
Feature Photo by Ben Houdijk Licensed from Shutterstock
Olivia Dean is a singer and songwriter from Highams Park in London, with roots in pop, R&B, soul, and neo-soul, and a career that began with years of training, persistence, and real work in front of audiences. She was born in 1999 in Haringey, London, to a Jamaican-Guyanese mother and an English father, and she grew up in a household where music was part of daily life. She attended the BRIT School in Croydon after being accepted at age fifteen, and later shifted her focus from musical theatre to songwriting, which became the center of her artistic path. She also has a family connection to music and entertainment through her cousin, Ashley Walters.
Her start in the business came fast once she began putting herself in situations where industry people could actually see her perform. She began writing songs at age sixteen, taught herself guitar and piano, and played street sets on the South Bank at age seventeen while trying to earn enough money for basic expenses. A performance at her high school graduation concert led to management with Emily Braham, and that relationship opened a major door when she auditioned for Rudimental and was hired as a backing vocalist. By 2017, she was already stepping onto large stages, including a performance at Sziget Festival in Hungary in front of a crowd listed at 16,000.
Dean’s earliest releases show how quickly her solo catalog was built. She self-released her debut single, “Reason to Stay,” in 2018, followed by “Password Change” in 2019, and she was also featured on Rudimental’s “Adrenaline” from the album Toast to Our Differences. After “Reason to Stay” reached millions of streams, she signed a recording contract with AMF Records and Virgin EMI Records. She released “OK Love You Bye” in 2019 along with her debut EP, OK Love You Bye, which was recorded in a converted pub in East London, and that same year she was featured by BBC Introducing London and performed at a BBC Introducing show at The Lexington in Islington.
The period from 2020 through 2021 shows her building an audience through releases, touring ideas, and high-visibility performances tied to the realities of that moment. During the COVID-19 lockdowns, she moved back in with her parents and focused on social media, while also working with Eg White on “Crosswords” and “What Am I Going To Do On Sundays.” Her second EP, What Am I Gonna Do On Sundays?, arrived in 2020, followed by the EP Growth in 2021. She also ran what she called the “From Me to You” tour in 2020, sponsored by Clarks, which traveled around the UK in a bright yellow truck and featured open-air performances. In 2021, she was named Breakthrough Artist of the Year by Amazon Music, and her recording of “The Christmas Song,” for Amazon’s Christmas Originals line-up, charted at number nineteen on the UK singles chart.
Her discography on the page lists two studio albums, two live albums, and five EPs, and the studio albums mark the point at which her career moved from a buildup to major industry recognition. Messy was released in 2023 and was nominated for the Mercury Prize. That year also included performances on major broadcast platforms, including her television debut, performing “Dive” on Later… with Jools Holland. In 2024, she performed at Glastonbury Festival, released the single “Time,” and later recorded a cover of “You Can’t Hurry Love” at Jools’ Annual Hootenanny, with “Touching Toes” released later that year. In 2025, she released “It Isn’t Perfect, But It Might Be” for the film Bridget Jones, Mad About the Boy, performed across all six dates of Laneway Festival, supported Sam Fender on selected dates of his tour, and collaborated with him on a duet version of “Rein Me In.”
Her second studio album, The Art of Loving, was released in September 2025, and the page frames it as the start of a career breakthrough driven by charting singles and a rapid jump in profile. The album’s listed singles include “Nice to Each Other,” “Lady Lady,” “So Easy (To Fall in Love),” “A Couple Minutes,” and “Man I Need,” and the page states that all of those singles charted, with “Man I Need,” reaching number one on the UK singles chart, number two on the Billboard Hot 100, and number four on the Billboard Global 200. The same page states she became the first female solo artist to simultaneously have four singles in the UK top ten. In November 2025 she appeared as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live, and she publicly challenged major ticketing companies over resales and scalping around The Art of Loving Live, with the page reporting that Ticketmaster and AXS capped resale prices and issued refunds after the controversy.
Complete List Of Olivia Dean Songs From A to Z
- A Couple Minutes – The Art of Loving – 2025
- Baby Come Home – Olivia Dean – 2020
- Baby Come Home (Live At The Jazz Cafe) – Live At The Jazz Cafe – 2021
- Baby Steps – The Art of Loving – 2025
- Be My Own Boyfriend – If You Know What I Mean – 2022
- Be My Own Boyfriend – Live At Eventim Apollo – 2024
- Be My Own Boyfriend (Live At The Jazz Cafe) – Live At The Jazz Cafe – 2021
- Carmen – Messy – 2023
- Carmen – Live At Eventim Apollo – 2024
- Close Up – The Art of Loving – 2025
- Cross My Mind – If You Know What I Mean – 2022
- Cross My Mind – Live At Eventim Apollo – 2024
- Cross My Mind (Live At The Jazz Cafe) – Live At The Jazz Cafe – 2021
- Crosswords – Olivia Dean – 2020
- Danger – Messy – 2023
- Danger – Live At Eventim Apollo – 2024
- Dangerously Easy – Messy – 2023
- Dangerously Easy – Live At Eventim Apollo – 2024
- Dive – Messy – 2023
- Dive – Live At Eventim Apollo – 2024
- Echo – If You Know What I Mean – 2022
- Echo – Live At Eventim Apollo – 2024
- Echo (Live At The Jazz Cafe) – Live At The Jazz Cafe – 2021
- Everybody’s Crazy – Messy – 2023
- Everybody’s Crazy – Live At Eventim Apollo – 2024
- Getting There (Interlude) – Messy – 2023
- Getting There / Ladies Room – Live At Eventim Apollo – 2024
- I Could Be a Florist – Messy – 2023
- I Could Be a Florist – Live At Eventim Apollo – 2024
- It Isn’t Perfect But It Might Be – Single – 2025
- I’ve Seen It – The Art of Loving – 2025
- Just for You – Single – 2019
- Ladies Room – Messy – 2023
- Lady Lady – The Art of Loving – 2025
- Let Alone the One You Love – The Art of Loving – 2025
- Loud – The Art of Loving – 2025
- Man I Need – The Art of Loving – 2025
- Merry Christmas Everyone – Single – 2020
- Messy – Messy – 2023
- Messy – Live At Eventim Apollo – 2024
- Millionaire – Live At Eventim Apollo – 2024
- Nice to Each Other – The Art of Loving – 2025
- No Man – Messy – 2023
- No Man – Live At Eventim Apollo – 2024
- Ok Love You Bye – Olivia Dean – 2020
- Ok Love You Bye – Live At Eventim Apollo – 2024
- Password Change – Olivia Dean – 2020
- Reason To Stay – Olivia Dean – 2020
- Reason To Stay – If You Know What I Mean – 2022
- Reason To Stay – Live At Eventim Apollo – 2024
- Reason To Stay (Live At The Jazz Cafe) – Live At The Jazz Cafe – 2021
- Rein Me In (with Sam Fender) – Single – 2025
- Slowly – If You Know What I Mean – 2022
- Slowly (Live At The Jazz Cafe) – Live At The Jazz Cafe – 2021
- So Easy (To Fall in Love) – The Art of Loving – 2025
- Something Inbetween – The Art of Loving – 2025
- The Art of Loving (Intro) – The Art of Loving – 2025
- The Christmas Song – Single – 2021
- The Dress (Dijon cover) – Single – 2025
- The Hardest Part – Olivia Dean – 2020
- The Hardest Part – If You Know What I Mean – 2022
- The Hardest Part – Messy – 2023
- The Hardest Part – Live At Eventim Apollo – 2024
- The Hardest Part (Live At The Jazz Cafe) – Live At The Jazz Cafe – 2021
- The Hardest Part (re-release with Leon Bridges) – Single – 2020
- Time – Single – 2024
- Touching Toes – Live At Eventim Apollo – 2024
- UFO – Messy – 2023
- UFO – Live At Eventim Apollo – 2024
- What Am I Gonna Do On Sundays? – Live At Eventim Apollo – 2024
- What Am I Gonna Do On Sundays? (Live At The Jazz Cafe) – Live At The Jazz Cafe – 2021
- Wish I Didn’t Miss You (Mahogany Sessions) – Single – 2022
- You Can’t Hurry Love (Live at Jools’ Annual Hootenanny with Jools Holland and his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra) – Single – 2024
Albums
Olivia Dean (2020): 6 songs
Live At The Jazz Cafe (2021): 8 songs
If You Know What I Mean (2022): 6 songs
Messy (2023): 12 songs
Live At Eventim Apollo (2024): 20 songs
The Art of Loving (2025): 12 songs
Non-album singles: 9 songs
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