Olivia Dean: 'I Know My Worth And How I Deserve To Be Loved'
Olivia Dean was in Bangkok when she realised her life had changed. 'We did a show there in February and went to a bar afterwards,' says the singer, leaning towards me from the other side of the table, eyes excitable and in storytelling mode. 'And the band was playing my track 'Dive'. I was like, 'No way! This is crazy. I'm in a bar in Bangkok and they're doing a cover of my song.'' Did they do a good job? A grin stretches slowly across her face as she leans back. 'They did a great job.' Lulu McArdle
Jumper, £1,950, skirt, £6,090, and flower brooch, £790, all ALAÏA. Heels, £725, JIMMY CHOO. Yellow gold and diamond earrings, £12,700, and white gold and diamond ring, £14,600, both CARTIER
Full of humility, Dean may not be the first to admit that her life changed a while before that. The Brit School graduate has been on a victory lap ever since the release of her debut EP Ok Love You Bye , which was recorded in a converted east-London pub and almost immediately amassed millions of streams, earning her a deal with EMI Records. That was in 2019. Since then, Dean has played a sold-out European tour, garnered more than 12.5 million monthly Spotify listeners, and released her debut album Messy , which was nominated for the Mercury Prize. Lulu McArdle
Dress, £2,150, and wedges, £790, both FENDI. Yellow gold and diamond earrings, £12,700, white gold and diamond ring, £14,600, and gold and diamond ring, £5,750, all CARTIER
Last year there was also Glastonbury, where Dean fulfilled a childhood dream by playing a critically lauded set on the Pyramid Stage in a custom Chopova Lowena dress with a photograph of her grandmother Carmen stitched onto the front. 'That was huge,' she says, telling me that most fans mention it when they bump into her. 'They'll say they came to Glastonbury and cried. I'm like, 'Me too!'' She loved it so much, she returned to the festival this year to play a secret set.
In person, dressed in a pair of COS trousers and a black cardigan with her hair tucked into the collar, Dean emanates an effortless star quality. Guarded though she is at times, there's a warm familiarity to her; sentences are often prefaced with 'girl', and the eye contact is constant. Lulu McArdle
Dress, £2,325, PROENZA SCHOULER, shoes, £825 LOEWE, white gold and diamond ring, £14,600, yelllow gold and diamonds, £5,750 both CARTIER
We're meeting on the set of her ELLE shoot during a pause for lunch. Stationed in a courtyard within an industrial east-London home, where a black cat peruses the premises, we delve into the details surrounding The Art of Loving , Dean's highly anticipated second album, set to be released this September. The first single 'Nice to Each Other' has already clocked up 27 million downloads.
Fans won't be disappointed. All the key Dean beats are there: relatable observations about the nuances of romance, empowering subversions of power dynamics ('She's the man' is the refrain in 'Lady Lady'); and those languid vocals that slip and slide like melting ice-cream. Lulu McArdle
Dress, £860, 16 ARLINGTON, shoes, £725, JIMMY CHOO, yellow gold and diamond earrings £12,700, white gold and diamond ring, £14,600, both CARTIER
The album was inspired by an exhibition Dean visited in LA by the artist Mickalene Thomas, titled 'All About Love' in homage to bell hooks' book of the same name. 'That book is like the Bible,' gushes Dean. 'Love is something that can feel quite mystical. It's this thing we all crave but aren't properly taught how to do. Why don't we have a module at school? So the album was just me zooming into that and looking at the last two years of my life and everything I've learnt until now.'
Integral to Dean's success is the vulnerability in her lyrics; fans connect to her meditations on break-ups and the importance of self-love. Tap through TikTok and there are hundreds of videos of them screeching the words 'I don't want a boyfriend!' during performances of 'Nice to Each Other'. 'It's crazy,' she says, laughing. 'I wasn't trying to egg that on. I guess it's a refreshing thing to say out loud. I'm very comfortable by myself and don't feel like I need to be in a relationship to survive; it should be additional, as opposed to filling an absence.' Lulu McArdle
Dress, price on request, ALBERTA FERRETTI. Yellow gold and diamond earrings, £12,700, and white gold and diamond ring (just seen), £14,600, both CARTIER. Heels, £690, GIANVITO ROSSI
It's clear she knows what she's doing. 'I've become quite protective,' she says, in between mouthfuls of prawn salad. 'It's a really beautiful skill to love openly and easily, but sometimes it can get you into trouble.' She pauses. 'I don't take any shit from people. Definitely not as much as I would have done when I was younger. I know my worth and how I deserve to be loved. I have no time for bullshit.' Lulu McArdle
Top, £1,300, skirt, £1,100, shoes, £790, all FENDI. white gold and diamond ring £14,600,yellow gold and diamond ring, £5,750, yellow gold and diamond earrings £6,450, all CARTIER
Growing up in north-east London, Dean wasn't always so self-assured. While singing was something she loved from a young age, stage fright held her back. 'I was a shy child,' she says. 'Performing wasn't something that came naturally. It took a lot of practice.' Reframing nerves as excitement helped, as did her training at The Brit School, where she met her band as well as her closest friends, one of whom she now lives with in south-east London. 'They teach you how to coil a cable. It's that level of etiquette – learning how to be a good band member as well as honing and practising your craft,' she says of her time at the school. Lulu McArdle
Jumper, £1,950, skirt, £6,090, and flower brooch, £790, all ALAÏA. Heels, £725, JIMMY CHOO. Yellow gold and diamond earrings, £12,700, and white gold and diamond ring, £14,600, both CARTIER
It was at her graduation concert that she caught the eye of Emily Braham, who became her manager and still works with the singer today as part of an all-female team. 'I try to work with as many women as possible because I feel comfortable in that space,' Dean says. 'I love men, obviously. I don't think feminism means hating men at all. It's easy to say, 'Men are trash' but I don't think that's productive. Feminism to me is about being equal – and I've always felt completely equal to men.' She credits her ideologies to her mother Christine, who is of Jamaican and Guyanese descent and served as the first Black deputy leader of the Women's Equality Party: 'She's really powerful.' Lulu McArdle
Dress, £2,325, PROENZA SCHOULER, shoes, £825 LOEWE, white gold and diamond ring, £14,600, yelllow gold and diamonds, £5,750 both CARTIER
Dean agrees that it feels like a major moment for women in music, thanks to stars including Charli xcx, Raye and Sabrina Carpenter, whom Dean supported at BST Hyde Park in July. Right now, she's listening to a lot of CMAT, Solange and Ravyn Lenae. Does music play a more important role in these increasingly volatile times? 'I mean, it's escape,' Dean says thoughtfully. 'It is for me, anyway. I always think about why I do music. Sometimes I'm like, wow, I could've done something else.' Like what? 'Yoga teacher. Florist. Something a little less front-facing.' Lulu McArdle
Jacket, around £4,725, skirt, around £3,005, and boots, around £1,195, all GIVENCHY BY SARAH BURTON. White gold and diamond ring, £14,600, CARTIER
Fame is something Dean is still getting used to. Mostly, her interactions with fans are lovely. 'But sometimes I'd like to be anonymous,' she says, citing a time when someone filmed her running for the bus. She recently got her driver's license and has started driving everywhere, including to the set today. 'I used to be on the Tube saying all my personal business.' She laughs, holding her phone up to mimic sending a voice note. 'I'd be like, 'Sis, so basically, he said that…' Then I realised I probably shouldn't be doing that.' Lulu McArdle
Dress, £860, 16 ARLINGTON, yellow gold and diamond earrings, £12,700, white gold and diamond ring, £14,600, both CARTIER
Dean is fun to chat with. We laugh a lot over the course of our conversation, covering crochet (it's how she unwinds), dancing (her friends bought her a Britney-themed class for her birthday), meditation ('I should do it more') and the ideal partner: 'I quite like sincerity,' says Dean. 'But I also need somebody who can take the piss out of themselves.' Lulu McArdle
Top, £1,300, skirt, £1,100, shoes, £790, all FENDI. white gold and diamond ring £14,600,yellow gold and diamond ring, £5,750, yellow gold and diamond earrings £6,450, all CARTIER
There are questions about my outfit Dean has worked with Chanel and admits she 'caught the fashion bug' after meeting her stylist Simone Beyene. 'I think clothes are so fun,' she says, mentioning Rejina Pyo, Peachy Den and 16Arlington among her favourite brands. 'It's glamour for me on stage. But when I'm not working, I don't wear a lot of designer stuff. I live in these trousers,' she says, tugging at the slacks that she says she has in five other colours.
When we speak, Dean has a summer of US shows ahead. Will she be able to go on holiday? 'No,' she says, shaking her head, referencing album prep and music-video shoots. She will, however, have time for some reading; she's just started Little Weirds by Jenny Slate. 'My friend who bought it told me the narrator talks about seeing magic everywhere and said it reminded her of how I view the world,' she says, smiling. I suspect it's how the world will soon view Dean, too.
HAIR: Sophie Jane Anderson. MAKE-UP: Celia Burton at Bryant Artists. MOVEMENT DIRECTOR: Liam John at Dust Bunnies Agency. STYLIST'S ASSISTANT: Nina Gahrén Williamson.
Lulu McArdle
ELLE Collective is a new community of fashion, beauty and culture lovers. For access to exclusive content, events, inspiring advice from our Editors and industry experts, as well the opportunity to meet designers, thought-leaders and stylists, become a member today HERE . Getting Ready With Olivia Dean For Miu Miu
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