Olivia Dean lives for the drama. Not drama <\/em>in the parlance of reality TV or social media \u2014 the drama of moving through the world like you\u2019re the main character in a movie, of treating yourself like the object of romance you know you are. \u201cI really try to live my life that way. When I get ready in the morning, I\u2019m like, \u2018From this moment, I\u2019m going to play a \u201960s French soundtrack while I do my makeup,\u2019\u201d the British soul-pop singer says. \u201cAnd I\u2019ve decided recently: I\u2019m going to make heels an everyday thing. I\u2019ve left the trainers at home. I want to feel like that bitch all day.\u201d<\/p>\n The 26-year-old loves the little rituals of going out \u2014 putting on a cute dress, enjoying some cocktails, and having a dance at the bar. \u201cI\u2019m not really up in the club like that. I love dancing, but not in the club,\u201d she says. \u201cNot untz-untz<\/em>. You won\u2019t catch me at untz-untz<\/em>. It\u2019s more disco or salsa. I really want to learn to salsa dance.\u201d<\/p>\n We\u2019re chatting over glasses of champagne in Dean\u2019s hotel room at The London in West Hollywood, a month before her Saturday Night Live <\/em>debut<\/a> and a few weeks before she\u2019ll receive her first Grammy nomination<\/a>, for Best New Artist. Reclining on a cream sectional \u2014 still in her elaphe-printed leather Jimmy Choo \u201cBow\u201d heels \u2014 Dean is giddy, clearly excited by her good fortune and also a little drained from the time-zone-crossing work such fortune demands: It\u2019s 6 p.m. when we meet \u2014 2 a.m. back home in London.<\/p>\n Dean tells me she could never live in LA \u2014 its car culture is too isolating. \u201cIt\u2019s very A to B,\u201d she says. \u201cI like the middle. What\u2019s going to happen on the way? Who am I going to bump into?\u201d (She\u2019s the kind of artist you can envision walking down the street as flash mobs break out behind her and small animals flock to her.) Also: Nobody really dances in LA anymore. \u201cI\u2019ve noticed it very severely when I\u2019ve been here,\u201d she says. \u201cLike, \u2018Woah, guys, is anyone having fun? You know you\u2019re allowed to have fun!\u2019 There\u2019s such a culture of being observed here, and I can\u2019t live my life that way. I think that people need to release themselves. Release yourself from the idea that somebody might find you cringe. F*ck them! Be cringe, and be free!\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s perhaps no heroine in pop easier to root for right now than Dean, a heart-on-her-sleeve songwriter who documents love and heartbreak with the intentional, warm gaze of a Polaroid camera at a party. With her second album, The Art of Loving<\/em>, the rising star has become the darling of the music industry on both sides of the Atlantic. Here in the States, her joyous breakout hit, \u201cMan I Need,\u201d<\/a> which makes a strong case for knowing how you want to be loved and asking for it, became her first Billboard Hot 100 entry and preceded a string of dates opening for Sabrina Carpenter<\/a>. In her homeland, she became the first female solo artist to simultaneously have four singles in the U.K. singles chart\u2019s Top 10. \u201cI know that so many songs are written about love,\u201d Dean says, \u201cbut I think it\u2019s the most important thing in the world, so we must keep digging on the topic.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI like intensity in all areas of my life. I\u2019m not a very nonchalant person. I don\u2019t do things by half.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u201cMan I Need\u201d has been especially inescapable on TikTok \u2014 proof that internet virality and nourishing songcraft aren\u2019t mutually exclusive, and that there\u2019s no one way to the top in our algorithm-driven culture. \u201cI remember making a very conscious decision with my managers to not think about numbers or money or trophies or any of that, and to only write with artists that I could say I was a fan of,\u201d says Grammy-winning songwriter-producer Tobias Jesso Jr., who co-wrote \u201cMan I Need\u201d and the album track \u201cSomething Inbetween.\u201d<\/a> \u201cOlivia had been writing great songs long before she met me, because she knows exactly who she is, and it radiates into her music in a beautiful way. I love working with artists like her, who have very strong opinions, because I believe that\u2019s where the soul of any given song comes from \u2014 an artist\u2019s ability to know themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n To Dean, this is the best way to make it in today\u2019s pop landscape. \u201cIt\u2019s really exciting right now. It\u2019s moving in a way that people are more individuals. I personally don\u2019t feel any competition whatsoever or any comparative nature with any of my peers in that way,\u201d she says. \u201cThe women are just absolutely dominating music in general right now, which is amazing.\u201d That includes acts like RAYE<\/a> and Lola Young<\/a> who, alongside Dean, make up a wave of soulful truth-tellers arriving from across the pond to push pop to bolder places. \u201cI think that maybe the British thing is happening because there\u2019s a storytelling and an honesty that is inherently British,\u201d Dean says. \u201cI don\u2019t know \u2014 maybe I\u2019m chatting out my arse.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShe writes like she\u2019s sitting across from you and that pulls me into her immediately,\u201d says Ravyn Lenae<\/a>, who also opened for Carpenter this year (and whose hit \u201cLove Me Not\u201d<\/a> Dean recently covered live<\/a>). \u201cHer melodies feel timeless but her perspective is so fresh. There\u2019s a softness and a real humanity in her work.\u201d<\/p>\n For Dean, pouring her personal life into her songs is a non-negotiable. \u201cI would never write a song if it wasn\u2019t something that actually happened to me,\u201d she says. Recently, someone challenged her on this: Isn\u2019t a beloved classic like The Beatles\u2019 \u201cEleanor Rigby\u201d<\/a> proof that purely fictional stories can make for great music? She laughs recalling her reaction: \u201cThat\u2019s great for The Beatles. That\u2019s not why I do it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI do it for the feeling of the documentary-ness of it,\u201d she continues. \u201cI do it so that I can listen back to it in 10 years and be like, \u2018OK, that was about that breakup.\u2019 \u2018That was about that time in my life.\u2019 That\u2019s <\/em>interesting to me.\u201d<\/p>\n Dean\u2019s interest in matters of the heart<\/strong> has led many fans and critics to describe her music as feeling like a rom-com \u2014 a comparison Dean herself doesn\u2019t quite see. \u201cThat\u2019s not something that was on the mood board for me,\u201d Dean says, admitting it\u2019s not her favorite genre. (Though she makes an exception for Love Actually<\/em>: \u201cThat <\/em>is a flawless film.\u201d)<\/p>\n She really likes zombie films instead. Dean, it turns out, is a little bit of a closet geek. The singer is obsessed with her PS4 and playing The Sims<\/em>. \u201cI game,\u201d she says proudly. Off stage, she enjoys yoga, cooking, knitting, nesting at home \u2014 the kind of hobbies she and I jokingly call \u201cgrandma activities.\u201d<\/p>\n Finding the essence of home has become a key part of her creative process. Dean made her first album, 2023\u2019s Messy<\/em>, the modern way, hopping from studio to studio as she pieced together a body of work. Though that project captured her range and poetic writing style well, in Dean\u2019s eyes, the studio shuffle is not a very romantic way of making music \u2014 dealing with \u201cother people\u2019s mugs where they make their tea, other people\u2019s toilets where you\u2019re having a bathroom break.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe put a lot of focus on romantic love. It takes up a lot of headspace that could be shared in the rest of life.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n So for The Art of Loving<\/em>, she took a different approach. Last year, she moved into a grand house in East London and transformed it into the live-work studio of her dreams<\/a> for eight weeks. She brought her guitar and piano from her home and filled the place with loads of plants, flowers, and her favorite books \u2014 she is never far from bell hooks\u2019 1999 classic, All About Love<\/em>. (Dean says she came up with her album title after seeing an art exhibition at The Broad in LA from the painter Mickalene Thomas, also called All About Love<\/em>, that responded to the themes of hooks\u2019 work.)<\/p>\n \u201cWe wrote the album in the spring, so just lots of nature around, bird noises. The door was open,\u201d Dean says, beaming. \u201cIt was the best place I\u2019ve ever made music in because it was mine<\/em>. It was ours. At its core, it felt like having people over. I\u2019ve never made music in that way before. I\u2019m always the person coming over.\u201d<\/p>\n She relished her newfound autonomy over the sessions. \u201cI\u2019m waking up, and I\u2019m setting the tone of the room,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m going to burn the incense, and when people arrive, I\u2019m already there. I\u2019ve pulled up what I want the reference to be for the day.\u201d (What incense was she burning? \u201cAttracts money <\/em>\u2014 that was the scent,\u201d she says, laughing. \u201cBeen burning that. Been <\/em>burning that!\u201d) And there\u2019s no going back: \u201cIt has to be that way now. But I think that\u2019s a privilege. I\u2019m very aware that that was not a possibility for me when I first started making music.\u201d<\/p>\n To her listeners, this resolve and clarity of vision are palpable in Dean\u2019s work. \u201cPeople connect to Olivia\u2019s sincerity,\u201d Lenae says. \u201cShe shows up as fully herself, vibrant, grounded, and relatable. That honesty comes through in her voice and in the way she carries her stories. I think it\u2019s so special when a woman of color succeeds in staying true to her path while honoring her musical roots with so much grace.\u201d And to her collaborators, it\u2019s what makes her an ideal creative partner: \u201cIt\u2019s always been a great experience with Olivia because she\u2019s secure in her taste, so nothing is taken too personally, and we can just get down to business finding the best ideas and the best way to convey them,\u201d Jesso Jr. says. \u201cIt never feels rushed, and it\u2019s always rooted in truth… It\u2019s my favorite style of writing.\u201d<\/p>\n In the new studio, Dean had a lot to get off her chest \u2014 she\u2019d been going through some heartbreak. \u201cI call it the bin fire year,\u201d she says. \u201cThat\u2019s what last year felt like for me.\u201d She jokes that she could have called the album The Art of \u201cDamn, I Got My Sh*t Rocked.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m just trying to have a good time \u2014 allowing you <\/i>to also have a good time and not worry about what you don\u2019t like.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Dean wrote the songs in more or less the order they appear on the track list, processing her experience in real time. \u201cSome of the songs I haven\u2019t sung live yet or haven\u2019t even sat with myself for too long. I like that. I think it\u2019s exciting,\u201d she says. \u201cI like intensity in all areas of my life. I\u2019m not a very nonchalant person. I don\u2019t do things by half. I enjoy the intensity of having just written something three months ago [and not having] a chance to even overthink it.\u201d It was important for her to cover the full emotional spectrum: \u201cIt can\u2019t just be all happy, \u2018Ooh, come be the man I need!\u2019\u201d she says. \u201cSometimes it\u2019s, \u2018Oh wow, you didn\u2019t want to fall in love with me \u2014 that hurt.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n By the time Dean was nearly done, she had 10 songs, but she believes 12 is the magic number of tracks. So she thought long and hard: \u201cWhere are we going to leave this with you, girl? What\u2019s the end of the story?\u201d<\/p>\n The penultimate song, \u201cA Couple Minutes,\u201d<\/a> imagines a brief encounter with an ex that allows for closure and, ultimately, acceptance. \u201cWhen they say loving someone is kind of letting them go, I do really believe in that sometimes,\u201d she says. \u201cWanting them to shine, and just achieve everything that they want with their life, whether that includes you or not.\u201d<\/p>\n But on the closing track, \u201cI\u2019ve Seen It,\u201d<\/a> which you can imagine playing at every cool girl\u2019s wedding for years to come, Dean zooms out, taking stock of all the ways her life is already full, from her parents to the besties she shouts out by name: Eleanor, Rosie, Louise.<\/p>\n \u201cI cried in the studio when I wrote \u2018I\u2019ve Seen It.\u2019 And when I played it to my friends, they cried \u2014 and that is the most consistent place for love in my life,\u201d Dean says. \u201cWe put a lot of focus on romantic love sometimes. It takes up a lot of headspace that I think could be shared in the rest of life.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m really into Snoopy at the moment,\u201d<\/strong> Dean says. We\u2019re now sitting in the dark \u2014 the almost-winter sun has already set \u2014 talking about the music she\u2019s into at the moment. \u201cI\u2019m collecting Snoopy memorabilia, and I\u2019m into the feeling<\/em> of Snoopy. Like Snoopycore<\/a>.\u201d She doesn\u2019t just mean the classic Vince Guaraldi soundtracks; she also has a playlist inspired by what she thinks the sweet anthropomorphic dog would listen to, like the work of late jazz legend Wes Montgomery. \u201cThat\u2019s what the inside of my brain sounds like.\u201d<\/p>\n Dean grew up in north London in a music-filled household. Her English father introduced her to Al Green and Carole King, while her Jamaican-Guyanese mother raised her on artists like Erykah Badu, Jill Scott and Angie Stone \u2014 Dean\u2019s middle name, Lauryn, is a nod to the <\/em>Lauryn Hill. She is a certified neo-soul baby.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m a bubble of peace and serenity. I\u2019m not on TikTok, I\u2019m playing The Sims <\/em>\u2014 you can\u2019t get to me.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n As a kid, Dean performed in a gospel choir and took musical theatre lessons before enrolling in The Brit School, a famous performing arts academy that counts Amy Winehouse, Adele, FKA Twigs, and RAYE among its former students. (In a recent interview with NYLON<\/a>, RAYE called The Art of Loving<\/i> one of her favorite albums of the year and gushed over her former classmate: \u201cShe\u2019s a great artist with a great voice who writes great songs \u2014 warm songs, and we can all use a little bit of music warmth, I think.\u201d) Dean quietly got her break there at the age of 16, when Emily Braham, then a manager for the U.K. electronic act Rudimental, gifted the school some tickets to the group\u2019s show. In exchange, the school invited her to a showcase of some of its brightest students, including Dean. \u201cThere was just something <\/em>\u2014 and I didn\u2019t know what it was at the time, but I was texting the school during the song like, \u2018I need to meet this girl,\u2019\u201d recalls Braham, now Dean\u2019s manager, as she joins us in the hotel room.<\/p>\n Dean almost missed getting discovered, however. \u201cI just happened to be walking past reception one day, and they were like, \u2018Olivia, somebody\u2019s trying to get in touch with you. Check your emails!\u2019\u201d Dean says with a laugh. \u201cAnd I was like, \u2018I don\u2019t even send <\/em>an email.\u2019\u201d She and Braham met for coffee, where they ironed out the foundation of their partnership: \u201cI don\u2019t work for you, you don\u2019t work for me,\u201d Braham says. \u201cEverybody around is as important as each other in pushing you forward.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cVery important,\u201d Dean says. \u201cWe\u2019re all cogs in the big wheel.\u201d<\/p>\n Back then, Dean had a small list of goals: release an album; perform with U.K. late-night host Jools Holland; and play Glastonbury. By 2023, she achieved all three. Now, fresh off her opening stint for Carpenter (which included five nights at Madison Square Garden), she\u2019s getting ready for her own headlining arena tour across North America, Europe, and Down Under next year. (Dean\u2019s tour is so hot-selling, in fact, that she successfully called on Ticketmaster<\/a> last month to cap her tour\u2019s resale tickets at face value in the fight to keep \u201clive music affordable and accessible.\u201d<\/a>)<\/p>\n \u201cTo see the work that goes into putting on a show like that, the precision and the amount of people that it takes, is really inspiring to me,\u201d Dean says of watching Carpenter. \u201cI\u2019ve never played venues that big before. To be able to support her and warm the crowd up and just play before going into my own tour is the most invaluable experience.\u201d<\/p>\n It got her thinking about what she wants her own shows to feel like. One thing she doesn\u2019t <\/em>want? For anything to feel too polished, \u201cwhere you start kind of wearing the same thing for every show,\u201d she says. \u201cI love pulling stuff, vintage or not even \u2014 just for every show to have its own specific look. I love the idea of me coming out and it\u2019s like, what are we getting tonight? <\/em>Let me give you your money\u2019s worth! \u2018This is your look, Denver!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n This is great news not only for fans, but for the fashion world. Dean knows how to turn a look: On the U.K. festival circuit last year, she wore custom looks from Chopova Lowena (Glastonbury) and Miu Miu (Love Supreme Festival). While supporting Carpenter this fall, she rocked stunning Rodarte and Clio Peppiatt gowns pulled from the runways. Dean, who\u2019s also the face of Burberry\u2019s Her fragrance<\/a>, credits her stylist of several years, Simone Beyene<\/a>, with giving her a fashion education.<\/p>\n \u201cI had no understanding of the fashion space and designers, and I\u2019d never worn a heel before I met Simone,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s like she\u2019s opened up a whole new way for me to express myself. And we just play.\u201d Before, Dean adds, \u201cI used to come to the fitting and be like, \u2018Oh God, I can\u2019t wear that.\u2019 And now it\u2019s like, \u2018Can <\/em>I wear that?\u2019 I love the challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/imgix.bustle.com\/uploads\/image\/2025\/11\/24\/c1855961\/leeorwild-nylon-oliviadean-5.jpg?w=375&h=469&fit=crop&crop=faces&dpr=2\")
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