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Olivia Dean, the new bewitching voice of soul nominated at the Grammy Awards
Young British musician Olivia Dean unveiled her second studio album, The Art of Loving, on September 26th, 2025. An intimate and delicate record balancing soul and pop that confirms all the hopes raised by her critically-acclaimed record Messy (2023). She has just received her first nomination in the category “Best New Artist” at the 2026 Grammy Awards.
Published on 14 October 2025. Updated on 12 November 2025.
Singer Olivia Dean is making her big comeback
How can one breathe new life into old-school music without embalming it and falling into caricature, while achieving that fragile sense of distance? It is a way of being perfectly in place and at the same time slightly off-balance. And it seems that the young British singer has mastered this delicate mix. Olivia Dean stands with effortless grace — an elegance that doesn’t seek to seduce but rather asserts itself naturally. Her tall silhouette isn’t frozen in any specific attitude.
Her wide, attentive eyes seem to weigh each moment of silence before she dares to surrender to the long-awaited confidences of our interview. And when she smiles, a spark lights up her fine features. There is actually something disarmingly discordant about her – a touch of mischief that doesn’t quite match the depth she plants in her songs.
The Art of Loving, an even deeper second record
In The Art of Loving, her second studio album released on September 26th, 2025, the 26-year-old artist seems to have found a delicate balance, that fine line between soul tradition and pop elation, tinged with poise and tremor. With deliberate subtlety, she delves into love in all its forms from romantic to friendly and deeply intimate. She is in the right place… and just slightly off-centre. The record doesn’t try to reinvent the codes of British soul with predictable refrains. Instead, the young Britton opts for a refined harmonic interplay, a layering game which unveils a richer musical material than melody alone.
Here, rhythm breathes too. It is sometimes syncopated like a bossa nova, or disarmingly simple. But do we really need more? With the track Nice to Each Other (2025), she embraces the art of controlled lightness – the groove is gentle, the structure accessible, her voice is clear and warm, while her carefully measured silences carry the subtle weight of what is left unsaid. Olivia Dean has just been nominated for the first time in the category for “Best New Artist” at the 2026 Grammy Awards.
Following in the footsteps of the great soul voices
The care she brings to the composition and songwriting is no coincidence. Olivia Dean explains that she built this album in a unique place – a studio set up in a house in East London. “No music had ever been made there before. We found a house and I lived in it for eight weeks… I needed to focus to imagine stories that felt honest and warm.” Her music is now more precise, more playful, more spontaneous.
Rejecting fiction, she crafts songs grounded in reality. Her pieces sound like small portions of life. “I sometimes feel like my innocence has been stolen from me. So I try to reclaim it through new forms of art, like drawing for instance. My music speaks… about me. My identity and personal stories remain the common thread of this record.”
Born in 1999 in the London borough of Haringey to a British father and a Jamaican-Guyanese mother, Olivia Dean grew up in Walthamstow, surrounded by gospel music, a gentle kind of solitude, and the influences of Lauryn Hill, Amy Winehouse, Carole King, and The Supremes. “I lived near a forest and a big lake. I could cycle around and wander everywhere. Let’s just say I had a happy childhood, even if I was, for a long time, the only mixed-race girl in my class… It’s only much later that I realised it hadn’t been as easy as I thought.”
A breakthrough driven by the song OK Love You Bye
Her confident demeanour still hides a shy girl. That duality between open vulnerability and mastery of her art might explain her magnetism. She has a way of taking up space, which neither flamboyant nor quite, but a clear, whole presence that seems to say “here I am” and “see for yourself” all at once. Her authenticity has, in fact, been the key to her success.
The former singer of the drum and bass band Rudimental stepped into the spotlight solo thanks to her single OK Love You Bye in 2021. Soon after, Amazon Music named her Breakthrough Artist of the Year, launching a global, personalised, long-term plan to support her career, including prime playlist placements and backing for live-streamed performances.
Two years later, Olivia Dean was selected as BBC Music Introducing Artist of the Year and nominated for the Mercury Prize for her debut album Messy, which mapped the contours of her musical sensibility, blending soul, jazz, pop, and narrative touches rooted in her heritage. Yet, she refuses to be put in a box: “Lazy comparisons annoy me. When people talk about me, they always mention Jorja Smith, Celeste or Joy Crookes… As if they were listening to music with their eyes.”
A concert at the Paris Accor Arena
On stage, Olivia Dean is a far cry from the shy figure she may mirror during interviews. At the Glastonbury or Lollapalooza festivals for instance, she commanded a magnetic presence. A voice that seemed to directly exchange with the audience without ever raising the tone. Each song became a dialogue, a moment of shared intimacy with the crowd. She didn’t seek entertainment, but balance through a precise, porous music. Beyond the stage and the studio, her public image is also taking shape. As a new friend of the house of Chanel, Olivia Dean embodies a type of elegance that never feels fake, but instead flows from an inner coherence.
It is also a form of strategic glamour that has become vital in the industry… An artist who naturally shines, and whose moves have finally started to attract the attention of the press. Olivia Dean was spared the turbulence of fame up, up until her name was all of the sudden linked to a rumoured romance with Harry Styles. Rather than fuelling the noise, the singer calmly dismissed it, reminding everyone that she has “no need to be in a relationship to exist.” A disarmingly straightforward answer that only confirms what we already knew about her. In an age thirsty for gossip and scandal, her lucidity and restraint offer another form of strength – that of an art nourished not by noise, but by deliberate silence.
And it is this woman who is back to France as part of her world tour to unveil The Art of Loving. She will be performing at the Accor Arena in Paris on June 17th, 2026. From performing in intimate clubs in front of seventy people to the largest venues, she is breathing new life into old-school music.
Interview with singer Olivia Dean
Numéro: As a teenager, what could you see from your bedroom window? Olivia Dean: I wasn’t expecting that question… I didn’t grow up in central London but around East London. I lived near a forest and a big lake. I could ride my bike and wander everywhere. Let’s just say I had a happy childhood, even if I was the only mixed-race girl in my class for a long time… It’s only much later in life that I realised it hadn’t been as easy as I thought. Actually, I’m about to go back there. I’ve been living in South London for the past five or six years, but I feel the need to be close to my family again.
What piece of advice would you give to the 16-year-old Olivia Dean? I would tell her to not hesitate to do what she really loves. To start yoga much earlier. And to stop straightening her hair because she might really damage it!
“I sometimes feel like my innocence has been taken away from me. I try to rediscover it through new art forms.” – Olivia Dean
Do some questions from journalists annoy you? Yes, sometimes. “Who’s your favourite artist?” or “What are your influences?” for example. I understand they’re important questions, but I’ve already answered them hundreds of times. People also ask me if I want to follow in my mother’s footsteps, since she had political responsibilities… Well, no. I just want to be a singer. [Laughs.]
“If I hadn’t been a musician, I would have liked to be an English teacher, a dog sitter, or a florist.” – Olivia Dean
Do you ever worried about your songwriting going in circles one day? Not really. When I titled my album Messy, I wanted precisely to explore different musical genres. My next record could just as easily be a collection of disco tracks or simple guitar-and-voice songs. I think what I really fear is the day I will stop having fun. When I will no longer feel anything while I sing. Sometimes artists lose themselves a little, and their passion for songwriting fades away. It’s a kind of breakup. Before I signed with a label, I was simply writing songs at home for my own pleasure, without ever imagining that people might actually listen to them.
And today? I still have that little voice in my head whispering that what I create will be broadcast, shared, and heard. I sometimes feel like my innocence has been taken away from me. So I try to rediscover it through new forms of art, like drawing, for instance. It’s such a joy to focus solely on the creative process rather than the final result. With music, I can’t quite do that anymore. But don’t worry, I’m not complaining at all!
Yet, it is not a drawing, but a photograph that appears on the cover of your first album. A portrait of you actually. You’re politely asking why I wanted to put my big head on the cover, right? [Laughs.] My music speaks… about me. My identity and my personal stories remain the common thread running through that first record. Maybe my great-great-grandchildren will know what I felt when I was just 23. So, a photo of me at 23 felt right. Nothing abstract. Also, I think I just really liked that photo of me. [Laughs.]
What images come to mind when you create new songs? I love cinema and photography, but that’s something I tend to connect with music afterwards. I’d say I hold on to the lyrics. Words inspire me more than visuals. Maybe one day I’ll write a novel, or even a collection of poetry. You know, if I hadn’t been a musician, I would have wanted to be an English teacher, a dog siiter, or a florist.
A florist? Music can sometimes feel rather self-indulgent. You sit behind a piano talking about yourself and your troubles. It’s a bit “me, myself and I.” I really love the idea of a job that lets you be surrounded by beautiful things — flowers, in this case — and meet strangers for whom you create bouquets to mark the most important moments of their lives. Then, when you go home at night, you’re not haunted by your flowers. At least, I don’t think so. In my mind, it sounds like quite a peaceful job.
“I’m a former shy girl.” – Olivia Dean
Are you very emotional? Not really. Let’s just say I cry in private, rarely in front of people. I’m a former shy girl. When I told my mother I wanted to be a singer, she replied, “What? But you’re so shy…” I eventually took singing lessons and discovered musicals. During my first performance, I had to sing with my back to the audience because I was crying too much… For a long time, I actually preferred singing other people’s stories and rarely my own music.
So, it’s over now, you’re not afraid of anything anymore? Oh, I still am… of wasps and butterflies. [Laughs.]
What is the most beautiful song you have ever written? That’s funny, I’ve never really thought about it. Maybe Slowly, a song I wrote when I was just sixteen. It really captures my vulnerability. Unless… I might change my mind. To me, Carmen is the most accomplished one. Not long ago, I found myself in a rather surreal situation…
Can you explain it to us? I played with Raphael Saadiq in Los Angeles. He had a meeting with D’Angelo, and I got the chance to participate in a small studio session, but I was incredibly nervous. It’s hard to be creative when you’re intimidated by another artist. You freeze and are not able to speak up. And in the studio, out of ten ideas you put forward, nine will be terrible. Still, you have to go through those awkward moments to get to the really good idea that might, just maybe, become a great song.
The Art of Loving (2025) by Olivia Dean, available now. Live performance at the Paris Accor Arena on June 17th, 2026.
