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Bewitched 2023
Album · by Laufey ↗ View artist

Bewitched

Bewitched sounds like a sunset in a Reykjavik café: jazz-pop with strings that weave into nostalgic melodies, yet with a modern pulse that keeps it fresh. Recorded across studios like Mosey Creative and EastWest, with the Philharmonia Orchestra in the background, the album is an exercise in balancing the classic and the contemporary. Laufey described it as "an album of love," but not in a cheesy sense: it speaks of everyday affections, of the magic found only in simplicity. The production, co-signed by her alongside Dan Wilson and Spencer Stewart, plays with arrangements that range from intimate — like the interlude Nocturne — to expansive, such as the brass that carries Lovesick.

Year
2023
Songs
1
Duration
2 min 50 seg
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About the album

Bewitched, according to DoReSol

The album kicked off with four singles: From the Start was the first to cross borders, and Bewitched — the namesake track — became an unexpected anthem. Yet two songs stand out for encapsulating its essence. While You Were Sleeping floats with a delicacy reminiscent of Norah Jones, while Lovesick shatters the mold with guitars that snake over a jazzy rhythm. Critics embraced it with high marks: on Metacritic it scored 83 points, and outlets like NME called it "ambitious" for blending jazz, pop, and even touches of classical music without losing coherence. Even Pitchfork noted that here, Laufey doesn’t just mimic jazz — she uses it as a springboard for her own fantasies.

The impact was immediate: Bewitched reached second place in Iceland and charted in countries like Australia, Canada, and the United States, a first for her. But the detail that surprises most is how she handled promotion: before release, she made her sheet music available so musicians could perform the songs live. And once the album had run its course, the reissue Bewitched: The Goddess Edition — featuring the single Goddess — brought it back to the top, this time to first place in Iceland and new European charts. It’s not just an album: it’s a bridge between what was and what’s to come.