Reykjavík Grapevine - aug 2022, Qupperneq 24
24The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 08— 2022
“Everything I Know
About Love” by
Laufey
An album for hopeless romantics
Words: Laufey Lín Jónsdóttir & Josie Anne Gaitens Photo: Gemma Warren
Info
Laufey’s star is rising so fast we can
barely keep up. From being lauded
by Billie Eilish to performing on
“Jimmy Kimmel Live!”—all at just 23
years old—it’s fair to say that the
singer-songwriter has made quite
an impact since bursting onto the
scene with her first single in 2020.
With her debut album, “Everything
I Know About Love” set for release
this month, we sat down with Laufey
to find out what love’s got to do
with it. Here’s how she describes the
album, track by track.
Fragile
I grew up very protected and sensi-
tive to love. I often felt like I lived in
a case of glass. Fragile is the story
of the first time someone shattered
that case around me. I was very
influenced by cinematic scores and
Bossa Nova in this song.
Beautiful Stranger
Beautiful Stranger is about a hand-
some man that I saw on the tube in
London. We glanced at each other
a couple of times but never spoke.
I came to my stop and stepped off
the train, went home and wrote
this song.
Dear Soulmate
I wrote this song for my future
soulmate. I’m fascinated by the idea
of my soulmate walking around
somewhere out there and maybe I
know them, maybe I don’t.
What Love WIll Do To You
This song is about that hazy crazy
feeling you get when you first
develop a crush on someone. I
wrote it about an experience I had
stumbling back from a first date. It
was recorded with a live band in the
studio—I wanted the jazzy arrange-
ment to transport the listener into
an old movie scene.
I've Never Been In Love
Before
Never Been In Love Before begins
and ends acapella. I recorded live
with a band in one take—it’s one of
my favourite jazz standards about
falling in love for the first time and
how strange it can be.
Just Like Chet
I tend to fall in love too easily,
like the Chet Baker song states,
hence the title! I wrote the song
about a guy who strung me along
for months and I often wished
I would’ve never met. The song
showcases cello along with trom-
bone and trumpet of course—my
homage to Chet Baker.
Everything I Know About
Love
This song is about all the magical
things that I was told love was like
but that I’ve never gotten to expe-
rience. I’ve tried many times but
fail every time. Turns out, I don’t
know anything about love! The
intro composed by Bach is played
by myself on cello, and my mother
and sister on violin.
Falling Behind
I wrote Falling Behind because I felt
like all the people around me were
falling in love and I couldn’t help
but feel like I was falling behind.
Hi
Hi is about moving to a new city
and missing your hometown love.
I wrote Hi when I moved to LA, felt
lonely and missed a certain some-
one. I wanted to text them but
didn’t dare to, so I wrote this song
instead.
Dance With You Tonight
This song was born on a late night
out when I found an old piano in
the back of a bar. A sweet boy asked
me if I wanted to dance with him
but I was a bit too tipsy to do so.
Night Light
Night Light is a tale of pack-
ing up my childhood bedroom, it
was quite the emotional experi-
ence! With sweeping strings and
epic harmonies, I set out to illus-
trate the significance of childhood
bedrooms and how many experi-
ences and memories they hold.
Valentine
Valentine is about being in love for
the first time and not quite know-
ing how to react to it. That electri-
fying and shocking feeling that you
get when you realise that someone
loves you back. I wrote it on Valen-
tine’s Day last year and posted it on
TikTok for fun—the response was
way beyond what I expected and
after going viral I decided to finish
the song and record it! I worked with
producer Spencer Stewart to get the
song to the finish line with magi-
cal harmonies and piano flares.
“Everything I Know About Love” is
available for worldwide release on
August 26th.
'Hay' girl
Track By Track