Entertainment
Laufey on creating her own sound
Laufey’s music may not be what you usually think of as “pop,” but if pop is short for popular, then she is indeed a pop star. The 26-year-old Icelander has earned a devoted following blending modern lyrics and music with classical and jazz. “My music is such a combination of the sounds of my childhood,” she said. “It’s just something that’s become a part of me. I wanted to make things that made me happy.
“I loved Golden Age musicals,” said Laufey. “I’d watch ‘Carousel’ and ‘Oklahoma’ and ‘American in Paris’ and ‘Sound of Music.’ They were so beautiful and had these dance breaks and the dresses were floating and the colors – that feeling I got from that, I just wanted to create that feeling.”
The world she inhabits (in her work, anyway) is whimsical and romantic, full of windswept cliffs, frilly dresses and bows … and cello, almost always cello.
Watch Laufey perform “I Wish You Love” with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra:
She says the cello is “as important to me as my voice. And I think it’s really what makes a Laufey song a Laufey song.”
Laufey Lín Bing Jónsdóttir comes by it naturally. Her Icelandic father introduced her to jazz when she was a girl; her Chinese mother played classical violin. So does Laufey’s identical twin sister.
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Growing up, she said, she felt different: “Everyone was like, you know, going to play soccer after school or dance, and I was sitting down and playing music from the 17th century. And then on top that I was a twin, identical twin. I just feel, like, weird on top of weird, on top of weird.”
And things only got weirder when she started singing, as when she appeared on the TV competition “Iceland’s Got Talent” singing Alicia Keys’ “If I Ain’t Got You,” at age 13: “I remember going on singing competitions in Iceland when I was younger and they’d always be like, ‘She sounds like a 40-year-old woman that’s been divorced twice and she chain-smokes cigarettes,” Laufey said. “And I was, like, a 13-year-old girl standing on stage being like, okay, like, I just wanted to be a girl. So, yeah I was always a little bit like … felt a little bit like a circus act.”
But Laufey found her footing at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. She started posting original songs and jazz covers on social media during the pandemic, and they quickly went viral.
Laufey performs “I Love You (For Sentimental Reasons”) on guitar and cello:
I asked, “Were you surprised that people were responding to the jazz influences?”
“I was so shocked, because I’d never seen any example of it before,” Laufey replied. “And I’d never seen a community of young people … that was the most shocking part, that it was young people responding to the music. But there was always a part of me that was like, of course, it’s the best music in the world!”
Now she sells out just about every concert – like a recent one in Norfolk, Virginia, where one fan, Alissa, told us, “When I first like showed, like, my parents that, they were like, ‘This is what you guys listen to?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, like, this is what, like, younger people are listening to!'”
Another fan, Logan, said, “I feel like she takes just kind of more ‘old people music’ and pushes it into, like, a newer generation so that more people can enjoy it.”
Laufey’s new album, “A Matter of Time,” comes out this week. A stadium tour will follow.
Her songwriting usually starts on guitar, like her bossa nova-influenced “From the Start.”
But she just as easily can weave in a little classical, as she did on her last album, “Bewitched.” Last year, “Bewitched” briefly knocked Frank Sinatra off the top of the jazz charts – and then, that album won a best traditional pop vocal Grammy Award, beating such artists as Bruce Springsteen.
And then, Barbra Streisand asked Laufey to sing on her recent album of duets, performing a song Laufey wrote, “Letter to My 13-Year-Old Self.” “It’s one of those songs that I wrote just in my most intimate moments and could have been a song that I never put out,” she said. “It was a song for me to heal myself. But it’s a very hopeful song. It’s reaching back to tell your younger self that you’re going to be okay.”
Don’t you worry ’bout your curly hair
Clothes that don’t quite fit you anywhere
Voices echo in the gym
Another girl’s had her first kiss
Please don’t think too much of it, darling
I asked, “What do you think your 13-year-old self would think of all of this?”
“I think she’d be really excited,” Laufey replied. “I think she’d be really happy. There’s not a single part of myself that has changed any of my artistic interests to follow some sort of trend. And I get to make exactly the music that I loved back then. So, I think I would’ve been really, really happy.”
To hear Laufey performing “Silver Lining,” from her album “A Matter of Time,” click on the video player below:
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Story produced by Robert Marston. Editor: Steven Tyler.
Entertainment
Ashton Kutcher says ex Demi Moore ‘killed it’
Ashton Kutcher is making it clear that admiration and respect still define how he views his ex-wife Demi Moore, especially when it comes to her recent work.
While promoting his upcoming series The Beauty, the actor openly praised Moore’s performance in The Substance, calling it one of her strongest yet.
Speaking to Entertainment Tonight in an interview published January 14, Kutcher acknowledged comparisons between his new project and Moore’s film, but quickly shifted the focus to her achievement.
“Demi’s performance in The Substance, obviously, she got extraordinary accolades,” he said. “I’m so proud of her.”
He then summed up his feelings simply and directly, adding, “She killed it.”
Kutcher, 47, and Moore were married from 2005 until their divorce was finalised in 2013. Since their split, he has largely avoided discussing their relationship publicly, making his recent comments stand out.
Rather than revisiting the past in detail, his words reflected genuine appreciation for Moore’s success and her Oscar-nominated performance.
In earlier interviews, Kutcher has briefly touched on the emotional aftermath of their breakup.
During a 2018 appearance on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, he shared how isolated he felt after the divorce and how he sought clarity by spending a week alone in the mountains of Big Sky, Montana.
He explained that he disconnected completely, surviving on only water and tea, without food, devices, or conversation.
That period of solitude led him to reflect deeply on his personal life. Kutcher revealed that he wrote letters to people from past relationships where unresolved feelings remained.
He described the process as a way of letting go of regret and emotional weight he had carried for years.
Moore, now 63, has also spoken candidly about the end of their marriage.
While promoting her 2019 memoir Inside Out, she told Good Morning America, “I lost me. If I were to look back, I would say I blinded myself and I lost myself.”
Her words highlighted how deeply the relationship and its ending affected her sense of identity.
Today, both actors appear to be in very different places.
Kutcher shares children Wyatt, 11, and Dimitri, 9, with his wife of ten years, Mila Kunis, while Moore continues to reflect on her past through her work and writing.
Kutcher’s recent comments, however, show that despite everything, he still holds genuine respect for Moore, and isn’t shy about applauding her success when it’s deserved.
Entertainment
Pamela Anderson reacts to seeing Seth Rogen at Golden Globes
Pamela Anderson is opening up about an uncomfortable moment she experienced at the Golden Globes.
The actress revealed that seeing Seth Rogen at the event brought back lingering feelings tied to the controversial Pam & Tommy series made without her consent.
Speaking on SiriusXM’s Radio Andy, the Golden Globe nominee explained that although it appeared she left the awards show early, her exit was intentional and emotionally driven.
“At the Golden Globes, for instance, I didn’t leave early. I left after my award, and I went right to bed,” she said, clarifying that being in close proximity to Rogen made her uneasy.
The tension stems from Hulu’s 2022 limited series Pam & Tommy, which dramatised the theft and distribution of Anderson’s private 1995 tape with ex-husband Tommy Lee.
Rogen served as an executive producer on the project and also portrayed Rand Gauthier, the man who stole and sold the tape.
Anderson emphasised that she was never consulted about the show, a fact that continues to bother her years later.
“Seth Rogen, he did that [miniseries] on me without talking to me, Pam & Tommy,” she said. “How can someone make a TV series out of difficult times in your life? And I’m a living, breathing human being over here, hello.”
Anderson noted that Rogen was seated nearby during the ceremony.
“He was in the pit at the Golden Globes, so we were close,” she explained. “I just felt like, ‘I’m not chopped liver over here.’ I felt a little bit weird about it.”
While Anderson said she has been staying busy professionally, working on five films over the past year, she admitted that moments like this can still hit unexpectedly.
She shared that she hopes Rogen may one day acknowledge her feelings. “Eventually, hopefully he will reach out to me and apologise. Not that that matters.”
Reflecting more broadly, Anderson expressed frustration over how deeply personal experiences are often turned into entertainment.
She said the “darkest, deepest secrets or your tragedies in life shouldn’t be fair game for a TV series,” adding that the situation “pissed me off a little bit.”
Rogen, meanwhile, had a successful night at the Golden Globes, where his Apple TV+ series The Studio won Best Television Series — Musical or Comedy, along with Best Actor in the same category.
Despite the accolades, Anderson’s comments highlight that for her, the emotional impact of Pam & Tommy is far from over.
Entertainment
Teyana Taylor, Leonardo DiCaprio Golden Globes drama sees new twist
Teyana Taylor is clearing the air about Leonardo DiCaprio’s animated Golden Globes moment that took over social media, revealing that the viral clip didn’t quite unfold the way fans initially thought.
The actress and singer addressed the buzz during her appearance on The Tonight Show on Wednesday, Jan. 14, where she continued celebrating her first-ever Golden Globe win.
The clip in question, shared on the ceremony’s official TikTok page, showed DiCaprio laughing and gesturing enthusiastically during the broadcast, leading many viewers to assume he was chatting with Taylor.
She admitted she initially thought the same.
“Okay, so look, yesterday, I thought I broke the Da Vinci Code, right?” Taylor told Jimmy Fallon, referencing her earlier comments that suggested they were bonding over KPop Demon Hunters during the show.
Taylor explained that her excitement stemmed from the fact that her daughters, Iman “Junie” Tayla Shumpert Jr., 10, and Rue Rose Shumpert, 5, are huge fans of the Netflix animated film, which won Best Motion Picture (Animated) and Best Original Song that night.
At first glance, she assumed DiCaprio was reacting to her.
“So when I first seen it, I didn’t watch the whole thing. So I was like, ‘Oh you’re talking about Kpop Demon Hunters, he’s talking about me,’” she said.
But after watching the full clip, and seeing fans attempt to lip-read the exchange, Taylor realised she needed answers.
She picked up the phone and called her longtime friend.
“I was like, ‘You can’t be talking to me, were you talking to me?’ Because I already told people you was talking to me,” she admitted.
According to Taylor, DiCaprio had apparently discussed KPop Demon Hunters more than once that night.
“So apparently he had two KPop Demon Hunter conversations that night, so KPop Demon Hunters was just in his mouth all night,” she joked.
The situation sparked some playful jealousy on Taylor’s part.
“Who else is you chewing your invisible gum with?” she teased, adding that DiCaprio didn’t even remember who he had been talking to at the table.
Despite the confusion, the moment only added to the buzz surrounding their film One Battle After Another, which picked up four Golden Globe wins, including Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy) and Taylor’s award for her role as Perfidia Beverly Hills.
Both stars are now heading into the 2026 Actor Awards on March 1 with individual nominations, proving that even a misunderstood viral moment can end on a high note.
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