Olivia Dean Tickets

Olivia Dean is part of Ticketmaster New Music’s Breakthrough 2024 list – our pick of the hottest new artists you must see live in 2024.

Olivia Dean has been breaking through for some time. Born and raised in Walthamstow in East London, and attending the prestigious Brit School – Dean has already sold out major London venues such as the Roundhouse and Koko and worked alongside Rudimental. She’s even been an ambassador for Chanel. 

Her first single, ‘Reason To Stay’, landed in 2018 with the kind of confidence that carried her straight into the spotlight in 2023 with the release of her debut album, Messy, which was deservedly nominated for a Mercury Prize. In the interim, however, she was busy releasing songs and building up quite the fanbase. ‘Echo’ has been streamed millions of times, while her classic and beautiful vocals truly come into their element on her ballad ‘Slowly’. 

‘The Hardest Part’, a track from her album, is perhaps her most refined to date. It’s a break-up song, but a break-out single. It’s got the quiet empowerment of ‘Someone Like You’, with Amy Winehouse-style lyricism, and a London swagger you’d associate with the likes of Lily Allen. But you have to look further back to capture this artist’s true inspirations, with the likes of Diana Ross and Aretha Franklin, and songwriters such as Carole King. 

Then of course there’s Lauryn Hill. An influence so grand, and so deeply ingrained, it was set before she was even born. In fact, Olivia Dean’s middle name is Lauryn, as her mother would listen to Hill during the pregnancy. “Her spirit runs within me”, Dean told the Standard. When listening to her sing, it seems to come out of her, too. 

There’s a tenderness to Dean’s writing, and heartache in her emotive vocality. Her lyrics are raw and relatable (“Down in Margate, had a sip of you and it went straight to my head”), but she finds a real balance in her outlook on life, love and loss – as she’s knowingly both blissful and mature at the same time. 

She honed her craft in lockdown with memorable acoustic performances on social media, and this intimate connection she has with her fans helps set her apart. It transcends just the lyrics in the songs, it’s the entire package: a tour that saw her travelling up and down the country on a convertible stage is emblematic of her whole persona. These songs are from her, but they’re for us. It’s distinctly personal. “I find songwriting really therapeutic”, she toldSchön!– and thankfully that extends to her audience. In helping herself process the hardships of life, she’s helping us too.