Who is Olivia Dean? The Singer Songwriter Reaching New Heights

British singer songwriter Olivia Lauryn Dean has been at the centre of the public eye over the last few weeks – and rightly so!

Born in London in 1999 Olivia grew up listening to some her parents favourite music artists such as Lauryn Hill, where she received her middle name, and had other music influences such as participating in Gospel choirs and attending musical theatre lessons. When Olivia was only fifteen years old she was accepted to the BRIT school where she studied song writing.

During her time at the BRIT school, Olivia continued to learn piano and guitar as well as the craft of song writing. It wasn’t until her graduation concert where she found her first manager, Emily Braham. Emily found Olivia her first proper job as a backing vocalist for British band Rudimental. Olivia went on to perform with the band and also featured on their song ‘Adrenaline’ in 2019.

 

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In October of 2019, Olivia released her debut single ‘Password Change’ as part of her first EP Ok Love You Bye. After the success of this album Dean was finally signed to EMI Records. Olivia proceeded to release many singles and a second EP, What Am I Gonna Do on Sundays?, all by the end of 2020. Dean’s music focuses on genres of pop, neo-soul and likes to explores teams of love, heart break and self-discovery.

In 2021 Olivia started to gain more attention with the release of her cover of Nat King Cole’s ‘The Christmas Song’ as part of Amazon’s Christmas Originals line-up. The song ended up at number 19 on the UK charts and gave Olivia the name of ‘Breakthrough Artist of the Year’ by Amazon Music.

 

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Fast forward to June of 2023, after teasing multiple singles, Olivia finally released her debut album Messy which included twelve phenomenal tracks. The album brought Olivia on her first tour of the US and allowed her to perform at one of the largest music festivals in the world, Glastonbury.

Since the release of her album Olivia has given us multiple singles including ‘Time’ and ‘Touching Toes’. In 2024 Dean also attended Jools’ Annual Hootenanny where she performed a cover of The Supremes’ ‘You Can’t Hurry Love’. In December of 2024, Olivia released a live version of her album Messy where she performed all twelve tracks at Eventim Apollo.

 

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Olivia has taken no breaks over the years and 2025 is definitely no exception. Dean kicked off the year with the release of her single ‘It Isn’t Perfect But It Might Be’. The song was made to feature in the newest Bridget Jones movie Mad About The Boy.

@libby_fortBridget jones here we come

♬ It Isn’t Perfect But It Might Be – from “Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy” Original Motion Picture Soundtrack – Olivia Dean

The song has reached extreme success inside and outside the movie and has brought a new audience to Olivia through fans seeing it on the big screen. The song has also been turned into a huge sound on social media including platforms such as TikTok.

Its hopeful lyrics and joyful sound has made the world fall in love with Olivia. We can’t wait to see what she has in store for us next!