Olivia Dean: Just Who We Need
If you were on Instagram in late-summer 2025, it didn’t take long to hear the retro-inspired, yet fresh, new sound from British pop/neo-soul singer, Olivia Dean. After hearing mere snippets, it was a must for me to start delving into Dean’s previous work and current promotional material to learn more about, and hear more from, this artist who exudes an authentic love for what she does. Here are just a few performances from Dean that prove she is exactly who we need in music, now, into 2026, and beyond.
Dive In
Appearing on the Jimmy Kimmel Live in 2024, Dean and her band deliver a jazzier version of the track, “Dive,” from her 2023 debut album, Messy. Dean’s vocal showcases a maturity well beyond her years. Even how she performs is polished, particularly for someone so young; take note of how she gracefully uses her hands to sell some of the lyrics (“I’m a tidal wave of question marks, and you’re just surfing”; “Maybe it’s the magic in the wine”). And through her playful moves at the mic stand, and overall aura, she reminds you that she’s “feeling beautified.” Let this performance of “Dive” wash over you.
Spot(ify) On
The phrase, “breakout hit” definitely applies to Dean’s “Man I Need,” the catchy single that almost seems to be the audio equivalent of a strut. The flirty track captures the early stages of romantic interest, when one is wondering, and wanting to discover more, about the other. In the clip below, Dean and the guys perform at the Spotify Music Studios’ Live Room in Los Angeles, for an intimate performance, filled, in part, with Dean delivering the joy and excitement that comes with new love.
Nice and Easy (Listening)
With “Nice to Each Other,” there’s something about this song, perhaps it’s the pacing, the bass line, and/or the start of its second verse (“Meet me on the mountaintop/I’ll be in the shallow end”) that evoke a smooth Fleetwood Mac feel. In the below concert clip, Dean (channeling a bit of windblown, late ’70s-era Diana Ross and a tambourine-playing Stevie Nicks) performed the single at the Shepherds Bush Empire venue in London, to a crowd of fans singing along to every lyric, months before her second album, The Art of Loving, was released, solidifying that Dean’s popularity was rising quickly.
Safe to say: Dean is music’s newest superstar. (She really should just start picking out her GRAMMY-night dress.) Hope you enjoyed this sampling of clips that demonstrates Dean’s refreshing, and rare, ability to sound just as great live as she does on recordings. The Art of Loving is out now, and be sure to check out Dean’s newest single, and video for, the Bacharach/Warwick-inspired, “So Easy (To Fall In Love),” where she plays a modern-day cupid. To extend the Bacharach/Warwick connection: “What the world needs now is love, sweet love,” as well as the sweet sound of 2025’s best new artist, Olivia Dean.
Coppola Mechanism: Francis and Sofia’s Different Portrayals of Loneliness
In between The Godfather and The Godfather Part II, Francis Ford Coppola directed another classic: 1974’s The Conversation. Gene Hackman plays Harry Caul, a San Francisco surveillance expert who delves relentlessly into other people’s lives. Yet after one assignment, which has him initially (just) eavesdropping on a wealthy man’s wife and her male companion, he eventually finds himself trying to save what’s left of his own life. The viewer, funnily enough in an inherently voyeuristic role, sees that it’s not much of a life to begin with (barren loft void of color or personality; awkward attempts at human relations, specifically ones with women). Yet Harry seemingly resounds himself to reclusiveness, a sort of Catholic-induced self-punishment for the guilt that goes along with doing what he knows is wrong.
Coppola’s still-relevant script touches upon themes of technological obsession, voyeurism and paranoia, and its last scene is solemn and unsettling. Slow-jazz saxophone plays over the scene, a disturbingly serene choice to show someone peacefully succumbing to the (literal) mess one has made of his life. While Harry keeps human interaction and emotional involvement at a literal faraway distance, there’s a character in another Coppola creation who wants to intentionally connect with others, but first, with herself.
Partly based on Sofia Coppola’s time in Tokyo during her early twenties, 2003’s Lost in Translation is one of the best at capturing loneliness. The scene when Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) calls a friend on the phone—a symbol of communication and connection—illustrates yet another way Charlotte feels dismissed and disconnected, not just a stranger in a new city, but worse, in her own life. As she sits alone in her hotel room, high atop and removed from the hustle and bustle of the city below, tearful gasps represent, in more ways than one, a longing to find home. The film’s soundtrack of dreamy, melancholic melodies and fuzzy feedback create a sense of… wander, and at times convey a hopeful reawakening for Charlotte, and actor in mid midlife crises, Bob (Bill Murray), both looking to feel refreshed after spending their lives in a (jet lag) haze.
Although both films are almost 30 years apart, Francis and Sofia show characters who are achingly lonely, yet the main difference is that one feels he deserves to be, the others are desperately trying not to be.
The Conversation: Paramount Pictures; Lost In Translation: Focus Features.
Pop Playlist: Kylie Minogue: “I Should Be So Lucky” (Live in New York)
In 2009, Kylie Minogue launched her For You, For Me tour, exclusively visiting parts of North America as a labor of love and appreciation for loyal fans. An audio recording of the Hammerstein Ballroom stop in New York was released, and featured the torch-inspired version of 1987’s “I Should Be So Lucky.” This ballad incarnation first appeared during her Intimate and Live tour in 1998, and allows the Stock, Aitken and Waterman-penned hit to showcase the heartbreak of unrequited love, and the versatility of Minogue as pop star and jazz chanteuse.