by Mildred Europa Taylor, Face2FaceAfrica.com
In 2023, when Olivia Dean released her debut album Messy, it earned acclaim, peaking in the Top 5 of the UK charts. However, it didn’t make a splash internationally, including in the U.S. She continued to work hard to later emerge as Britain’s biggest new star, especially following her success at the recent Grammys in Los Angeles, where she won best new artist.
Dean is certainly experiencing a major, rapid rise in international popularity, which most contemporary British artists have not been able to. And this is largely thanks to her second album, The Art of Loving, which continues to make waves after it debuted at No 1 in the UK following its release in September 2025.
On Saturday, February 28, Dean was crowned as the UK’s new queen of pop, winning four awards at the U.K.’s leading music awards show — the Brit Awards.
Besides winning best British artist, the 26-year-old Londoner won best album for The Art of Loving, as well as song of the year for her collaboration with Fender, Rein Me In.
“This album is just about love and loving each other in a world that feels loveless,” said Dean, who also won best pop act. “I don’t know if I ever really thought I’d get one [a Brit award], but I did!” she further noted.
Dean performed a powerful rendition of her song Man I Need at the awards show. For the first time in its nearly 50-year history, the ceremony moved from London to Manchester in the North of England.
To further honor Dean, Manchester’s Deansgate train station was renamed Olivia Deansgate for the week. And to really celebrate the woman who is now widely considered one of the UK’s biggest breakouts in years, here are eight facts about Dean:
Comes from a family that loves music
Raised in Highams Park, east London, her parents introduced her to a variety of music, which would inspire her own work years later.
Her mother, Christine, enjoyed listening to artists like Scott, Erykah Badu and Angie Stone, according to a report by Nylon, which added that her father, who is English, liked King and Al Green. He was also a fan of reggae, per The New York Times.
“I don’t think I came from a super musical family, no one else sang or played,” Dean told The Rodeo in September 2020. “My dad would always be playing records [though], he has a really eclectic music taste.”
“One of my earliest memories is dancing with him in the kitchen and him playing me the stuff he listened to,” she added. “I found a love of music through his love of music, I think.”
Her middle name is a nod to Lauryn Hill
Born Olivia Lauryn Dean, her parents loved Lauryn Hill so much that it inspired them to give Dean the middle name Lauryn after the singer. “Mom loves Lauryn Hill,” she told BBC Sounds in September 2025. “I feel like I channel it a bit, the power of Lauryn Hill.”
Her mom is a lawyer who made history in Britain
Dean’s mother, who is of Jamaican-Guyanese heritage, is a lawyer who also became the first Black woman to become deputy leader of a British political party, the Women’s Equality Party, in 2020, according to The New York Times. Christine also began work as a human resources manager in London in 2017, per her LinkedIn.
She was in a gospel choir
When Dean was eight years old, she already knew she wanted to sing, so she joined a gospel choir and took singing lessons. That inspired the technical discipline she brings to her work today. By 15, she was accepted into the Brit school, the prestigious performing arts academy that Adele and Amy Winehouse, among others, also attended.
She began releasing music at the age of 19
Dean started releasing music in 2018 and built a solid fanbase on social media during the pandemic. She then released Messy, her debut album, in 2023, which was a success but didn’t make much impact like her next album.
Her sophomore album made history
The Art of Loving, released in September 2025, debuted at number one alongside its lead single Man I Need, making Dean the first British solo female artist to achieve such a double since Adele. The Art of Loving has also sold 430,000 copies in the UK alone, a huge figure for any artist.
She is a fan of bell hooks
Willem Ward, the Capitol A&R Dean worked with on The Art of Loving, said Dean, while writing The Art of Loving, “was reading books by [authors such as] bell hooks, which were quite informative for her.”
“One of the first things she said was, ‘Sometimes, the saying get outside of your comfort zone is confusing to me, because I really want to be in my comfort zone.’”
bell hooks chooses action over emotion when it comes to love, and Dean treats love the same way, inspiring her music releases.
The song Carmen honors her Guyanese grandmother
Dean told The Standard in July 2024 that her grandmother emigrated to the U.K. as part of the Windrush generation and gave birth to Christine when she was “quite young.”
“I’m a product of her bravery,” she said, per The Standard, when introducing the song “Carmen,” dedicated to her grandmother.
“So, this song is for my granny, for the Windrush generation, for any immigrant, anyone who’s brave enough to move,” Dean added.
Dean even wore her grandmother’s face on a top during her epic performance of Carmen at Glastonbury 2024.
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