Laufey returns with 'A Matter of Time', a record that blends jazz, pop and folk influences

When Laufey Lín Jónsdóttir was still a student in Iceland, she filled out a yearbook questionnaire with bold ambition: in ten years, she wanted to move to the United States, sign a record deal and win a Grammy. Now 26, the Icelandic Chinese musician has achieved all three.

Her rise has been extraordinary. Known simply as Laufey, she has built a reputation as an unexpected nonconformist in contemporary pop, weaving neoclassical and jazz traditions into songs that resonate with young audiences. Along the way, she has collaborated with Barbra Streisand, performed with Hozier and Noah Kahan, and even shared the stage with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Yet, despite such accolades, her focus has remained on the music itself.

“My ultimate goal is to introduce young audiences to jazz music, to classical music, to encourage them to learn instruments and explore their own sound,” she says.

Her third album, A Matter of Time, out Friday, reflects this mission while also signalling a shift. It is the freest record she has made, a work less concerned with following any compass or educational purpose and more about expressing raw emotion. Country, Icelandic folk, classical, bossa nova and jazz intermingle across its tracks, creating a soundscape both varied and cohesive.

The album’s title reveals its central theme. Laufey explains that she has long been fascinated with time—an element completely out of human control. “Sometimes we want to speed up and sometimes we want to slow down, but ultimately it’s out of our control. And there’s something romantic about that to me,” she says. Throughout writing and recording, the phrase “a matter of time” took on a second meaning: a confession to the listener, and to a lover, that it was only a matter of time before she bared her soul completely.

This vulnerability is most striking in songs like Sabotage, which ends in an abrupt, almost jarring burst. For Laufey, it marked a confrontation with anger—a feeling she had rarely expressed before. “I was a very good kid growing up. I was very polite and very quiet. I used this as a way to show that you can be angry,” she explains. For her, the project was an opportunity to resist being categorised as either the ‘mad woman’ or the ‘sweet woman’. She insists that people, especially women, are everything at once—soft, angry, vulnerable, and strong.

Compared with her past projects, A Matter of Time feels more liberated. “This is just the most free I’ve been,” Laufey says. While her lyrics still wrestle with insecurity, anxiety and self-doubt, the act of bringing them to life reflects a new confidence. “It is the most confident I’ve been, because I don’t think I’d have the confidence to put out the music in this album before.”

That confidence is also bolstered by the presence of her identical twin, Junia. A creative partner as much as a sibling, Junia is involved in almost every part of the project—merchandise, artwork, music videos, and even performing violin on some tracks. Laufey calls the collaboration “so special” and adds, “I know so many artists who talk about how it can be quite lonely, but I’ve never really been alone. I’ve always done it in tandem with my sister.”

Representation also forms a crucial part of Laufey’s philosophy. Growing up in a homogenous Icelandic community, she rarely saw Asian role models beyond her mother and twin sister. “It’s so powerful, seeing someone who looks like you, that you can look up to,” she reflects. While she celebrates increased visibility for Asian artists today, she also acknowledges the gaps that remain. “Anything I can do to lift up voices, create those communities, and empower young Asian artists to do their thing—that’s at the centre of my philosophy.”

Looking forward, Laufey has dreams beyond albums and concerts. One particular ambition stands out: composing for cinema. “I’d love to score a film or do a theme song to a film, preferably a James Bond theme song, because that’s, like, my dream,” she says.

For now, though, she continues to create music that is at once deeply personal and universally relatable. With A Matter of Time, Laufey not only expands her sonic palette but also offers a candid reflection on love, anger, identity and freedom. It is, in every sense, an album born of confidence.

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