Laufey has become one of the most prominent female artists in the pop industry this past year. Her unique lower-toned voice and jazzy music style stand out to a new audience of teens and adults around the globe, leading to almost all of her songs effortlessly blowing up across social media. Laufey’s recently unveiled album, A Very Laufey Christmas, has rapidly ascended the music charts, captivating audiences with her flawlessly jazzy voice covering cherished Christmas classics loved by many.
Nov. 1: The release day of one of my new favorite holiday albums. As someone who believes holiday music should be held off until after Thanksgiving, this is the one album I could make an exception for. Each song on the enchanting album contains more subtle hints of holiday festivity. Instead, they come off as more of a jazzy instrumental cover with holiday-themed lyrics rather than intense sleigh bells ringing in my ear as I try to enjoy the holiday season.
The opening track, also one of my favorites on the album, “Santa Baby,” provides a more subtle approach than the original song, performed by American singer Eartha Kitt. Laufey’s cover is a much more jazzy and relaxed version of the original song, starting the album with a very subtle and moderate vibe. Her jazzy voice effortlessly coincides with the original Christmas elements of the original song, easily leading this to be one of my favorites. Her team’s innovative use of sound effects complements the other aspects of the song incredibly, striking the perfect balance between festive holiday music and a captivating jazz melody.
The next track, “Winter Wonderland,” is much shorter than the original but still managed to become one of the most popular songs across social media and continues to carry its popularity through the holiday season. Although it might be shorter than most of the covers featured on the album, Laufey still manages to hold all of the elements from the original song within only two minutes, creating one of my new favorites to listen to while studying. This song is not only exceptionally catchy but also doesn’t get old, as I believe holiday music never gets old. Throughout the song, the background music slowly builds up to the irreplaceable bridge of the song, creating the perfect melody to add to your holiday playlist this winter season.
The track “Christmas Dreaming” holds a much more relaxed approach than the other songs, and rather than having a jazzy touch to the cover, it has a moderate and more classical theme throughout this song. It has many more similarities to the original song, sung by the very famous Frank Sinatra, maintaining more temperate themes than the other songs within this album. Out of every song on the album, this track does, unfortunately, fall to the bottom of my list as it is more of a forgettable song. Although Laufey does an incredible job covering this track, I believe the original song doesn’t exactly maintain the “holiday charm” a Christmas song should always have. However, this song is still incredible, racking up over nine million listens on Spotify, and I will still be adding this song to my holiday playlists.
The next and final track on this album, “The Christmas Waltz,” is, yet again, another one of my favorites on this album. Laufey’s jazzy voice collides with the more temperate instrumentals and background music, creating this absolute masterpiece of a holiday cover. Though it may lie on the shorter side of the other songs across the album, she manages to fit in everything needed in the song. Along with the phenomenal instrumentals, Laufey’s creative singing traits perfectly include many other holiday elements in this song without overpowering the different themes.
Each of my studying playlists consists of repetitive songs by Laufey and other jazzy mixes that often grow to be competitive and annoying; however, after listening to this album, it has quickly become one of my favorites to listen to while studying during this holiday season. Each track on this album has unique themes and elements, making it different from the rest. As a high school student who spends most of my time cooped up in my bedroom studying and creating different playlists for my moods, the songs from this album have fallen into their place in almost every one of my playlists.
