Jazz, a genre of music most commonly characterized by its bluesy feel, rhythmic complexity and musical improvisation, is proving its timeless quality through a resurgence of musical relevance in today’s popular culture. While jazz’s mainstream appeal has significantly dwindled since the 1920s, the genre has recently stepped back into the spotlight.

With melodic orchestral backings and relatable lyrics, musical artist Laufey is spearheading the revival of the popular jazz movement. The Icelandic singer-songwriter, best known for her chart-topping and Grammy-winning album “Bewitched,” first rose to stardom during the pandemic, when she began posting jazz covers and original songs on social media. With a background in classical music and the ability to play four instruments, Laufey quickly garnered attention and support from many social media users, preceding the release of her first album, titled “Everything I Know About Love,” released in 2022.

Before her digital rise to fame, Laufey spent a portion of her youth competing in different Icelandic talent competitions, even qualifying as a finalist for the reality competition TV show “Iceland’s Got Talent,” where she performed a cover of Alicia Keys’ “If I Ain’t Got You.” Throughout her adolescence, Laufey’s voice was often flagged for its mature, rich quality. 

“I remember going on singing competitions in Iceland when I was younger, and they’d always be like, ‘She sounds like a 40-year-old woman that’s been divorced twice and she chain-smokes cigarettes,” Laufey said in a CBS News interview.

Despite Laufey’s early career as an Icelandic singing talent, during her youth, Laufey felt like an outsider.

“Everyone was going to play soccer after school or dance, and I was sitting down and playing music from the 17th century. And then, on top of that, I was a twin, identical twin. I just feel weird, on top of weird, on top of weird,” Laufey said (CBS).

Now, Laufey embraces her “weird,” stretching the boundaries between various styles of music. She is now the most streamed artist from Iceland with almost 25 million monthly listeners, and her album “Bewitched” holds the record for the largest debut of a jazz album on Spotify. Her single, “From the Start,” released in 2023, now has over 800 million streams on Spotify. In 2025, she was one of 13 women who won TIME magazine’s prestigious Woman of the Year award, where she was credited with introducing jazz to a new generation. Most recently, Laufey released her third studio album “A Matter of Time,” on Aug. 22.

While “A Matter of Time” continues to expand on the topic of romantic love, a common theme in many of her songs, Laufey also introduces new subjects, such as the pressure of beauty standards, the grief and recollection of a friendship breakup and a variety of other previously-unexplored aspects of her life. Laufey’s favorite song from her record, “Snow White,” examines the various societal beauty standards that women tend to face.

 “A woman’s best currency’s her body, not her brain,” sings Laufey.

In “Castle in Hollywood,” Laufey reflects on the memories of a past friendship and how the end of their friendship signaled the end of her girlhood.
“A Matter of Time” features a combination of genres, including jazz, pop and classical. In several of her songs, such as “Lover Girl,” Laufey adds beats inspired by bossa nova, a Brazilian style of music with roots in Samba, another Brazilian music genre from the early 20th century. In her song “Forget-Me-Not,” Laufey includes lyrics from her native Icelandic language. She features an instrumental song called “Cuckoo Ballet (Interlude)” as the eighth song on her album. 

“There were, I think, one or two tracks that had only instrumentals, and I found that I really liked her artistic choice for that. I think it really added to the message that she wanted to convey through her album,” senior Chloe Lu said.

While many might question Laufey’s ability to appeal to today’s generation due to her jazz-inspired sound, Gen Z listeners are love-struck with Laufey’s music. Her attempt to blend jazz with other popular genres has successfully appealed to much of Gen Z, and her most recent album only continues to embrace her signature sound.

However, with Laufey’s stardom, comes criticism. While some hail Laufey as “the savior of jazz,” this label comes with controversy, as others feel she hasn’t done enough to connect with the rich history of the genre, and view her as a gateway to jazz, instead of the “real thing.” With this criticism, Laufey acknowledges her complex and multi-genre musical identity.

“That’s where things have gotten convoluted — people saying I’m the ‘savior of jazz.’ I don’t consider my music jazz. I record jazz standards, I can be a jazz singer, but 90% of what I put on my albums is not jazz music,” Laufey said in an interview with TIME.

While the categorization of music is inescapable in today’s music industry, some believe that staying true to one’s sound and not feeling pressured to stay within the boundaries of a single genre is an important part of artistic discovery.

“I think the most important question is: Do people enjoy this music and is it making the world a better place?… I think people often use categorizations into different genres to help market certain types of music, but I think most creative artists that you talk with — when they’re creating music, when they’re listening to music — they’re drawing from all sorts of influences,” music teacher Carl Oser said.

A century after the popularization of jazz, the genre continues to evolve, bending and transforming with each artist’s unique vision. Although jazz may dip in and out of the spotlight, the genre will never be gone for long. Jazz, no matter the form, is here to stay.