Jazz musicians don’t usually sell out the Target Center. To be honest, they barely even show up there. But on Oct. 12, Laufey did exactly that, loudly, elegantly and without switching her genre.
Born in Reykjavik, Iceland, Laufey Lín Bing Jónsdóttir grew up immersed in classical music. She was playing piano and cello by age four, and later earned a presidential scholarship to Berklee College of Music. Her rise to success didn’t come from traditional pathways, though. It began with covers on TikTok, eventually leading to her debut album, recorded in her dorm room, and now to millions of monthly listeners and sold-out arenas.
Touring her latest album, “A Matter of Time,” Laufey brought a performance to Minneapolis that felt far more intimate than the venue and crowd of over 18,000 would suggest. Suki Waterhouse opened the night with a fun set, playing some of her most popular songs and established that it was going to be a great night of music. Then, after a wave of anticipation, Laufey appeared onstage, in a bedazzled dress, accompanied by four dancers and framed by a stage designed like a grand staircase. A large flat clock lay in the center of the stage, a visual nod to the album’s cover.
She opened with Clockwork, the first track off the new record. The crowd rose to their feet and stayed there. Her voice, sharp and strong, carried through the arena with ease. In person, there’s a clarity and power in her tone that recordings don’t fully capture. Her vibrato is subtle but adds emotion to every song.
What was most striking about Laufey, though, is her range not just vocally, but instrumentally. Throughout the show, she moved between piano, guitar and cello effortlessly; each transition felt like it added to the audience’s respect for her talent not just as a vocalist but as a musician too. One standout moment came when she gathered with the rhythm section at center stage for what she called “my little jazz club.” There, she riffed off some of her older songs with a swing-infused jazz arrangement, putting on full display her musical roots and stylistic versatility.
Her ability to keep her jazz genre while reaching a mainstream audience is rare, especially since jazz has faded into either fusion styles or been forgotten. Many artists feel pressured to bend their sound to fit the charts; Laufey has found a way to do both. The orchestration of her songs with strings, harmonies and occasionally solos, adds such a fun element to her set.
Emotionally, the concert moved between themes Laufey explores in her album, such as self-worth, vulnerability, what it means to be a woman and romantic nostalgia. Hearing her live, it’s easy to tell that the audience deeply resonates. From early hits like “Falling Behind” to new favorites like “Mr. Eclectic,” fans sang along, not just to the radio-friendly lyrics, but to the soft lyrical lines, too.
Even in an arena as large as the Target Center, Laufey managed to create something personal. One of the greatest achievements an artist can have is the ability to scale up in growth without losing the intimacy that drew the fans to listen in the first place. The crowd wasn’t just a mob of performative males; they were invested fans screaming the lyrics along with Laufey.
