Tom Dunne: All cool dads should really go along to see Laufey
Laufey is at 3Arena in Dublin on Friday. Picture: Tasos Katopodis/Getty
Laufey sweeps into the 3Arena this week. A sold-out show in a long line of sold-out shows. Many of you will have never heard of her. But for some this will be an evening of quiet devotion. I am the father of one such disciple. It is telling - I am not allowed attend the gig.
Laufey is Laufey Lín Bing Jónsdóttir. She is of Icelandic-Chinese parentage. In Iceland, despite being only 26, she already has OTF after her name. That stands for Order Of The Falcon. It’s a kind of Icelandic MBE. How cool is that?
Cool is Laufey’s middle name. She is cool, her music is cool, her twin sister is cool, her jazz arrangements are cool, her family are cool and her country, obviously – from sticking it to the banks to producing Bjork - is extremely cool. So how has she evaded our cool radar?
She is a two-time Grammy winner, was Time Magazine Woman of the Year in 2025, and already has a song in that elite One Billion Spins on Spotify Club. Having long since conquered the Billboard Jazz Album charts, her latest album, is now Top 5 on the Billboard Hot 200.
She wafted into my world in February 2024. She was playing a massively oversubscribed afternoon show at The Academy in Dublin. The disciple in our house wondered if I could use my powers to get her in. But I had just used those powers for a James Marriot show in the same venue. I didn’t think I could go to the well again. Bad mistake.
I was on taxi duties at the Marriot gig. His demographic seemed very similar. It was a sea of young teenage girls who knew every word, owned every product, and were familiar with every utterance. It was as if they were drawn there by some invisible force.
I mused, sitting in the car, what that invisible force might be. I thought of the Spore Drive in In that the Enterprise taps into the mycelial network – a vast subspace fungal web that permeates the entire universe. The network functions like a cosmic superhighway connecting distant points instantaneously.
In space The Enterprise uses it to “jump” to anywhere in the universe. I wondered if here on Earth teenage girls use some mycelial Laufey equivalent to “know” instantly what Laufey is up to. It would be an instantaneous, deep, connection. That was the only explanation I could think of. That or TikTok.
She is only 26 and yet her music evokes a bygone world of Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Peggy Lee and Chet Baker. Jazz permeates its every chord change. It is sophisticated and informed and hits you as gently as an attack from a gummy dog. I mean that in a good way.
I personally detect a bit of Karen Carpenter about it. Karen had one of those voices that made you feel instantly reassured. It wrapped around you and the world floated away. Laufey’s gorgeous voice does the same. In a world gone mad, this is no bad thing.
Laufey trained from an early age in classical piano and cello. Her mum is a classically trained violinist, but her mum’s dad, Lin Yaoji, is the first person I have ever heard described as a “violin pedagogue". It means exceptional teacher. He was exceptional at the world-renowned Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing.
Hence it was no surprise Laufey grew up in a household where practice and application were valued. But give her dad credit too. A finance executive, it was his jazz collection that introduced a young Laufey to the charms of Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday. Chet Baker is her favourite musician.
It struck me how many of the new generation have similar back stories. Taylor Swift, Mitski, Michelle Zaumer (Japanese Breakfast) and now Laufey were all born into affluent, educated, stable households with early artistic access and solid support.
While her twin went to St Andrews in Scotland, Laufey went to Berkley College of Music in Boston on a Presidential Scholarship. Her two Grammy wins bring Berkley’s alumni Grammy haul to a 310 in total, to add that to its 34 Emmys, seven Tonys and eight Oscars.
She is quoted as saying “Taylor Swift has done for pop and country what I hope to do for jazz.”
I should have pushed harder on that Academy gig guest list. My chances now of a “Cool Dads Enjoy Laufey” T-shirt are minimal.
