Song of the Day 3/13: Laufey, “Misty”

Guest post by Nathan Arizona

Some veteran jazz fans don’t listen to Laufey because they think she’s not a jazz singer. Gen Z listens to her because they think she is.

To be fair, veteran jazz fans might not know enough about the young Icelander to make a judgment. Not if they think TikTok is just something their watch used to say. Younger people have made Laufey (“Lay-vay”) a star because TikTok is where they live and where she made her breakthrough. Some fans who never heard a Charlie Parker record think she’s saving jazz.

But her audience has expanded and listeners of any age might find her to be a pretty great singer. Just not a jazz singer. Not quite. What she can be called is jazzy. She evokes pre-rock mid-century pop and the Great American Songbook as much as jazz, even in the songs she writes. She grew up listening to classic Broadway musicals. Apparently she also heard some bossa nova.

She talks about introducing her fans to something old that’s new to them. But she also knows they’re more likely to hear her music in their bedrooms or one of her sold-out concerts than at a smoky jazz bar or sophisticated supper club. She has acknowledged that her fans might find that environment intimidating (though much of it is gone anyway). Her lyrics reflect the personal interests and feelings of the TikTok generation.

Laufey is not the only young singer impressing a youthful audience with pre- or non-rock pop, from Samara Joy, who’s starting to be seen as a real jazz singer, to Olivia Dean, winner of this year’s Grammy for best new artist, who tends toward the pop stylings of artists like Dionne Warwick.

This kind of mixing has always happened one way or another. Pre-rock jazz pianist Erroll Garner, for instance, drew pop music fans in the 1940s and ’50s with his showy crowd-pleasing style. In the late ’50s, singer Johnny Mathis joined rockers on the charts with music that owed little to their sound.

Garner wrote “Misty,” so popular that jazz buff Clint Eastwood made a movie called “Play Misty for Me.” Mathis had his first big hit with that jazz-like song. And it has become one of Laufey’s most popular covers.

A few years ago ASCAP, the performing rights organization, named “Misty” one of the 25 most performed standards of the 20th century. JazzStandards.com says that since 1954 it has been recorded more than any other song of its type except Duke Elllngton’s “Satin Doll.” It’s no surprise it found its way to Laufey.

Here’s Laufey’s version with just her and her piano. She was inspired to take up the song after hearing Sarah Vaughan’s rendition.

Here she goes big with the Iceland Symphony on one of her own songs.

Erroll Garner plays “Misty” for you.