover Girl.

All of those songs, however, are tied together by Laufey’s own genre-blending style. In the album, more pop-oriented songs have instrumentals peppered with Jazz chords, complex harmonies, swirling string melodies, and likewise, more of the Jazz/Classical oriented songs have lyrics and themes that are closer to what you would see in modern pop.

Every song keeps the foundations of what makes her music unique, but builds a sound that is completely hers.

The album has 14 tracks and a run-time of about 45 minutes, with the stand-out number being the emotional ballad Forget-Me-Not

The song is a semi-autobiographical portrayal of an immigrant from Iceland and the challenge of retaining the culture of their homeland while adapting to their new country. It also shows the most classical influence on the album, opening with an oboe solo, harp accompaniment, and a string melody. 

Its intricate orchestral arrangements are absolutely beautiful, and its themes of placelessness and shifting identity resonate with me the most out of any other topic discussed on the album.

I would recommend “A Matter of Time” to any pop fan who is looking for a fresh take on the genre. It is, unique,- beautifully orchestrated, and without a doubt one of the best albums of the past few years. It is a testament to Laufey’s originality and musical ability.