Coming off her recent Grammy win for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album with her hit album “Bewitched,” recording artist Laufey released her new single “Goddess.”
Laufey is a 24-year-old musician of Chinese and Icelandic descent. Her songs are typically known for their fusion of jazz, classical and pop, alongside collaborations with live orchestras. Laufey plays instruments such as piano and cello in her songs. She even collaborates with her identical twin sister Junia, who is a violin player.
Laufey entered the music world in 2020 with the release of her debut single “Street by Street,” which topped Icelandic charts. She then released her EP “Typical of Me” and single “Let You Break My Heart Again” in 2021. She gained recognition from other musicians and talk show hosts leading to the release of her debut album “Everything I Know About Love” in 2022. She dropped “Bewitched” in 2023.
The instrumentation on the new single, “Goddess,” was amazing. The piano is the first thing heard in the song, starting very slowly, but eventually speeding up when Laufey begins singing. The chords played throughout the song give it sad, depressing undertones, and it’s really present when the strings come in the last quarter of the song. The strings’ entrance was unexpected, like it came out of nowhere, but it did an amazing job of carrying on the lively and melodic feel that the piano originally played.
The piano also became more present as the song continued. In the beginning, there was more focus on Laufey’s voice, so it acted in the background, not sticking out too much.
But when it finally came towards the end of the song, the piano was played with more force so the accent on the notes can be heard. I also liked that there was emphasis played on the first note of each beat, making the lower notes feel heavier and more impactful.
A detail I loved throughout the song was whenever Laufey sang “I’m a Goddess on stage/ Human when we’re alone,” the instruments got softer and eventually cut out, making it seem like she really is by herself.
Laufey has a very angelic voice. Her lyrics really hit close to home. The song is about her feeling like an actual goddess. She thinks that she’s this invincible, larger-than-life person on stage, but in reality is broken-hearted. She is stripped of this superior feeling and becomes vulnerable to feeling human again.
Her vocalizations give a very ethereal feeling, having a lot of power in the lower notes and being light and airy in the higher notes. The slight vibratos she sings at the end of certain words really adds more emotion to the lyrics.
Towards the end of the song when the strings come in, you can hear the hurt and intensity in her voice. She’s not belting but she’s also not overly soft. Her voice throughout really reminds me a lot of the Disney princess sound, most around the era of Snow White or Cinderella.
Laufey is set to release a deluxe album titled “Bewitched: The Goddess Edition” on April 26. It will consist of the songs from the “Bewitched” album, “Goddess,” and two other new songs. The album is available for pre-save and pre-order.
