Calling all “Lauvers!” On April 10, the two-time Grammy-winning jazz-pop singer known as Laufey delighted fans, myself included, with the release of a new deluxe edition of her popular album “A Matter of Time,” titled “The Final Hour.” This album serves as a “closing chapter” of “A Matter of Time,” according to her website. Personally, I have been a huge “Lauver” since the release of her first EP, “Typical of Me,” back in 2021, and had to listen to the new launch on Spotify right when it was released.
This release features four new tracks- “Madwoman,” accompanied by a music video, “How I Get,” a single that dropped back in Feb., “I Wait, I Wait, I Wait”, and “I’ll Forget About You (In Time).” This album blends jazz, pop, bossa nova, and indie influences into a sound that is distinctly its own.
The first track, “Madwoman,” dives into the perspective of a woman who longs for a man whom she knows isn’t good for her. In the lyrics “we’ve been through this before, fell in and out, I said no more, but still I want you like a mad, mad woman”, it shows how even though her relationship with her partner ended in heartbreak on multiple occasions, she still feels the need to go back to him. The instrumentation felt like a woody, soft, orchestral take on lobby music, which I felt added more depth to the song. If there’s one minor critique, it’s that her voice fades out too soon, and the song’s last minute is taken over by instrumentals.
“Madwoman” was paired with a music video featuring Laufey alongside two-time Olympic gold medalist Alysa Liu, actress Lola Tung, and KATSEYE’s Megan Skiendiel. The video also features Heated Rivalry star Hudson Williams as Laufey’s love interest. The video portrays the feeling of being trapped in a repetitive, toxic relationship, while highlighting the different ways the song can be interpreted.
The track after Madwoman, “How I Get,” explores the loss of control and shift in behavior that comes with falling for the wrong person. The lyric “I know you’re bad for me” captures the struggle of knowing a relationship is unhealthy, yet falling for them anyway. The instrumentation leans into her signature blend of soft, jazzy sounds.
The third track, “I Wait, I Wait, I Wait,” dives deep into the painful reality of waiting for someone who never shows up or expresses interest. The piano in the background adds a quiet, gloomy quality that I found deeply moving. This song ties back to the theme in “How I Get” around loving someone wrong for you.
The final of the four new tracks, and the album’s closer, is “I’ll Forget About You (In Time).” This song provides a sense of closure after the feelings stirred by the preceding three tracks. The line “I’ll forget about you in time” shows how she is counting on herself and making that promise that she will recover from her heartbreak, as time goes on. She’s saying that she will get over her past lover eventually. I loved the detail of her going from “I’ll forget about you in time” to “I’ll forget about him” as if she is trying to make herself believe it. At the end, she says, “I’ll forget about him, won’t I?”, leaving us on a little cliffhanger, as well as showing us that she still has uncertainty about forgetting someone and moving on, as seen in her previous songs like “Madwoman” and “How I Get”. The song’s instrumentals, especially at the end, sounded similar to her other song “Fragile.” Overall, it’s a strong track whose meaning brought me to tears, and her ability to capture the feelings of heartbreak and sadness through her voice adds more depth. It was a perfect end to the album.
Overall, I’d give this album a 4.5/5. The new songs carry a range of messages and meanings that make her music more relatable to a wide array of listeners. The melody may sound similar to her other tracks, but the lyrics really set it apart. It’s only “A Matter of Time” before all four tracks dominate my 2026 Spotify Wrapped.
