Hi! Welcome back to my 10,000 views series and my second "every song by an artist" ranking! This week, Laufey became the third artist I've listened to every song released by (first Olivia Rodrigo, then Taylor Swift, and now her - I'm getting close to achieving the same thing with Finneas, Mitski, and Lyn Lapid as well!) and with that along with her birthday being just three weeks ago and the release of an ABSOLUTELY BREATHTAKING song this morning, I decided that this would be a great opportunity to share my ranking of every Laufey song.
As always, this is simply my own opinion. If you think Tough Luck and Goddess are the most abominably horrid pieces of garbage you've ever heard and should be permanently deleted from existence... first of all, seek professional help immediately because that's clearly a problem, but more importantly, don't attack me for my opinions. I'm just a rando on the interweb, not an all-knowing being who can tell you which Laufey songs are objectively better than others. The criteria is very similar to that of the Olivia Rodrigo ranking I did earlier this year for her 22nd birthday.
What I included:
- Every song on the Typical Of Me EP
- Every song on the Very Laufey Holiday EP
- Every song on Everything I Know About Love, including the deluxe tracks and covers
- Every song on Bewitched, including the Goddess edition and covers
- Every song that's been released so far from A Matter Of Time
- Official songs she's featured on with other artists
- Other officially released non-album singles
What I didn't include:
- Leaked unreleased songs
- Live exclusive covers
- Alternate versions of other songs
- Songs she wrote for other people (which I'm not sure Laufey has any of)
Also, like last time, I'm color coding the ranking by album. No correlation to my personal preference between albums, this is just based on colors associated with each era:
Gray = Typical Of Me
Green = Everything I Know About Love
Dark blue = Bewitched
Light blue = A Matter Of Time
Red = Holiday
White = Other
Just like last time, the rankdown is split into tiers named after Laufey lyrics. (I was kinda hoping there would be some bad songs so that I could name a tier "oh, the burning pain", but surprise not surprise, I won't be using that because Laufey has no songs I would rate below a 2/5!) Also, for each song I'll be including a blurb, but this isn't like my album reviews where I do long elaborate analyses. As usual for these big rankings, I'll just be doing a quick few sentences as a blurb, often a joke or just a silly comment about each song, but sometimes if I have more to say I'll do longer blurbs. Let's get into the ranking.
Driving me a bit insane (2/5 - not a fan, but it's not terrible):
#57: Slow Down - Just like the Olivia Rodrigo ranking, the lowest ranked album song is a deluxe track. I just can't listen to it. It's not poorly written and I get what it's going for, but the ending really ruins it for me. The message that children shouldn't think about their futures rubs me the wrong way - it's the exact reason I don't like Taylor Swift's Never Grow Up, and more recently Robin (which I rated as a 5/5 in my TTPD review after a superficial listen but after paying attention to the lyrics would now rate as a 0/5, but that's off-topic). Whatever, it's still a Laufey song which makes it hard to hate because her voice is gorgeous, and most of the gripes about this song that weigh it down this far just come from my detestation of the outro. And it's a deluxe track so it's not like my least favorite song is a fan fav or anything.
I'm bored (3/5 - not great, not bad, just existent):
#56: Everything I Know About Love - My "least favorite" main album track in Laufey's discography. The lyrics are great, but musically, it's quite boring. I never come back to listen to this song because I usually just overlook it.
#55: Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas (with Norah Jones) - A pretty underwhelming cover. I don't think Norah quite gives her full vocal performance on her two collabs with Laufey and their voices don't quite match up together to me. It's a little like when Ariana and Mariah tried to collab, but it's much less inherently poorly mixed and more just a personal preference.
#54: Street By Street - Now, I won't say I don't like Typical Of Me, but it's hard to place most of the songs very high since Laufey was just starting and she's grown so much as an artist since then. This song is the first song she ever released, all the way back in 2020, and it's way more R&B/soul-pop than anything else she's done, which is fine but it just doesn't seem quite right on Laufey in the long run. It's a fine little tune, but it's another one that's just easy to overlook.
#53: James - Another Typical Of Me song that just doesn't quite fit into Laufey's discography. This is kinda a strange song in my opinion. I don't know what to say.
#52: Dear Soulmate - Something about the guitar line sounds weird to me, I'm not quite sure.
Beautiful stranger (4/5 - it's a good song but I'm not gonna listen to it on my own):
#51: Someone New - I always forget this song exists.
#50: Better Than Snow (with Norah Jones) - Similar to the other Jones collab above but a bit better in my opinion.
#49: Lucky For Me - An EIKAL deluxe track that I forget about frequently.
#48: I've Never Been In Love Before - So real though.
#47: Bored - This has grown on me a lot. Still my least fav on Bewitched though.
#46: Beautiful Stranger - The namesake of this tier, and a song that almost feels like an early draft of Silver Lining.
#45: Just Like Chet - This song's okay... yeah...
#44: Lovesick - Possibly Laufey's "poppiest" song.
#43: It Could Happen To You - One of a few covers Laufey has done, and my "least favorite" of the bunch just because I don't think Laufey does quite as well with the fast swing sound, but overall it's a lot of fun. This song growing on me... it could happen to me.
#42: Misty - Another cover of a jazz standard that I thought at first was a Laufey original.
#41: Where Or When - I don't know where or when I found this cover, since it's not on an album, but it's one of my favorites of the covers.
#40: Winter Wonderland - You and I got lost in it. Swiftlauvers know. (Now I'm wondering how many Swiftlauvers there are out there. I can't be the only one who's a massive fan of both Taytay and Laufey.)
#39: Christmas Dreaming - Yeah, sure, the song's alright, but let's talk about that video that has the internet divided. It's a video of the twins spinning around in circles. Which one is Junia and which one is Laufey? (I think Junia is definitely the one with her mouth open and going crazy, and Laufey is the one who's confused about what's going on.) Really though, this is a nice holiday cover and one of my highest ranked holiday songs actually.
Caught in a romance (5/5 - amazing songs that I listen to a lot):
#38: I Wish You Love - The fact that Laufey has 57 songs and a whopping 38 of them (two thirds) are songs I have rated as "great" is simply insane. Laufey is just that good! I have no clue what any of this song means but I quite like it.
#37: Love To Keep Me Warm (with Dodie) - A festive cover that introduced me to Dodie.
#36: Santa Baby - ("This high?!" they all shrieked. "Really?! Santa Baby?!") Yeah, it's one of my favorite holiday tunes. I'm not sure whether I prefer this perky orchestral rendition or Taylor's widely abhorred country-rock interpretation, and I honestly might like Taytay's slightly better (extremely unpopular opinion, I know) but it's close. I don't know what the full instrumentation is here, but whatever this combination of flute, xylophone, horn, and bewitching fairy dust magic is... it's brilliant.
#35: Ain't Christmas (with Alexander 23) - I love how the title looks like it says "ain't Christmas with Alexander 23", as if Alexander makes it not Christmas. What's even funnier is on Alexander 23's channel it's "ain't Christmas with Laufey"... I overthink things lol.
#34: The Christmas Waltz - My highest ranked of the holiday tunes, which means we now have one full category of songs eliminated.
#33: Magnolia - Honestly, why aren't there more people named Magnolia?
#32: Like The Movies - Another super relatable song.
#31: This Is How It Feels (with D4VD) - My favorite D4VD song I've ever heard.
#30: Love Flew Away (with Adam Melchor) - The only Adam Melchor song I've ever heard. (And that will change very soon!)
#29: What Love Will Do To You - A lot of things.
#28: Hi - Wow, Laufey literally just said hi to me. Hi, Laufey!
#27: Bewitched - The orchestra is haunting, and the video is just as haunting. And speaking of HAUNTING...
#26: Haunted - The one obligatory song title shared with Taylor Swift.
#25: Serendipity - Laufey has a lot of one-word titles, and they're all powerful.
#24: While You Were Sleeping - From the title I thought this would be some kind of creepy stalker song, and then I listened to it and it turns out... it kinda is. In the best way possible of course.
#23: Must Be Love - Describes my feeling toward this song.
#22: Dreamer - "I was a dreamer before you went and let me down" - wait, wrong song. I prefer this one though. Also, twenty-twooooooooo!
#21: Dance With You Tonight - Laufey is actually so funny.
#20: Questions For The Universe - Don't we all have some? I love this concept.
#19: No One Knows (with Stephen Sanchez) - But everyone knows how amazing this song is.
#18: California & Me - "Left me and the ocean for your old flame" is so poetic and so natural. And the Philharmonia Orchestra was a great choice to feature on this song!
#17: Fragile - How you'll feel when you listen to this. It's actually amazing.
#16: Falling Behind - Dangerously relatable. I think Lyn Lapid could do a great cover or remix of this.
#15: Let You Break My Heart Again - Anytime Laufey collabs with this hot band called the Philharmonia Orchestra, it's sure to be a banger.
#14: Nocturne (Interlude) - I'm hoping future Laufey albums have instrumental interludes like this one, because this is gorgeous. Laufey + piano = pure bewitchment.
#13: From The Start - Lucky 13. Ah yes, the song that made me a Lauver in the first place. Laufey's signature hit that I'm guessing you've all heard even if you're not a Lauver like me. It's always so satisfying to watch Laufey perform this song and the whole crowd screams along in the second verse. "BLAH BLAH BLAH!!!!!!!"
#12: Trouble - I've been having trouble getting enough of this song.
#11: Night Light - The cooler, maturer sister of Slow Down.
#10: A Night To Remember (with Beabadoobee) - My favorite non-album Laufey song for sure. The way their styles combine is amazing. This is kinda the song that made me a Beabadoobee fan as well. Also, I couldn't help but notice the many Taylor Swift titles in the chorus: "you enchanted ME! and whisper sweet nothing into my ears".
#9: Best Friend - My top song from Typical Of Me by a long shot. Remember when Laufey announced on April Fools Day that her next album would be a rap album, and teased a fake diss track to her twin sister Junia? Well, don't we already have it? "I promise I love you, even with that hairdo / I'm sorry I made fun of it, it's not your fault it looks like shit" is about Junia, her "best friend in the world". Yeah...
#8: Second Best - Isn't it interesting how it feels so much worse to be the second best person out of 8,202,250,183 than to be the eighth best song out of 57?
#7: Silver Lining - The lead single from Laufey's third album A Matter Of Time, a four-week Hallett's Hits topper, and her considerably saccharine take on the classic "in love with a treacherous man" trope. Imagine if this is the same guy who inspired Tough Luck...
#6: Promise - I love froyo, oh oh oh, it's so yolo, oh oh oh! (True Lauvers know.)
#5: Valentine - I think of this as Laufey's signature song. To me, it's musically, lyrically, and vocally representative of a significant amount of Laufey's artistry without sounding overly similar to anything else of hers. If you're reading this and haven't listened to a Laufey song yet, I'd suggest you start with this one.
#4: Letter To My 13 Year Old Self - Beauuuuuuuutifuuuuuuuul... that one word encapsulates this song exactly. Top song from the main edition of Bewitched and it's easy to see why. Her lyricism shines so well.
#3: Above The Chinese Restaurant - One of those songs that works no matter how it's performed. I can't decide which version I like more: the guitar-driven indie-jazz/almost soft-rock-tinged studio edition, or the grand orchestral Night At The Symphony arrangement performed at the Hollywood Bowl. Either way, it's one of the most gorgeous things Laufey has made. We've now eliminated every song from EIKAL, which makes that the first full-length studio album eliminated from the rankdown.
GODDESS (6/5 - inexplicably gorgeous):
#2: Goddess - Everyone knows how I feel about this song. My #1 off Bewitched: The Goddess Edition.
#1: Tough Luck - Tough luck, my boy, your time is up. Need I say anything else? This song was just released the day of making this ranking, and I already know it WILL launch Laufey into mainstream territory, and I WILL absolutely freak out WHEN it is on Hits 1. Seriously, this song sounds like a cross between Laufey, Olivia Rodrigo, Chappell Roan, Lyn Lapid, and Taylor Swift... all of which are some of my top artists. And those lyrics... wow. She slammed that guy to the ground. I was just joking when I suggested that this could be about Mr. Silver Lining, but it's actually possible since he clearly wasn't the sweetest partner. This song is my anthem and Laufey really outdid herself. Remember when I thought Goddess was my favorite Laufey song? AMOT comes out on August 22 (which was already an important date in the Swiftieverse since both August and 22 are song titles, and is now an important date in the Laufeyverse as well) and I couldn't be more excited for an album than this. It's more than likely that unless there are future AMOT songs or OR3 tracks or any Rep or Debut vault findings really blow me away to the moon and to Saturn, this will be my #1 song overall of 2025, which would mean Laufey would top my year-end favorite songs list two years in a row since she had Goddess last year.
Well, that took a long time to make, but I'm glad I got to share that. That's all for now! Byeeeeeeeeee!