Laufey has spoken to NME about her new collaboration with Fortnite, the “honour” of performing at Coachella and having fun with proving people wrong.
Earlier this week, Laufey was announced as the headline act of Fortnite’s musical spin-off game Festival, following in the footsteps of Chappell Roan, Lady Gaga, Billie Eilish, The Weeknd and more. As part of the collaboration, a number of Laufey tracks have been added to the rhythm game (which now includes a karaoke mode) and fans can unlock emotes and cosmetics inspired by Laufey and her ongoing ‘A Matter Of Time’ arena tour. They can also play as Laufey in the hugely popular online battle royale mode.
“It’s a collaboration you might not expect from me,” admits Laufey. “When I started out, I was known as this jazz girl and people assumed I was timid and soft. Running around with a gun [in Fortnite] is absolutely the best way to show that there are so many more layers to me.”
Her ‘A Matter Of Time’ era has been all about toying with those expectations. Speaking to NME last summer, the Icelandic-Chinese star explained that “there are parts of me that come out in this album that I didn’t dare to put out in the last few.” She doubled-down on that with a pop-spectacular arena tour that showcases her love of ballet and last weekend, Laufey performed at Coachella Festival for the first time.
“Playing Coachella is such a great honour and directly aligns with my goal of bringing my music, which is steeped in older styles, to something that feels very current,” Laufey told NME ahead of her set at weekend two. “It can be scary bringing a string quartet onto a stage that’s just had a K-pop act performing on but hopefully [me playing Coachella] will turn more people onto classical or Jazz music.”
“With both Fortnite and Coachella, I’ve wondered if people are going to like [me being there],” she continued. “But the only thing I can do is continue with what feels right.”
Hey Laufey! How are you feeling about entering the world of Fortnite?
“It does feel very special. I woke up to so many people tagging me in videos where they’ve won [matches] playing as me. Fortnite added a Laufey emote a couple of months ago and the response to that was so crazy, I’ve been hoping to do more. But to do it with a concert-inspired experience that’s very true to my world is beyond my dreams.”
Are you much of a gamer?
“I didn’t grow up playing video games but I recently got a PS5 via my boyfriend and we’ve been playing a lot. He’s British so there’s been a lot of FIFA. He’s been playing those games since he was a kid, I kind of have no clue what’s going on. I love Fortnite though, especially because music is such a big part of the game. I didn’t realise how much of it was connected to music [at first] but it’s really cool.
How involved were you in the creation of your Fortnite collaboration?
“I wanted it to feel really authentic, so I worked closely with my twin sister and creative director Junia. She was very, very involved in every aspect [of the collab] to the point where she was helping me do the dances that are mimicked in the game. It’s very important that every part of what I do is a reflection of my world and my storytelling.”
How does Fortnite fit into your shared universe ‘Laufey Land’?
“Fortnite is just so fantastical. It’s something that you’d never see in real life but if you closed your eyes while listening to my music, it’s the world you might dream up. It’s uber romantic and very expressionist, in a way. I want to encourage my fans to be the biggest version of themselves. Inside a video game, you’re free to be the most [authentic] version of yourself and not feel like you’re being judged.”
‘A Matter Of Time’ features emotions you’ve shied away from sharing in the past and now we’ve got this Fortnite collab. Why start showing the different sides to Laufey?
“After my first two albums, everybody thought I was this very romantic, polished, goody-two-shoes type of girl. With ‘A Matter Of Time’, I really wanted to show that I have anger, anxiety and all these feelings that are perhaps a little less polished. I just wanted to show that there’s so much more to me. It’s nice for me to be able to embrace [those different emotions] but I also want to show the fans that they can embrace those feelings as well. There’s a mess within me, there’s a mess within everybody too.”
Were you ever afraid of challenging people’s idea of you?
“Absolutely. People really want to be able to digest artists in one sentence but [with ‘A Matter Of Time’], you can’t peg me down as one thing. I was a little scared that people would lose interest but I’ve been in this industry for a while now and I can really see that I succeed the most when I’m being authentic.”
Because of your love of classical music, you’ve had to deal with naysayers since the very start of your career – do you enjoy proving them wrong?
“I’ve done enough now to prove that there is an audience for [this type of music]. There are always going to be naysayers and the only real power you have against them is believing in what you’re doing. It’s great because the more I succeed, the more confident I get and the quieter those nays get.”
Lady Gaga and Chappell Roan have previously been Fortnite Festival headliners and at Coachella, you’re performing on the same stage as David Byrne and Turnstile. Are you experiencing imposter syndrome this week?
“I’ve tossed the idea of imposter syndrome around to try and see what it means to me. I take it as a great honour to be part of an initiative that Chappell Roan and Lady Gaga have gotten to be a part of – they are such singular artists that march to the beat of their own drum. It just feels a little crazy. It’s the same with Coachalla. It feels like such a beautiful opportunity so I better rise to the fucking occasion.”
You teamed up with other celebrities who have Asian ancestry, Hudson Williams, Alysa Liu, Lola Tung and Megan Skiendiel, for the ‘MadWoman’ video. Why was that representation so important to you?
“Growing up in Iceland, I never saw anyone that looked like me, aside from my twin sister at all. So for me to join forces with all of these artists that do different things on such a high level with so much poise, it just felt magical. We got to spend the day slapping each other with fish and dancing. I often get mixed up with some of the girls in the video or we’ll get tagged as each other on red carpet photos, so it was funny to come together in this world where you don’t usually see Asian faces. It was the best hangout of my life. There was so much Asian representation behind the camera as well and I feel so lucky we could pull it off. Representation is so important, but you need to take active steps towards it. It’s not something that just happens naturally.”
Is that one of the reasons you wanted to get involved with Fortnite?
“Absolutely. Representation is something that’s always running through my mind. I know a huge part of my audience plays Fortnite and it’s how they connect with their friends.“
And your collaboration comes alongside Fortnite Festival’s new Karaoke mode…
“The fact people can actually sing along to the songs is so cool because in my opinion, there is nothing more soothing than singing. Whenever I’m down in the dumps, I’ll sing to myself and it’s an instant healer. Singing is very primal. It’s the instrument of your body so I will always champion anything that [encourages] people to sing.”
You’re touring until September. What comes after that?
“I’m always making music but I need to live a little life before I’m able to write. I also really want to become a student again. Not necessarily going back to school or anything like that, but I’m really interested in things I’m bad at. I love the slow-burn of learning something. I want to go back to practicing more cello, taking guitar lessons, reading and studying. Being an artist at this scale is a lot of people making you feel like you’re the best at something – and that’s a dangerous feeling if it goes on too long. So I need to feel like I’m the absolute worst for a while.”
Laufey plays Coachella Festival this Sunday. Her ‘Fortnite’ collaboration is live now