Write-Up and Photos: Brianna Guinigundo
(Kia Center, Orlando FL) If you haven’t yet heard of Laufey, it’s only “A Matter of Time” before you fall in love with her as the audience in the sold-out Kia Center has. This album is Laufey’s latest release, having only recently come out in late August - so fans were more-than-ecstatic to hear this album performed live for not just their first time ever, but Laufey’s first time as well: her concert in Orlando, Florida was the very first show for her A Matter of Time Tour 2025. Laufey even noted that she herself was so excited to perform the new songs because she had never performed them before.
Laufey (pronounced lay-vay) is from Icelandic-Chinese descent and her music is unique in this day and age as she cultivates a new era for modern jazz, creating a mix between jazz, classical, and pop. The opening artist, Suki Waterhouse, shares a similar fanbase with Laufey but she is distinguished by her indie pop style, most popular for her song “Good Looking” (2022). With her hair theatrically blowing back, Suki introduced her most popular song by saying that there are so many “good and gentle people around you in this world, sometimes you’ve got to trust them…or trust a good looking boy”. She was met with a roar of screams from the audience as she began to play her opening notes. With a sweet guitar solo in the outro of her concluding song, Suki had wonderfully set the stage, now ready for Laufey.
Laufey’s performance is one of the most creative ones I have seen yet, demonstrating high attention to detail as each element was beautifully presented to share Laufey’s narrative. Early in the show, Laufey expressed how she “loves storytelling and wants people to get sucked into this world of yearning”. Fans were already immersed into this lovely world Laufey created before they even entered the arena; outside of Kia Center was this photo-op pop-up of this tall inflatable castle with a banner that read in cursive, “Welcome to Laufey Land, Orlando”. This majestic castle complimented the many felt crowns handmade and worn by half of the audience, with the rest of the audience wearing bows in their hair. Laufey explained that she noticed that people tend to dress well for her concerts, and she wanted to do something special to recognize this - she expressed that for this tour, she will be picking one best dressed guest per night. An audience member was brought close to the stage and crowned with a felt crown exclusive to the tour. However, it was not Laufey who crowned this lucky member -- it was Mei Mei the Bunny, a soft character associated with Laufey’s Icelandic childhood, brought to life as the mascot-sized version of this original plush toy of a bunny wearing a sweater. Both Mei Mei and the felt crowns connect and unite the community that Laufey has created for her growing fanbase.
Delving deeper into the creative set, to open Act I, a castle was shown and Laufey entered with the effect of a princess. The stage presented two large staircases that met in the middle with a moving bench that Laufey sat on and gently swung from while singing, and these banisters were separated and conjoined again to create various structures throughout the set. From the stage, there was a long, curving catwalk that opened up into a circular platform depicted as a clock - the symbol for the main album that this tour is centered upon. Act II utilized this clock platform with the live band now positioned here with Laufey in the middle introducing, “Welcome to my jazz club!” Here, she performed her songs in a different arrangement than her originals by enhancing the jazz element for songs such as “Valentine” and “Fragile”. Laufey explained that she was “really excited to play jazz in a show this big, but was trying to find a way to make it still feel intimate”. Fortunately, her goal of intimacy was not just accomplished, but very well-received by the audience, as being on the clock platform allowed her to physically be closer to those in the crowd, especially those standing in the pit. With the arena dark except for the sole spotlight on the musicians in the middle, people experienced this personal feeling as if Laufey was singing just to them.
For Act III, Laufey traveled back to the main stage and utilized the enormity of the set. The screens projected a carousel and the moving images truly involved the audience as if they were on this happy-go-lucky ride with Laufey herself singing her song “Carousel”. However, it was not all that upbeat for much longer, as this is when Laufey tapped into her more heart-wrenching pieces, even mentioning that “this song might get you to cry” before singing “Promise”, a hit song from her previous album Bewitched. Laufey alternated between humor and vulnerability on stage, even joking saying, “Can you tell that I cope with humor?” This balance was appreciated as Laufey’s genuineness allowed the audience to feel just as happy or just as sad as any emotion it was that she envisioned for each song. For her “most vulnerable song (with) a lot of insecurities”, she explained that she grew up in Iceland and so she did not look like everyone else there - she wanted to put these insecurities into a song, and so she created and sang the piece “Snow White”. Bringing out several mirrors for this piece, the topic of body image highly resonated with the audience present as the majority were also young girls like Laufey herself. Having an artist as famous as Laufey open up about their own insecurities fostered this deeper connection between the artist and the audience.
Laufey succeeded in making this concert feel personal and conveyed that she truly cares about her audience. She stopped several times in between songs just to say thank you to the audience, and each time was more genuine than the last -- her gratitude and humbleness displayed in just this one performance makes her even more memorable as an artist. She explained that she doesn’t plan out what she would say beforehand because she knew it would come to her at the moment, but that the feeling of this many people was still overwhelming and she just loves everyone so much. At one point, she expanded on how this experience was from her own point of view, saying, “Can you imagine sitting where I am, looking at all of you? It’s remarkable.” In the beginning, Laufey also remarked that this was her first show in Florida ever, as fans have been telling her to come to Florida and so she listened. By the end of the show, she enthusiastically expressed that she would most definitely be back in Florida again. She even told a short story about how she went to Disney the day before and rode Guardians of the Galaxy three times and almost threw up. Her relatability and humble persona made the performance even more enjoyable regardless of how many of her songs one knows.
At the end of the show, her concluding remark was an encouragement to the audience saying, “If you have something that you think makes you stick out in a negative way, it is those exact reasons I’m here today and got to do this. There’s so much beauty in sharing your emotions and feelings with other people, and this album is the most honest album I’ve done, and it matters to me that it’s so well-received.” By now, after listening to her perform her last song “Letter To My 13 Year Old Self” many in the audience were already in tears.
Laufey, Florida cannot wait to see you again next time.
(Kia Center, Orlando FL) If you haven’t yet heard of Laufey, it’s only “A Matter of Time” before you fall in love with her as the audience in the sold-out Kia Center has. This album is Laufey’s latest release, having only recently come out in late August - so fans were more-than-ecstatic to hear this album performed live for not just their first time ever, but Laufey’s first time as well: her concert in Orlando, Florida was the very first show for her A Matter of Time Tour 2025. Laufey even noted that she herself was so excited to perform the new songs because she had never performed them before.
Laufey (pronounced lay-vay) is from Icelandic-Chinese descent and her music is unique in this day and age as she cultivates a new era for modern jazz, creating a mix between jazz, classical, and pop. The opening artist, Suki Waterhouse, shares a similar fanbase with Laufey but she is distinguished by her indie pop style, most popular for her song “Good Looking” (2022). With her hair theatrically blowing back, Suki introduced her most popular song by saying that there are so many “good and gentle people around you in this world, sometimes you’ve got to trust them…or trust a good looking boy”. She was met with a roar of screams from the audience as she began to play her opening notes. With a sweet guitar solo in the outro of her concluding song, Suki had wonderfully set the stage, now ready for Laufey.
Laufey’s performance is one of the most creative ones I have seen yet, demonstrating high attention to detail as each element was beautifully presented to share Laufey’s narrative. Early in the show, Laufey expressed how she “loves storytelling and wants people to get sucked into this world of yearning”. Fans were already immersed into this lovely world Laufey created before they even entered the arena; outside of Kia Center was this photo-op pop-up of this tall inflatable castle with a banner that read in cursive, “Welcome to Laufey Land, Orlando”. This majestic castle complimented the many felt crowns handmade and worn by half of the audience, with the rest of the audience wearing bows in their hair. Laufey explained that she noticed that people tend to dress well for her concerts, and she wanted to do something special to recognize this - she expressed that for this tour, she will be picking one best dressed guest per night. An audience member was brought close to the stage and crowned with a felt crown exclusive to the tour. However, it was not Laufey who crowned this lucky member -- it was Mei Mei the Bunny, a soft character associated with Laufey’s Icelandic childhood, brought to life as the mascot-sized version of this original plush toy of a bunny wearing a sweater. Both Mei Mei and the felt crowns connect and unite the community that Laufey has created for her growing fanbase.
Delving deeper into the creative set, to open Act I, a castle was shown and Laufey entered with the effect of a princess. The stage presented two large staircases that met in the middle with a moving bench that Laufey sat on and gently swung from while singing, and these banisters were separated and conjoined again to create various structures throughout the set. From the stage, there was a long, curving catwalk that opened up into a circular platform depicted as a clock - the symbol for the main album that this tour is centered upon. Act II utilized this clock platform with the live band now positioned here with Laufey in the middle introducing, “Welcome to my jazz club!” Here, she performed her songs in a different arrangement than her originals by enhancing the jazz element for songs such as “Valentine” and “Fragile”. Laufey explained that she was “really excited to play jazz in a show this big, but was trying to find a way to make it still feel intimate”. Fortunately, her goal of intimacy was not just accomplished, but very well-received by the audience, as being on the clock platform allowed her to physically be closer to those in the crowd, especially those standing in the pit. With the arena dark except for the sole spotlight on the musicians in the middle, people experienced this personal feeling as if Laufey was singing just to them.
For Act III, Laufey traveled back to the main stage and utilized the enormity of the set. The screens projected a carousel and the moving images truly involved the audience as if they were on this happy-go-lucky ride with Laufey herself singing her song “Carousel”. However, it was not all that upbeat for much longer, as this is when Laufey tapped into her more heart-wrenching pieces, even mentioning that “this song might get you to cry” before singing “Promise”, a hit song from her previous album Bewitched. Laufey alternated between humor and vulnerability on stage, even joking saying, “Can you tell that I cope with humor?” This balance was appreciated as Laufey’s genuineness allowed the audience to feel just as happy or just as sad as any emotion it was that she envisioned for each song. For her “most vulnerable song (with) a lot of insecurities”, she explained that she grew up in Iceland and so she did not look like everyone else there - she wanted to put these insecurities into a song, and so she created and sang the piece “Snow White”. Bringing out several mirrors for this piece, the topic of body image highly resonated with the audience present as the majority were also young girls like Laufey herself. Having an artist as famous as Laufey open up about their own insecurities fostered this deeper connection between the artist and the audience.
Laufey succeeded in making this concert feel personal and conveyed that she truly cares about her audience. She stopped several times in between songs just to say thank you to the audience, and each time was more genuine than the last -- her gratitude and humbleness displayed in just this one performance makes her even more memorable as an artist. She explained that she doesn’t plan out what she would say beforehand because she knew it would come to her at the moment, but that the feeling of this many people was still overwhelming and she just loves everyone so much. At one point, she expanded on how this experience was from her own point of view, saying, “Can you imagine sitting where I am, looking at all of you? It’s remarkable.” In the beginning, Laufey also remarked that this was her first show in Florida ever, as fans have been telling her to come to Florida and so she listened. By the end of the show, she enthusiastically expressed that she would most definitely be back in Florida again. She even told a short story about how she went to Disney the day before and rode Guardians of the Galaxy three times and almost threw up. Her relatability and humble persona made the performance even more enjoyable regardless of how many of her songs one knows.
At the end of the show, her concluding remark was an encouragement to the audience saying, “If you have something that you think makes you stick out in a negative way, it is those exact reasons I’m here today and got to do this. There’s so much beauty in sharing your emotions and feelings with other people, and this album is the most honest album I’ve done, and it matters to me that it’s so well-received.” By now, after listening to her perform her last song “Letter To My 13 Year Old Self” many in the audience were already in tears.
Laufey, Florida cannot wait to see you again next time.
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