Laufey’s Wasian Avengers

Laufey is a two-time Grammy winner, she just won her second in Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album (A Matter of Time) category in February two years after her first. I love listening to Laufey in the kitchen, cooking is meditative for me, and there’s nothing better than vibing to her music for a few hours on a Saturday night when I’m trying out a new recipe. It’s not just background, it’s mood – by the way, adding to the cooking playlist is probably the highest compliment I can give a song.

Before we continue, though, because I think we could all use the reminder, her name is not pronounced “Low-fee” or “Lay-fay”. The first syllable rhymes with the (proper) French pronunciation of “feuille” and the last syllable is “vay”. Here she is with Kelly Clarkson last year explaining how her name is said in Icelandic and also blowing everyone’s mind about how Björk’s name is pronounced.

For a while now, Laufey’s been manifesting a Wasian super assembly – hoping to gather together the cohort of Wasian late-Millennial/Gen Z talent taking over pop culture: Chase Sui Wonders, Havana Rose Liu, Alysa Liu, Megan Skiendiel (from Katseye), Lola Tung, and of course Hudson Williams. She has succeeded in recruiting four out of the six for her new music video for the song “Madwoman”, and Chase and Havana show up via magazine covers, probably their schedules didn’t allow.

It’s a celebration of their biracial identity, an example of how their generation is embracing all the parts of themselves and finding community. There is Asian representation through the video, including behind-the-scenes, with director Warren Fu, and so many subtle and not-so-subtle Asian references. The most obvious would be Laufey in a cheongsam while on a date with Hudson. The less obvious is Megan’s rounded jade bangle, which so many aunties would recognise by looking down at their own arm. My ma is never without a jade bangle.

As for their collective Avengers status – I mean, look at the year that all of these stars have had. Hudson Williams, of course, with Heated Rivalry; Meghan and Katseye were just nominated at the Grammys and performed on the show; Alysa won gold at the Olympics… and now they’re all in one place, stylised like it’s Don’t Worry Darling, with that sinister undercurrent, as Laufey struggles with her addiction to a tool of a man, played by Hudson, with the support and then the betrayal of her girlfriends. I want every pair of sunglasses on everybody here.