Laufey, Gen Z’s Pop Jazz Icon, Sings for the Anxious Generation

Modern Love

The New York Times

Nytimes, Redemption, Society & Culture, New York Times, Love, Essay, Storytelling, Loss, Nyt

4.4 • 8.7K Ratings

🗓️ 24 April 2024

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Laufey, the 25-year-old singer-songwriter, has risen to prominence by taking the trials of today’s dating world — casual relationships, no labels and seemingly endless swiping on apps — and turning them into timeless love songs. Today, Laufey reads Coco Mellors’s essay, “An Anxious Person Tries to Be Chill,” which is about a woman trying to work through her deep-seated relationship anxieties and attachment issues in an on-again, off-again situationship. Laufey says she, too, has been an anxious partner. While she thinks a toxic relationship, like the one in the essay, can make for a great love song, she now knows secure relationships can make beautiful music, too.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Love now and all.
0:04.0	You're probably love.
0:05.0	Love was stronger than anything.
0:08.0	And I love you more than anything.
0:11.0	There's love.
0:13.0	From the New York Times, I'm Anna Martin.
0:17.0	This is Modern Love.
0:18.0	And today I'm talking to singer-songwriter, Leave.
0:22.0	Don't you. singer-songwriter, Leve. You might think from the
0:24.0	Don't you notice how
0:28.0	I get quiet when there's no one else around. You might think from the warm, mature tone in her voice, the jazz and
0:37.8	Basinova influence that Leve's from another generation, but she's only 25 years old.
0:43.2	Look at me.
0:46.2	I'm as hopeless as a kitten off the tree.
0:56.2	She got her start in the most Gen Z way possible on Tik-Tock.
1:01.7	During the pandemic, Levey started posting videos of herself playing
1:04.7	guitar, asking her followers what they wanted to hear from her.
1:08.0	Does anybody else feel like everyone around them is falling in love?
1:12.4	I wrote a song about it.
1:15.0	Her viral videos led to her debut album called Everything I Know About Love.
1:20.0	Then a second record called Bewitched, which she won a Grammy for this year.
1:24.0	And now she's on a nationwide tour.
	...

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