Olivia Dean has clearly nailed a lot of first impressions. Our initial interaction happened on a cloudy Thursday in midtown Manhattan. In a fugue state after a cross-country flight and an uncertain subway trip, I was standing sheepishly in the lobby of Universal Music’s office like a lost child. I was on three hours of sleep and was checking my phone on the train every 17 seconds to ensure I was heading in the right direction. There was no time to soak in the scenery of Central Park or study people’s outfits to see what trends to bring back home. No, I was on a mission. I had to meet Olivia Dean. 

The door opened, and in walked Olivia Dean and her manager. She was dressed in a tank top and hoodie, big striped pants, and stylish Prada shoes. We shook hands, her grip light and easy, and exchanged smiles, hers filled with radiant tooth gems. We would get time to talk later, but first someone from Island Records ushered her in for a meeting. I tailgated behind them and sat with Teddy, the front desk guy, while they wrapped their business.  

Dean is a 24-year-old singer from London, England. She started singing at a young age in a gospel choir and attended the prestigious BRIT School, whose alumni include renowned voices like Imogen Heap and Amy Winehouse. In 2019, Dean released her first commercial EP Ok Love You Bye. Since then, she has kept busy with a string of singles and EPs. To date, her most-streamed song is “The Hardest Part,” about a relationship perhaps permanently strained, which is closing in on 40 million plays on Spotify. Now she’s gearing up to make an all-important first impression with her debut full-length album, Messy, on June 30. 

Dean and her team are seizing the moment. This year she has done a string of interviews, performed on Later... With Jools Holland, and, most importantly, she finished recording the album. Messy sounds like the album that Olivia wanted to make. There is a level of comfort in Olivia’s music and presence that feels self-actualized. Nostalgic, genre-fluid, organic. Glimmers of some of her influences like Sam Cooke and Bill Withers shine through on Messy cuts like “Ladies Room” and “Danger.” 

This trip to New York was Olivia Dean’s first -- or her first real one, anyway. When she was 18, she spent about four hours here to do backup vocals for Rudimental’s performance on Jimmy Fallon. 

When her label meeting wrapped, I walked in and took a seat. Dean slouched comfortably into a green suede couch across from me. We had a few minutes before she would head to soundcheck for her first-ever solo performance in the U.S. – a sold-out show in the round at Le Poisson Rouge in Greenwich Village. Just thinking about how busy all of that must be is enough to start an old-fashioned anxiety stomachache for me, but Olivia was as cool as ever. 

“I think when I got into the first sort of chunk of going, ‘OK, I'm going to make an album,’ I was holding myself back for a long time,” she said as she drew circles with her fingers on the suede. "I was like, ‘This is gonna define me ... I need to make the best thing I've ever made.’ I definitely gave myself a box, which I was creating within. And then I was like, ‘It doesn't really matter.  All I can do is write about how I'm feeling right now.’” 

Making any sort of debut is a nerve-racking process. My palms get sweaty before shaking someone’s hands for the first time, so I can’t imagine how it feels to release a debut album. She agreed. It can be a lot of pressure, but it’s not the end of the world. “I think it's what you allow -- the pressure that you're allowed to put on yourself and you allow other people to put on you,” she said. “I've just tried to think really simply about it. I've made the best music I could have made at the time and I really like it. So, if you like it, that's great. If they don't like it, that's cool.” 

When we met, she had been in the city for about 24 hours already and hoped to have some free time the next day to explore Central Park and the Empire State Building. Given her packed schedule, I’m not sure if she had the time. After about 15 minutes, I received a polite-but-firm text to wrap our interview so that she could make it to Le Poisson Rouge. We shook hands, said goodbye, and I headed off for a much-needed nap. 

Excitement was in the air that night at Le Poisson Rouge. Some came from the label folks, of course, eager to see a return on investment. Much came from the crowd, a diverse mix of young people that packed the tables surrounding the stage and lined the walls, phones in hand and smiles on faces. As I walked in, one person in line asked if I had any extra tickets. No dice.  

I do feel for that person, though. They missed out on a special performance – her first ever as a solo artist in the U.S. Dean had a gentle, yet commanding stage presence that enamored the audience. Joined by a pianist and bassist --her drummer’s visa got denied)-- she performed a 45-minute set that explored tracks from her EPs. Before “Be My Own Boyfriend,” an audience member correctly guessed it was coming, shouting the song title during Dean’s monologue about self-love. Of course, there were also yet-unreleased tracks from Messy. She played piano and guitar, covered the Aretha Franklin classic “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” and brought out Leon Bridges to perform their new duet version of “The Hardest Part.” 

When I asked her what the hardest part of being Olivia Dean is, her manager shouted an answer as Olivia paused to think: “Perfection.” Olivia’s answer for herself was “Separation,” delineating between Olivia Dean the person, and Olivia Dean the budding pop star. She acknowledged her perfectionism, though. “I like striving for things to be excellent, which I think is a good trait but also a bad trait,” she mused. “Because sometimes you don't get anything done. You're waiting for something to be perfect. But, sometimes 80% perfect is still really good. You can't be perfect all the time ... My album is called Messy because it's a reminder to myself to relax.” 

The desire to eschew perfectionism guided the process of recording Messy. The tap of a piano pedal, the odd slightly off-beat guitar lick, and other uniquely human touches were kept in to create a sense of warmth and soul. Although she tries not to let the pressure get to her, she realizes the impact a debut can have. A debut can stand the test of time and become a statement for the artist’s entire career.  

Dean pointed to The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill as an example of how to do it right. “It was just her in music form. It wasn't her trying to do a bit of that, or a bit of this,” she said, reaffirming her belief that honesty in music is non-negotiable. Part of being honest is doing what you feel. Olivia believes that doing this allows great music to be made. “I think you have to be a little bit selfish at the beginning in the creation pile on, like, allow yourself to be a bit self-indulgent so that you can be vulnerable.” 

The show at Le Poisson Rouge was intimate and honest, two things she strives for in her music. Dean chose not to adopt a stage name because she wants her true feelings to come through. “I want to be honest... It just felt like the obvious thing to do,” she reflected. “I'm not a particularly abstract person. I'm not writing about big things. I like small things and human things. That made sense.” 

With her start in gospel choir and history with musical theater --which she studied at the BRIT School before she believed she could pursue singing solo-- Dean is a natural performer. “Ladies Room,” a standout from Messy, is the track that she’s most excited to perform live. “I just wanted to create something that will be so fun to perform live. It’s an homage, like a love letter to the girls’ bathroom. I love the chaos in there sometimes.” Her original idea was to take a voice recording of someone she met in the ladies’ room at her local pub, but decided against it. “How would I feel if I heard a song on the radio or, you know, just stumbled across something, and it was me like chatting shit about my boyfriend?” 

Messy will be released for all to hear on June 30. Who knows what will happen once it comes out? Regardless, she wants to be present through it all. Immediate joy, she says, is most important. “I'm trying to practice [being happy] day by day, rather than constantly like looking ahead and then actually not taking in moments when you're in them,” she shared. “Like, especially on this trip. I've just really tried to wake up every morning and be like, ‘You must be happy today and be thankful and, like, just live hour by hour.’” 

Olivia Dean seems to be enjoying the moment, dizzying as it can be. She smiled after the show at Le Poisson Rouge. She shared that she was nervous before coming out. I told her that if she wouldn’t have said that I would have never guessed.  

Between laughing about the legal and moral efficacy of recording strangers or talking about crying while watching The Little Mermaid remake, it seems like her talk about being herself and being honest are, well, honest. Olivia Dean has the sort of sincerity and charm that makes her hard not to root for. I hope she had some time to check out the Empire State Building. 

Messy will be released on Friday, June 30. 

Editor’s note: Looks like she got to see it.