Laufey Wearing Bode On Tour Is Our Dream Collab

0:28This is The Run Through. I'm Chloe Mel. genres. I didn't know much about Leve because I'm an elder person. But what I now understand is that she's someone who really defies any boundary that's put around her or one box descriptor. She's an Icelandic Chinese. She's a TikTok star, but also very traditional. She's jazz and pop. She grew up with classical music. Her mom is a classical musician, So it's just in her blood. We had such a great conversation with her. Our beloved Gen Z colleague, Irene Kim, joined the conversation. And she is friends with Leve and her identical twin. And I really felt like their mother.

1:09But it was great. And she's wearing custom bodie for her whole tour. I mean, she has amazing style. But I have a very fun Leve story for you. So I didn't know who Leve was either. but a friend of mine, Carol, and her daughter, who is Gabby, who is I think 14, 15, and obviously really plugged into what's new and what's hip, and was like, we have to go to see this concert. And she'd been like, can you go? Can we go? Can we go? And I managed to get tickets. And like Gabby is the biggest Leve fan in the world. And I didn't really know what to expect, but you walk in and it's like a whole audience.

1:49And it was at the Royal Albert Hall, which is a massive, beautiful, I guess it's kind of like Carnegie Hall would be the comparison maybe. And it's just basically a room, a kind of a crowd full of musical theatre kids. Like it is like all of the musical theatre kids descending down at once. And the atmosphere is insane. I mean, obviously her voice sounds like from another era. So then we went backstage to meet Leve and her identical twin. And Gabby literally lost her mind, started crying. no it started crying but she's has an incredible voice herself and then she sang for levee and it was like i didn't even know that she had this voice and it was it was like the most it was the craziest thing that ever happened like she sang for levee and was was in full tears because that's how the intense of fanhood is and i was just like i'm old wow i was just like i didn't even know i know it was really crazy it was really crazy but yeah it was quite interesting it's not like um it's just not an experience i would have had if i wouldn't have gotten sort of tipped off by this 15 year old and it opened up this world of of like fandom and music a genre of music that feels so throwback that i was so quite surprised to hear because she sounds like she could be singing you know in the sort of dance halls of like 1940s or something like it's quite throwback her sound and her voice no it's completely throwback I mean it's and I don't know if this is a fair comp but I think about Nora Jones or I mean it really is sort of a yeah sorry that isn't it and I asked her I said who would you love to put to duet with and she only named dead people it was like Ella Fitzgerald or Oscar Peterson yeah I really appreciated that as someone who also musicianship is insane isn't her twin also like a cellist or something Her twin also directed all of her music videos.

3:49So her twin travels with her and is her creative director. And they were very funny about how times that they've maybe been each other. I mean, having an identical twin must be the most fun. I mean, my cousins are identical twins, but I don't think they played many pranks like they probably did. No parent trap for them? No parent trap. Yeah. so Michaela Cole is British Vogue's September cover star one of my favourite people one of the most talented actors, writers and creators of now and she looks incredible shot by photographer Holly Weir and styled by my friend Nell Colongi and I've been wanting Holly to shoot for us forever and Holly has been usually she's kind of more focused on art projects at the moment but she is such a fan of MC, of our dear MC, that she decided to, she agreed to it.

4:47So it's very exciting. And then Rennie Edo-Lodge did a fantastic job at the interview. She talks about, obviously, Mother Mary, which she stars opposite Anne Hathaway, but also about her new 10-part series that she's creating that will be coming out in the very near future on the BBC. So watch this space. I think it's going to be incredible. and she also has another movie with Steve Soderbergh. So she is fully booked and busy this fall. We love a booked and busy, Michaela Cole. Booked and busy. And yeah, so very, very excited. I'm so excited to read this. I love her. The 10th issue season. Yeah, she's great.

5:28I mean, also, I miss the, I know the conversation around Emma Stone. I know you guys have had that conversation, but wow. Isn't that such a fab cover? I really. So fab. I love all the photos and I think they're, you know, it's hard to do a compelling article about Emma Stone because she's just so universally well-liked and that makes it less of a, there's less tension. But I thought Jason Gay did a great job and really articulated that and figured out a fun way to approach her. her. And I also love when people who have interviewed celebrities throughout their careers come back to them. And Jason did Emma's first cover many years ago.

6:11So I thought it was a really fun story. And I loved all of these sort of couture level clothes that Vuitton made. Yeah, fun fact. I interviewed Nicolas Gasquet to talk about the clothes. And I went to Paris to interview him about the process of making those couture pieces. Wow. And he was so animated, excited. It was really a joy to talk to him. And he was truly in his element. He has such an amazing relationship with Emma and also with Grace Coddington. So we had a really fun time and I'd never spent much time with him. And it was really kind of, it was a really great day. And he gave so much and he's such a fab interview.

6:54you that's very exciting to have a yeah it was my secret mission my secret mission was to go to my six uh agent naughty um but yes over here we've all been as our colleague jose criella's has been saying um it always says it's always fashion week somewhere and here we've been very into copen copenacan street style because i think i don't know about the the us or about new york but Scandi girls are perennially like the coolest girls in Europe. Like French girls have that kind of like classical cool, but like Scandi girls are where the trends start percolating and people, the kind of interesting layering tricks.

7:41And it was really fun to see the street style. And a lot of people go actually. A lot of people go from the US. I always love reading Laird's reports on the shows, But for me, it's really about watching the streets, Lyle. I love seeing the way the girls dress on the street. Now, I know our colleague Laird Borelli-Person is really the queen of Copenhagen. And I love seeing her sort of reports from the ground while she's there. Like, for example, rat accessories were a big deal in Copenhagen this year. Wait, really? I miss that. metallic leather rat purses, which rats are like my animal that I really prefer not to interact with.

8:24I mean, you and everyone else. No, no, I'm fine with Sneh. But like a rat, I have a very specific approach to the subway, which is I never look on the tracks because there's always rats on the tracks. I'm very careful. You're in the wrong city for rats. I know, I know. But I have a whole system about avoiding rats as much as possible. And suddenly on the Vogue.com homepage, there was a metallic rat bag and that was one of the trends coming out of Copenhagen. And so...

8:55But yes, people love the Scandi Street girl style. My 20-year-old niece is doing her a semester in Copenhagen with... She's at the Sorbonne and she's so excited but very stressed about how to dress cool in Copenhagen because it really is... They set the bar very high. And she's French. They really do. I'm like, Isay, you're a French girl. You don't need to worry about dressing cool. She just needs to lean into the French thing. You know, they don't care. Do less. It's always just do less. Care less, do less. Okay, so Angelina Jolie has revealed that she's in this new film, this new fashion film, and it's called Couture.

9:33It's directed by Alice Vinacore. She's a French director. I think most obviously her films are all French language, But this one is making waves because it stars Angelina Jolie. And Louis Garel, Bestill My Heart. Oh, wow. I love Louis Garel. Why should I know Louis Garel? Tell me everything. Louis Garel, he's just an extreme. He's, I mean, any French person listening to this will roll their eyes because he's sort of a like bad boy. He's sort of he's been around the block for a while, but he's just a very hunky French actor. He was in The Dreamers. He's Philippe Garel's son. OK, OK. Got it, got it, got it.

10:09His sister Esther is also is like a big Miu Miu girl. So they're a big sort of French film family. But Louis Garell is just sort of, you know, a French hunk that we love to see as a co-star in a fashion film. So my question is, has there been up until this point, because this movie could be a really great portrayal of the fashion world. But does a really good fashion film exist? Discuss. Like, do we think it has? I'm curious to know because for background, this first came up in our the run through internal Slack channel. And it's Shoma and Nicole Phelps had very strong feelings about this, which I really appreciated.

10:53Shoma made this bold claim and Nicole agreed. And then Nicole said, what was the documentary she said? Unzipped, which which I agree with. But it's a documentary, right? But a fashion feature. It's true. It's it's tricky. although I do feel like we all love Phantom Thread. There's been a lot of biopics that have been okay, been good-ish. I mean, to me, Funny Face is a fashion film, but it's really a fashion magazine film. But I find that to be a great depiction of the dream of the 1950s fashion media world. But Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire don't hurt in that. oh my god i as you know choma go to bed at 9 30 i woke up early the next morning to a explosion of activity on slack about taylor swift's new album being dropped on travis kelsey's podcast i mean love that i love i love that she did that on her we love a cross-platform announcement yeah And then he had that crazy, insane Ryan McGinley GQ cover.

12:06I love this new GQ cover. Me too. I think it's so fun. Star by Laura Roche. Sick. With Sean Manning. I mean, I just think it's very cool and has a very strong point of view. Someone in a comment, I forget where, was like, it's giving Maha a shaman, which I think was true, but in a good way. um well and the big deal about this was that she's wearing all orange in the photos that she released and so margo interviewed um an aura specialist and a color theorist about what that new uh this new orange era for taylor is going to mean so everyone should read that the easter eggs abound oh yes the orange easter eggs um and also christian did a piece that we were talking about because we started discussing yesterday, she's wearing the Cartier Panthère necklace in the clip.

12:59How is she? And I was saying, as someone who's in a podcast studio several times a week, a statement necklace is really the best accessory for podcasting because your ears are covered for earrings. Oh, yeah, you're right. You're right, you're right. Your rings, you can see if you're gesticulating a lot. Bracelets are clacking on the table, so you shouldn't be wearing bracelets. A statement necklace, really the only option. You've got a good neck. I love your necklace. Thank you. Like your necklace forever. It's so nice. So yes, we have a lot of thoughts about Taylor's new album.

13:35The run-through will be back in a moment.

13:49Hi, I'm Rebecca Ford, senior awards correspondent at Vanity Fair and co-host of Little Gold Men. Oscar season is upon us. Little Gold Men takes you behind the scenes of the race for the biggest prize in Hollywood. There's a hundred wrestlers in the room, but only one can be Oscar nominated. Whether you're a movie lover or an industry buff, Little Gold Men from Vanity Fair has everything you need to know about this year's Oscar race. Follow and listen to Little Gold Men wherever you get your podcasts.

14:30And we're back. We are so excited to have you here. I have been hearing about you for two years, starting with Irene Kim, because she is your number one fan and supporter. God, I am hers. And we get to have Irene Kim in the studio today as our Leve ambassador. Yay! Ambassador dress. That could have been my new job. What's your title when it's not that, Irene? Production and editorial associate of Vogue Runway. There we go. Leve, we are so excited about the new album. How are you feeling? I am feeling really excited. Really, really excited. There was a good moment, I think, when we were like a couple of months, like it was still we had a couple of months to go where I was a little nervous because I'd finished it, but it had yet to reach the arms of everyone.

15:28And also, you know, when you're rolling out singles, it's like you're tearing pages out of a book, like you don't have the full story yet. Yeah. So like I put out a song and people are like, oh, this is like so different or something like that. And it's like, no, no, like you need to hear the full album. So now I'm very excited. I'm excited for everyone to hear the full thing and get the context of the story, because I think it's like a type of album that you have to listen to from beginning to end. So I had the opportunity to listen to your album early and I loved your album. You know, it goes very personal and, you know, deeper than you have in other albums.

16:04Can you explain a little bit more about that? Yeah. Yeah. Well, when I was starting to write this album, I was thinking so much about how what I could bring to the table that felt new but was like the most true to myself that I'd ever been because I didn't want to repeat the same album again. That's just I've changed as a person as well. So but I still want to stay true to my musical roots. And I thought, how can I evolve and how can I grow? And I always just went towards like honesty and speaking like straight from my heart. So that was one of the main things. And I think I also musically wanted to make an album that was very vivid, very cinematic and big.

16:53Like it's my loudest album with the biggest arrangements. And I knew I'd be touring in arenas and playing it for a lot of people at once. And also my fans, after Bewitched and that whole concert tour, I realized just how passionate they are and sing along to every lyric. And so I wanted to give them an album that was also worthy of singing along to. Yeah. Yeah. I wonder if you make music with the venue or the way it's going to be shared with your fans in mind. Like when you're writing something, you're thinking, oh, this will be something that's for a small group at Bemelman's or for Madison Square Garden.

17:36Right. I do and I don't. I think when I'm writing the song, like just in my bedroom and it's just, you know, guitar and voice or piano and voice, I don't think about it at all. I think sometimes when I get into producing the song and recording it, I think a little bit about it, but more out of like excitement of like wondering how audiences are going to receive it. But not too much. I mean, you know, you could have a song that's just piano and voice, but it could be the biggest song and actually more fit for an arena than some song that maybe would be best played in like a small club with like a band, you know?

18:17So it's very difficult to figure out how you're going to write it. Also, I play so many different types of concerts. Like I like to say there are three types of concerts that I play. There's the concert with my band and a string quartet, which is like what I usually go on tour with. And then there's orchestra concerts where I play with a full orchestra and the songs are all arranged for like a classical orchestra. And then I have the solo sets. So no matter what, I can't really focus too much on writing for one type of venue because I always end up singing the song in different ways. Like even if you go on my discography on Spotify or Apple Music or something, it's like you'll have four different versions of a song because I did a live version with an orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl.

19:07And then I did an acoustic version here. And then I did, you know, a band version and a live band version. It's like there's so many different ways for a song to live. The last time you performed in New York City, you were at Radio City Music Hall. And this October, you'll be at Madison Square Garden. How is your concert prep different this time around? Oh, I mean, there's a lot more at stake, right? I mean, Radio City was still huge and is one of my favorite venues I've ever played. But there's a big difference between like every show will have like over 10 ,000 people. And that's a lot of people who've taken time out of their day, money, spent a lot of money and learned the songs, like spent their time to really invest in me and the show.

20:01So I really, I want to make sure I'm protecting myself and doing everything I can to be the best version of myself and perform well on stage every night. And so, I mean, and then the stage is bigger. So, like, I've been building up my stamina. I need to. Yeah, because you probably move more. I'm moving more. Yeah, there's dancers. So there's going to be a lot more movement involved. and the songs are bigger, singing with more chest. Are there any superstitions before a concert or sort of a routine that you do before any performance? I don't really have one for the exact reason that if I forget to do it, I will panic on stage.

20:50Like if I set up a system where I had to slap a wall 10 times before I went on stage or something and I was on stage and I was like, oh my God, I forgot, then I'd probably get superstitious about it. So no, I think for me, I just need silence. Like I need everyone out of the room, just even 20 minutes, even 10 minutes. If I'm lucky, I have 10 minutes to just kind of sit and it's almost like my meditation but yeah that's good sometimes i like having chocolate too do you have a favorite yeah what's your chocolate of choice i'll literally eat any chocolate really yeah okay me too oh yeah any any chocolate going through a milk chocolate phase i love milk chocolate tony's is my number one is so good i gaslit myself into like thinking i was a dark chocolate girl for my entire life.

21:49And I realized that that was just propaganda. It really is. Dark chocolate has had such good marketing. Literally such good marketing. My mom bought into it. Everybody bought into it. But milk chocolate just tastes really good. It's so much more delicious. If I'm having chocolate, I'm going to have the real chocolate. Justice for milk chocolate.

22:14I want to talk about your musical influences because I feel like there's a lot of discussion about you can't put Lefe in a box. She's jazz. She's pop. She's TikTok. She's tradition. But I'm curious because I feel like you have referenced some of my favorite musicians like Carole King and Chet Baker and Ravel. How does that all come together and how has that sort of coalesced into one style for you? I mean, it's all music that I grew up with and grew up studying. And so I feel like it almost just exists within me. Okay. It's not something I like. It's not like I listen to a classical piece or like a Chet Baker record.

23:01And I'm like, I'm going to replicate that. Like, I feel like even like my poppiest pop songs, Like you have like a 2-5-1 progression, which is like a classic, like a jazz progression. Or you'll have kind of like these minor, like these chordal movements that are very classical. Like I have a song called Tough Luck. It's like the pop song of the album. And it's like when I sing it or I just play it on piano, the da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. It's like very like it's like Russian romantic classical music. Interesting. And so it's something that I think is just like kind of within me. But I think the common denominator, it's all it's all quite romantic music.

23:46So it's like romantic period of classical music, very romantic jazz music, like the melodic things, the things that you may feel like they're tugging at your heartstrings because there's a level of dissonance to them. a level of tension that then resolves. That's something that I think brings all of my favorite art forms together. So going back to the jazz and the music of it all, how do you feel about the whole is way they jazz debate? You know, for those who might not be aware, there's an ongoing conversation online about whether your music is jazz and... How do I feel about it? I don't like it because I don't really subscribe to one thing or another.

24:32Anytime I've been tagged as one thing, you have an army of people being like, she's not classical. She's not jazz. She's not this. She's not that. And I'm like, I'm literally just me and I'm an artist. And I'm making music that is a concoction of all these different things. So much pop music is a concoction of different things. but we're less sensitive about that because we're used to it but like I think maybe because I'm reaching so far back into jazz inspirations into bossa nova inspirations people are just not used to it being mixed together and so yeah I don't know I wish that I wouldn't I just feel like I'm a current artist with with inspirations from the past that being said like I love jazz music so much and I'm a trained jazz singer like I studied vocal jazz and I always include a standard in all my albums and do that for for a reason like I want to introduce my audience this audience that is hopefully has trained their ear to understand and enjoy that kind of music and want to be in that atmosphere.

25:47Same with classical music. I always have a song with an orchestra and I want to like train the ear and introduce that sound as well, that soundscape to new audiences. So it's definitely something I care about and absolutely not something I want to erase either. And I don't want people from those communities to think that it's something that I'm just taking from and not giving to, if that makes sense. So yeah. I think that's a good problem to have if people are that passionate about your work that they're worried about how it's being boxed in. I think that's exciting. Yeah, it's so weird. And, you know, I have songs that sound a lot like jazz standards.

26:29And if there's like a 14-year-old out there somewhere who's never listened to jazz in their life and they hear a song like Valentine and they choose to call that jazz because it is very reminiscent of a jazz standard and is structured after the jazz music that I love, then I don't think that they're wrong in saying that either. You know what I mean? Yeah. So it's a weird debate. Were your parents very musical? I mean, did you grow up in a house that was always playing music? Oh, yeah. My mom's a violinist. Oh, wow. She's in the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. And her parents, my grandparents, were both professors of classical music as well, of piano and violin in Beijing in China.

27:17So I grew up very much surrounded by classical music and was at orchestra rehearsals in the womb. and I don't remember starting an instrument it was just one of those things that happened so music was always a huge huge part of my life I think that's why classical music is always what I go back to because it feels it sounds like my childhood but my dad like he loves jazz music and loves world music loves Brazilian music and and I think that side of my my like musical ear has actually come from him and um also he loves like the Beatles and he loves Carole King and the mamas and papas so I think I get a lot of that inspiration also from my dad love that I'm really curious to hear about the early days of your career would you give some credit to TikTok because you and your sister do you post a lot of TikToks yeah absolutely I mean in this TikTok is or the social media in general is like, it's an essential for a musician now, but, and I think is often looked down upon by a lot of artists because, I mean, I get it.

28:31It's like sometimes not fun. And you've definitely like the amount of times I've embarrassed myself on social media is like a little bit more than literally yesterday I posted a TikTok. Oh, I think I saw. at this. The Hamilton one? Wait, what was it? Tell me about it. It's like this Hamilton trend where it's like you're playing Alexander Hamilton and you're lip syncing to him like climbing out a window and he's like going to duel with Aaron Burr. And girls have been doing it and it's such a funny trend and I love Hamilton so much so I was like I have to do it. Like I wanted just truly in my heart to do it and all my friends that are like with me on tour we're all hamilton friends so and also like honestly that like colonial garb like i have that in my closet like unfortunately i just dress a little bit like that where did you get that colonial garb so this wasn't even my closet this is like my tour suitcase i have this like vintage ralph lauren like double-breasted like jacket that looks like a colonial jacket and I had I have a lot of tulle ribbons like different ribbons for for concerts and so we put that around as like almost like a pussy bow oh my god and um and then I had a pair of like linen pants but they're like just simple navy pants and we took hair ties and we like pulled them up so the pants looked like um like pantaloons and I had white socks and and these like bowdy Irish dancing shoes kind of.

30:12Wow. Like these lace-up shoes that look very vintage. And then I put like another little black bow and a low pony. And I looked in the mirror and I was like, well. This is Hamilton. No, but I'd wear it.

30:30No, the outfit. But then I took two eyeliners and started putting a mustache on my face. Yeah, that was a problem that got me. Yeah. And I did two shades, so I kind of like shaded it out. No, I looked in the mirror and I was like, my phone wouldn't let me log in. Like the face ID declined. That's impressive. That's a real disguise. Face ID declined. But anyways, to answer your question, I embarrass myself on social media almost every single day. But do you remember your first TikTok post ever? I do. It was of a song I had just written at the time called Like the Movies. And it was like a jazz standard like song.

31:09What year is this? How old are you? 2020. Okay. Summer of 2020. Okay. So I was 21. COVID lockdowns. Exactly. COVID lockdowns. And I put a video of that online and people were like responding to it. And it was weird because he was all young people and the music didn't seem that I was like hoping, obviously, that there would be a young audience for it, but I'd never had an example of it. So, yeah, TikTok really and Instagram really like it's very difficult for me to hate on the on the device that gives me so much creative freedom. Sure. And so much power. And power over my word is what I mean, essentially.

32:02Like, absolutely no one can, like, my thoughts are my own, and I can always deliver them to my audience exactly how I want to. Like, it's very, like, me unfiltered. And if you would have asked, you know, anyone in the industry five, six years ago if a project like mine would succeed or even resonate with a young audience, I'm sure most people would not bet on it. I don't know if I would have even bet on it. Like, yes, of course. And now it's easy to look back and think that. But the only reason I have a career is because I didn't go to a label or the industry. I didn't go to an industry and say, I have this idea.