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Laufey during the first of her three sold-out "A Matter of Time" concert dates in Manila. MJ Felipe, ABS-CBN News

Article (news)

Chalssea Kate Echegoyen

ABS-CBN Lifestyle

<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1780027763627707012615_1519639560211295_4036221096450097460_n.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>Laufey during the first of her three sold-out &quot;A Matter of Time&quot; concert dates in Manila. MJ Felipe, ABS-CBN News</div>MANILA — Icelandic-Chinese jazz-pop singer-songwriter Laufey transformed her “A Matter of Time” concert in Manila into something more intimate than a typical arena show — part fashion spectacle, part emotional confession, and part celebration of a generation still hopeful enough to believe in love.Across her three-night run at SM Mall of Asia Arena, thousands of young Filipino fans arrived in pearls, opera gloves, ribbons, and vintage dresses, fully embracing the dreamy, romantic world that Laufey has built around her music.For many fans, the concert, which featured a five-act show, was a collective participation in a fantasy of tenderness.“Clockwork” opened the first act of the show, setting the bossa nova and classic jazz mood for the evening. Laufey showed up with a red ballgown to give a performance leaned heavily into orchestral instrumentals, with a dreamy and cinematic atmosphere to capture a clock — simply ticking. This was followed by a performance of “Lover Girl,” “Dreamer,” and “Falling Behind,” “Silver Lining,” “Bored,” and “Too Little Too Late.” Laufey began her second act featuring her three-piece band to give an intimate jazz performance of “Seems Like Old Times,” “Valentine,” “Fragile,” “While You Were Sleeping,” and “Let You Break My Heart Again.”She also performed fan favorites such as “Lover Girl,” “Tough Luck,” “Falling Behind,” and “From the Start,” each screamed by thousands of Filipino lauvers.<div> </div><div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1780027707347707725392_1519639523544632_5090366613224559932_n.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>Laufey during the first of her three sold-out &quot;A Matter of Time&quot; concert dates in Manila. MJ Felipe, ABS-CBN News</div>One of the loudest sing-alongs of the night came during Laufey’s surprise karaoke pack with her “I Wish You Love.” Laufey herself has become an unlikely cultural figure: an artist making jazz-influenced songs about yearning, restraint, heartbreak, and the terrifying vulnerability of wanting to be loved. Her Manila performance thrived on that sincerity. Vocally, she was graceful and restrained.<div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/showbiz/music/2026/5/28/laufey-brings-out-bini-during-concert-thanks-maloi-for-celebrating-birthday-with-her-1326">Laufey brings out BINI during concert; thanks Maloi for celebrating birthday with her</a></div><div>LAUFEY’S ROMANTIC-SELF EXPRESSION </div>At many concerts, fashion exists parallel to the performance. In Laufey’s concert, it became part of the experience. Filipino lauvers transformed the concert to a runway of romantic self-expression.<div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/showbiz/music/2026/5/27/laufey-crowns-filipino-fan-for-fashion-sense-at-manila-concert-you-look-absolutely-beautiful-1215">Laufey crowns Filipino fan for fashion sense at Manila concert: &#x27;You look absolutely beautiful&#x27;</a></div>The clothes mattered because they reflected the emotional core of Laufey’s music, with her songs being openly filled with longing — not dramatic cinematic love, but quieter, more familiar forms of yearning: wanting reassurance, replaying conversations, fearing rejection, hoping someone chooses you back. They capture the emotional uncertainty of modern youth with unusual gentleness.The Filipino crowd, who are natural singers, sang every lyric with the intimacy of recognition. This was evident as Laufey ended the night with “Letter To my 13 Year Old Self.”That sense of collective belonging gave the concert its emotional weight. For a few hours, the Arena became a shared space for romanticism for thousands of lauvers, not just romantic love, but belief itself: belief in connection, beauty, vulnerability, and the possibility that tenderness still has value in a cynical world.This is why Laufey resonates so deeply right now. She offers young audiences permission to slow down emotionally. In a culture built on resistance and default stagness, her music insists on feeling things fully. Not ironically. Not performatively. Sincerely.

Icelandic-Chinese jazz-pop singer-songwriter Laufey transformed her “A Matter of Time” concert in Manila into something more intimate than a typical arena show — part fashion spectacle, part emotional confession, and part celebration of a generation still hopeful enough to believe in love.

Icelandic-Chinese jazz-pop singer-songwriter Laufey transformed her “A Matter of Time” concert in Manila into something more intimate than a typical arena show — part fashion spectacle, part emotional confession, and part celebration of a generation still hopeful enough to believe in love.

Review: Laufey’s Manila concert was a night for young hopeless romantics

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Review: Laufey’s Manila concert was a night for young hopeless romantics

Chalssea Kate Echegoyen,

ABS-CBN Lifestyle

Published May 29, 2026 12:14 PM PHT

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Laufey

Philippines

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