A Matter of Time by Laufey is finally out, an album long-awaited by many. This album distinctly differed from her past two albums, Everything I Know About Love and Bewitched, in storytelling and sound. Her past albums have each had a traditional Jazz sound and shared the common theme of love life/relationships and heartbreak. This album was different; each song touches on multiple subjects, with the central themes being mourning and unrequited love.

Throughout the album, Laufey mourns the end of past friendships, her homeland, and her childhood, particularly through songs like “Castle in Hollywood” and “Forget-me-not.” “Castle in Hollywood” was starkly different from her past songs about heartbreak; this song talks explicitly about losing a friendship she thought would last forever. The song reminisces about a friendship where she and a friend dreamed about growing up having everything they wanted that felt impossible, living a fun life together as best friends in a big house in California. The dream she sings about highlights their girlhood together, which Laufey misses and wishes they could return to. “Forget-me-not” was a love letter to Laufey’s homeland, Iceland. Although she’s happy and pursuing her dreams in America, she still mourns the comfort and the place she calls home. Leaving her home was necessary for her to be the star she is today, but she reminds everyone listening that she’s still just the little girl from Iceland and her heart will always belong to her home country. The phrase “Gleymdu mér aldrei þó ég héðan flýg / Gleymdu mér aldrei elskan mín” translates to “Never forget me if I run away / Never forget me, my love.” 

You also hear her struggles with an unacquainted/parasocial love, a type of love that is one-sided and essentially nonexistent for the other person, with songs “Lovegirl” and “Too Little, Too Late” highlighting these emotions. Both of these tracks express Laufey’s love toward someone who seemingly doesn’t even know she exists, and even if they did, they wouldn’t love her back. The song “Lovergirl” lyrically seems like a reference to parasocial relationships, as she sings about someone who appears to be a figment of her imagination or someone she‘s emotionally attached to that has no clue about her existence. She sings, “Dream at shows you’ll come runnin’ to me / Think I see you in the wings, God I’m hallucinating.” Laufey stated during a show that she thinks this song is funny because she’s gone about life, making fun of the lovergirl. Still, now she’s become one, and it consumes her despite the other person not reciprocating the feeling. Laufey sings about being head over heels for this person while they don’t see it, while lyrics from “Too Little, Too Late” touch more on unacquainted love. The lyrics ”To tell you I should’ve chased you / I should be who you’re engaged to” stuck out to me the most because throughout the song, you hear her agony, as she has to come to terms with the fact that she lost her chance with someone. Now the other person has moved on completely and doesn’t realize that she’s still mourning their history when interacting with them in the present time. 

The topic of insecurity isn’t a new concept in Laufey’s music, but the songs touching on Laufey’s insecurities go a bit deeper this time. In the past, Laufey’s songs about insecurity were more personal to her, like the song “Letter To My 13 Year Old Self,” in which she sings about finding insecurity in being Asian-Icelandic. Being mixed-race in a predominantly white country, her features weren’t the norm among the people she was surrounded by during her childhood. The song “Snow White” is more big picture, expressing feelings and emotions that every girl can relate to, regardless of race, age, background, or social status. Throughout the song, Laufey expresses her insecurity and hopelessness because she doesn’t look how society wants her to, causing her to worry that they won’t see her talent and intelligence. The lyrics “A woman’s best currency’s is her body, not her brain” and “The world is a sick place, at least for a girl / The people want beauty; skinny always wins / And I don’t it, I’ll never have enough of it,” emphazing the fact that we hold women to an unachievable standard, or else they won’t be seen or heard. 

I loved this album, mainly because of the twist on her typical classical jazz music. The mix between the fairy tale-like sound and emotional, at times gut-wrenching lyrics, became the perfect mix. The album sounded like a tragic fairy tale, taking you through the story of Laufey’s love life, childhood, and young adult experience.