How Laufey Landed the Biggest Jazz Album In Years With ‘A Matter of Time’

Over the past several years, few music industry stories have been quite so unusually successful as that of Laufey. 

The Iceland-born 26-year-old singer and multi-instrumentalist arrived on the scene with the EP Typical of Me in 2021, released independently through AWAL, before releasing her debut album Everything I Know About Love the following year. But it was 2023’s Bewitched that catapulted her into the mainstream consciousness, debuting at No. 18 on the Billboard 200 and ultimately winning a Grammy Award for best traditional pop vocal album. All of which seems like a story that, while not exactly straightforward, is not particularly unheard of. 

The difference, for Laufey, is that she isn’t really making traditional pop vocal music: instead, the supremely talented artist is bringing a blend of jazz and classical music into the pop realm for a mainstream Gen Z audience in a way that hasn’t really ever happened before — and is still doing it independently through AWAL. This week, her third album, A Matter Of Time, debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 and at No. 1 on four separate Billboard charts —  Independent Albums, Jazz Albums, Traditional Jazz Albums and Vinyl Albums — and became the highest-charting jazz album since 2018.

But chart success is just one aspect of Laufey’s appeal — she’s also a natural expert at social strategy, caters to her fans with initiatives like her Laufey Book Club and her annual A Very Laufey Day (a sort of cross between fan celebration, performance piece and interactive scavenger hunt) and has become a must-see touring artist as well. And her success over the past five years, culminating with this big album achievement, earns her manager, Foundations Artist Management’s Max Gredinger, the title of Billboard’s Executive of the Week.

Here, Gredinger discusses the last few years of Laufey’s rise through A Matter of Time, how she has brought her own brand of pop music to the mainstream and what comes next: “We’re just getting started.”

This week, Laufey’s new album A Matter of Time debuted at No. 1 on four Billboard charts and became her first Billboard 200 top 10, arriving at No. 4. What key decision did you make to help make that happen?

Culture comes from the top down, and Laufey has always led the charge with her creative vision. We had a global team meeting in Reykjavik, where Laufey grew up, at the top of the year about the album and how we wanted to approach this rollout, which we kicked off with Laufey talking through the world of the album. It’s been great reflecting on the decisions made in that room and seeing where we stood firm or pivoted during the campaign.

A Matter of Time is the highest-charting jazz album in seven years. Given that jazz is not often topping the charts, or particularly popular with younger generations, how have you worked to introduce Laufey’s music to younger and pop-leaning audiences?

Laufey’s mandate has always been to be a part of bringing her beloved influences of classical and jazz music to her generation. She communicates with them on channels native to both her and her audience, and as a consumer, she is part of the same cultural conversation. We talked in the early days of working together on targeting her peers and not just pandering to an audience that we thought would “get” what she does. 

As the album was coming out, a remix of “From The Start,” from her last album Bewitched, started blowing up on TikTok. How did that help build momentum, and how do you guys use TikTok in general to help market her music? 

Jiandro remixed “From The Start,” and Laufey joined the trend. It became a catalyst for the original recording, which two years after its release is now reaching new consumption peaks daily. The core of our TikTok strategy is watching Laufey do her thing on the platform. In nearly five years of working together, we’ve never once needed to provide direction or ask her to post more. She is her own best advocate and is the most brilliant marketing executive I’ve ever met. Outside of her channels we have a robust global shortform strategy.

How have you grown Laufey’s fan base over the course of her three albums, particularly since Bewitched, which brought her a ton of attention and won a Grammy for best traditional pop vocal album?

Laufey’s commitment to engaging fans on tour and engaging with local audiences around the world and not just online has been essential. There’s a natural global nature to an Icelandic-Chinese artist who grew up between D.C. and Iceland and now lives in L.A. Great art has always been paramount. We have a stellar team at Foundations, Vingolf and AWAL that work tirelessly every day on world building out Laufey’s vision across a litany of different verticals in addition to the traditional records, publishing, merchandising, etc., like Mei Mei The Bunny, Laufey Book Club, The Laufey Foundation and A Very Laufey Day. Laufey and [twin sister] Junia work so hard to make sure every creative detail is accounted for. 

The album racked up 71,000 sales, her best sales week yet, boosted by eight vinyl and three CD variants. What was your guys’ sales strategy with this release, and how does vinyl play a role in that?

We created exclusive variants with unique creative for a myriad of different partners, and not just creating variants to check a box or for the sake of sales. The product included a 7” release that Laufey only revealed to her audience after they already had it in hand and released on DSPs on A Very Laufey Day. Laufey spent countless hours at home, traveling, in green rooms, etc. signing physical product. 

Laufey has remained independent, releasing music through AWAL, despite tons of major label interest. Why have you guys gone that route, and what has it allowed you to do that you may not have been able to otherwise?

We’re fortunate to have partners that trust, enable and empower Laufey to both create and own art that is true to her and in turn resonates with her audience. They are an incredible global team and both myself and Laufey are very grateful to have worked with them in the trenches on three album campaigns, all of which have been bigger and more ambitious than the last.