The 24-year-old, who performed two sold-out shows at the Winspear Opera House on Wednesday and Thursday as part of her "Bewitched: The Goddess Tour," cites classic jazz musicians like Ella Fitzgerald and Chet Baker as influences, as well as contemporary retro-inflected singer-songwriters such as Adele and Norah Jones.
It’s the kind of hyper-tasteful, critically acclaimed throwback pop that’s consistently popular and has landed some of her heroes a permanent spot on the adult contemporary charts.
Here’s the thing, though: Laufey’s fanbase is overwhelmingly made up of teenagers. Her peers are not the music industry nor the Broadway performers and classical musicians who typically grace the stage at Winspear, but fixtures of youth internet culture like Clairo and Beabadoobee, lo-fi indie pop that stands in sharp contrast to Laufey’s lush and polished orchestrations.
Needless to say, we were dying to know exactly what kind of vibe a Laufey concert has.
We attended the second night of her Dallas run, and the moment we set foot in the venue, one thing was clear: We didn’t get the memo on the dress code.
We’ve previously reported on the growing trend of themed costumes at concerts, but Laufey fans seem to have an established uniform. All of the girls, most of whom seemed to be in high school, wore vintage-style dresses and bows in their hair.
We asked a girl sitting to our right what the significance of the bows was.
“Oh,” she replied as if she hadn’t even thought about it. “It’s just kind of the aesthetic, I guess.”
To our left was a 14-year-old girl and her mother who had traveled from Missouri just to see this concert. The mother told us they had traveled for Laufey’s last Dallas show at The Echo Lounge in November and had tickets to future shows in New York and Nashville.
“I’m probably going to cry,” the daughter told us. “Just a warning.”
And she did.
When Laufey took the stage shortly after 9 p.m., she was greeted with adoration that didn’t let up for the rest of the night. Every song earned the kind of emphatic cheers you might expect at a stadium show, only it was in response to smooth jazz and bossa nova accompanied by a string quartet rather than larger-than-life pop hooks. And don’t get us started on how wild the kids went for her cello solo.
The dissonance was honestly kind of charming.
If you listen to Laufey’s lyrics, it’s no secret why teenage girls are obsessed with her. The music may be reminiscent of Cole Porter, but the lyrics are straight out of the playbook of Taylor Swift, another one of her influences. Like Swift, Laufey connects with her young fans by meeting them where they are. And where they are is typically lovesick and confused over some dumb boy.
Laufey catered to the “boys are icky” camp twice in her set, starting two songs by saying, “This one is about a boy…” before letting out an exaggerated gag.
That’s another ironic twist in Laufey’s world. As much as she staunchly maintains that boys go to Jupiter to get more stupider (the newly debuted single “Bored” is her wittiest take on this yet), her set was unabashedly romantic.
Just as her music harkens back to another era in pop culture, her stage looked like the set of an Old Hollywood musical with its backdrop of twinkling stars and a glowing platform for her piano. She wore a champagne taffeta dress that flowed and lifted beautifully when she danced in it.
When she sang the lyric “Little girls will scream your name,” the girls in the crowd brought the words to life one last time.
Laufey’s like an older sister to her fans. An older sister with the grace and glamour of Audrey Hepburn, sure, but warm and relatable nonetheless.
