From Iceland — Track by Track: 'Everything I Know About Love' by Laufey

Track by Track: ‘Everything I Know About Love’ by Laufey

Published October 26, 2022

Track by Track: ‘Everything I Know About Love’ by Laufey
Josie Gaitens
Photo by
Gemma Warren

Laufey’s star is rising so fast we can barely keep up. From being lauded by Billie Eilish to performing on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”—all at just 23 years old—it’s fair to say that the singer-songwriter has made quite an impact since bursting onto the scene with her first single in 2020. With her debut album, “Everything I Know About Love” set for release this month, we sat down with Laufey to find out what love’s got to do with it. Here’s how she describes the album, track by track.

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Fragile
“I grew up very protected and sensitive to love. I often felt like I lived in a case of glass. Fragile is the story of the first time someone shattered that case around me. I was very influenced by cinematic scores and Bossa Nova in this song.”

Beautiful Stranger
“Beautiful Stranger is about a handsome man that I saw on the tube in London. We glanced at each other a couple of times but never spoke. I came to my stop and stepped off the train, went home and wrote this song.”

Dear Soulmate
“I wrote this song for my future soulmate. I’m fascinated by the idea of my soulmate walking around somewhere out there and maybe I know them, maybe I don’t.”

What Love Will Do To You
“This song is about that hazy crazy feeling you get when you first develop a crush on someone. I wrote it about an experience I had stumbling back from a first date. It was recorded with a live band in the studio—I wanted the jazzy arrangement to transport the listener into an old movie scene.”

I’ve Never Been In Love Before
“Never Been In Love Before begins and ends acapella. I recorded live with a band in one take—it’s one of my favourite jazz standards about falling in love for the first time and how strange it can be.”

Just Like Chet
“I tend to fall in love too easily, like the Chet Baker song states, hence the title! I wrote the song about a guy who strung me along for months and I often wished I would’ve never met. The song showcases cello along with trombone and trumpet of course—my homage to Chet Baker.”

Everything I Know About Love
“This song is about all the magical things that I was told love was like but that I’ve never gotten to experience. I’ve tried many times but fail every time. Turns out, I don’t know anything about love! The intro composed by Bach is played by myself on cello, and my mother and sister on violin.”

Falling Behind
“I wrote Falling Behind because I felt like all the people around me were falling in love and I couldn’t help but feel like I was falling behind.”

Hi
“Hi is about moving to a new city and missing your hometown love. I wrote Hi when I moved to LA, felt lonely and missed a certain someone. I wanted to text them but didn’t dare to, so I wrote this song instead.”

Dance With You Tonight
“This song was born on a late night out when I found an old piano in the back of a bar. A sweet boy asked me if I wanted to dance with him but I was a bit too tipsy to do so.”

Night Light
“Night Light is a tale of packing up my childhood bedroom, it was quite the emotional experience! With sweeping strings and epic harmonies, I set out to illustrate the significance of childhood bedrooms and how many experiences and memories they hold.”

Valentine
“Valentine is about being in love for the first time and not quite knowing how to react to it. That electrifying and shocking feeling that you get when you realise that someone loves you back. I wrote it on Valentine’s Day last year and posted it on TikTok for fun—the response was way beyond what I expected and after going viral I decided to finish the song and record it! I worked with producer Spencer Stewart to get the song to the finish line with magical harmonies and piano flares.”

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