Hot off her Coachella performance and A Matter of Time: The Final Hour deluxe edition release, Laufey, the Chinese-Icelandic genre-defying Grammy award winner, has revealed the music video for “Madwoman.” Framed through a dreamy 1960s bossa nova-inspired aesthetic, the video feels like more than just a visual flex. It is a deliberate gathering of Wasian talent across music, film, television, and sports, turning a buzzy release into a larger statement about visibility.
Directed by Warren Fu, “Madwoman” unfolds like a mod-era pool party fantasy, where bold colors, patterned fashion, and sun-soaked glamour set the stage for a distinctly stylish celebration of Wasian cool. The deliberate gathering of Wasian talent, meaning people of mixed white and Asian heritage, across music, film, television, and sports, turning a buzzy release into a larger statement about visibility.
That sensibility runs through a cast packed with mixed Asian talent across multiple corners of pop culture. Laufey anchors the video as its madwoman at the center, while Korean Canadian actor Hudson Williams plays the lychee martini-sipping heartthrob stirring up trouble by the pool. Chinese and Irish American actress Havana Rose Liu and Chinese American actress Chase Sui Wonders appear as part of the video’s magazine-cover fantasy, while Olympic gold medalist Alysa Liu, Chinese and Swedish American actress Lola Tung, and Singaporean and Chinese American KATSEYE member Megan Skiendiel help turn the ensemble into something bigger than stunt casting.
The details are what make the video feel especially intentional. “Madwoman” does not just gather Wasian stars on screen. It builds a whole visual language around them through poolside mahjong, stylized red snapper, roasted duck (or at least that’s what I saw in the video), egg tarts and steamed baskets, glossy tabloid spreads, and a retro palette that turns every frame into its own statement. In doing so, the video presents Wasian visibility as something glamorous, playful, and fully centered.
What stands out in these shots is the shift from the bright mod poolside aesthetic into something more intimate and melancholic. The warm amber lighting, reflective surfaces, close framing, and emphasis on longing between two people all echo the emotional language that people often associate with Wong Kar-wai, especially In the Mood for Love. The satin, qipao-adjacent styling on Laufey also adds to that feeling, giving the scene a more specifically East Asian visual texture than the pool party sequences.
What makes “Madwoman” land is that its Wasian framing never feels accidental or reduced to a wink. The casting, props, and styling all work together to create a world where mixed Asian identity is not treated as novelty, but as the aesthetic center of gravity.
From actors like Charles Melton and Maya Erskine to musicians like Mitski and Olivia Rodrigo, just to name a few, Wasian artists have been steadily shaping pop culture across multiple spaces. ‘Madwoman’ simply brings that presence into one carefully curated frame. In that sense, the video feels less like stunt casting than a stylish snapshot of a community increasingly taking up space across pop culture on its own terms.
In any case, “Madwoman” certainly has a shot at becoming part of this summer’s playlist rotation, especially for poolside vibes.