Icelandic Chinese musician Laufey Photo: Gemma Warren
Laufey Lín Jónsdóttir has played classical music since childhood but she never expected to become one of the world's most popular modern jazz artists.
As her latest album Bewitched breaks streaming records around the world, the 24-year-old takes a moment with Charlotte Ryan.
"I'm sitting in a hotel room in New York and it just feels very, very, very surreal," she says.
Laufey, who started playing piano at four and cello at eight, is happy to be bringing music with classical and jazz influences to the mainstream "in a fun way".
The spirit of jazz is about finding freedom from constraints, she says, so 'purity' is not a consideration.
"I'm not out here making pure jazz music, I'm mixing it in with classical music, pop music, more songwriter stuff…"
Laufey's visual styling and the violin-playing on many of her albums are courtesy of her twin sister and creative director Júnía.
"Anything that is not music coming from my voice, she polishes… it feels like there are two bodies working on this project and I'm so thankful for it."
Icelandic people are very proud of their musicians, Laufey says, including of course Björk, who her dad went to high school with.
This connection "isn't crazy at all" for Iceland - a small, isolated country which she says is also very peaceful and progressive.
"There are lots of creatives in Iceland… and a lot of artists coming out of there. It's very safe physically but also in a small community like this you can take risks."
