British singer-songwriter Olivia Dean has won her first Grammy Award for best new artist.
A first-time nominee, Dean took to a moment to champion immigrants in her thank you speech at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Sunday night, saying, “I want to say I’m up here as a granddaughter of an immigrant. I wouldn’t be here… I’m a product of bravery, and I think those people deserve to be celebrated. We are nothing without each other.”
Dean also thanked Emily Braham, her manager and best friend who she has worked with for 10 years, saying an artist is “really nothing without their team.”
The award was presented by Chappell Roan, who won in the same category at the 67th Grammy Awards in 2025.
Dean was named the Breakthrough Artist of the Year by Amazon Music in April of 2021, and was selected as BBC Music Introducing Artist of the Year in November of the same year. Dean is also a three time Brit Award nominee, and was the first female solo artist to simultaneously have four singles in the Top 10 of the UK singles chart. Other hit songs in her discography include “Nice to Each Other,” “Lady Lady,” “So Easy (To Fall in Love),” and “A Couple Minutes.”
Dean also recently spoke out against Live Nation, Ticketmaster and AEG over tickets being resold at inflated prices for shows on her upcoming tour, “Art of Loving Live.” Host Trevor Noah took a second to thank her for her actions in his opening monologue, adding a joke about Coldplay’s audience kiss cam scandal in 2025, saying, “If fans can’t afford tickets, we can’t have live music. And without concerts, how will we find out which CEOs are having affairs on the Jumbotron?”
Shortly before the award was announced, all eight Grammy best new artist nominees — Dean, Katseye, Lola Young, Addison Rae, Alex Warren, Leon Thomas, Sombr and the Marías — took to the stage for a series of back-to-back performances of their individual hits.
Dean delivered a lively rendition of “Man I Need,” her first top 10 song in the US charts and first number one single in the UK charts. Dancing and smiling in a sparkly red dress and gold shoes, Dean was accompanied by a seven-person instrumental band, as she serenaded the crowd with her soulful pop hit.
The special segment kicked off with the Marías performing “No One Noticed,” from their 2024 album “Submarine.” Dressed in a floor-length black dress and washed in blue light, lead singer María Zardoya sang as artists like Billie Eilish and Finneas swayed along to the music.
After a brief introduction by Noah, Rae performed “Fame Is A Gun” from her debut studio album, “Addison.” Starting off on the back of a white transportation van, Rae danced backstage in a sparkly purple trench coat with her backup dancers before taking it off to reveal a two-piece set in the same material.
Girl group Katseye then launched into an electric, synchronized performance of their hit, hyperpop song “Gnarly.” The six-person group ran onto the stage with the word “gnarly” and other visuals flashing on the screen behind them. Back-up dancers then made their way onto the stage for the group to perform the “Gnarly” dance break.
Next, Thomas performed “Mutt,” the lead single from his second studio album of the same name. Thomas swayed along to music as he played the guitar, delivering an energetic guitar solo towards the end of the performance, well received by the crowd who stood up to dance along to the song.
Warren walked through the crowd at the awards ceremony singing “Ordinary,” the lead single from his debut studio album, “You’ll Be Alright, Kid.” Warren briefly ran into a tempo issue after removing his earpiece but quickly got back on track. Toward the end of his performance, he stood atop a platform that rose slowly throughout the song.
Following Warren was Young on the piano, performing a stripped-down version of “Messy,” her first charting song, for which she is nominated tonight in the pop solo performance category. With a single spotlight illuminating the singer, Young let her powerful vocals take center stage for her performance.
Sombr descended from a floating stage to perform “12 to 12″ from his debut album “I Barely Know Her.” The singer was dressed in a reflective suit, with the jacket left open, as he brought singers like Tate McRae to their feet to dance. Sombr then got off the stage to weave through the crowd as he sang the chorus, taking a moment to interact with audience members.
Thomas is the only previous Grammy winner, with a best R&B song win in 2024 as a co-writer of SZA’s hit “Snooze.” He has six nominations this year — including album of the year for “Mutt” and four R&B nods — and one from 2019 for co-writing and co-producing Rick Ross’ hit with Drake, “Gold Roses.” Despite his extensive songwriting and production discography, he qualifies for a 2026 best new artist nominee based on his solo releases.
First-time Grammy nominees Katseye are also up for best pop duo/group performance (for “Gabriela”), and first-time nominee Young is also up for best pop solo performance (for “Messy”).
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source variety.com ’
