Olivia DeanMarlay Park, Dublin\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2606<\/p>\n
Olivia Dean<\/a> is the girl next door who learned to roar. The London singer earned a Mercury nomination in 2023 for Messy, her pleasantly diaristic soul-pop debut album, but has ascended to an entirely new level of fame and acclaim courtesy of last year\u2019s The Art of Loving, an album she brings vividly to life at two sold-out nights at Marlay Park<\/a> on Saturday and Sunday.<\/p>\n Dean, who won the best-new-artist award at this year\u2019s Grammys<\/a>, to go alongside four 2026 Brit Awards, is revealed to be several artists in one across a brilliantly affirmative gig \u2013 the largest headliner of her career \u2013 that moves through highs and lows but is fuelled throughout by her approachable star power. <\/p>\n It certainly has a lot of moving parts, from multiple costume changes to an acoustic section and a display of first-on-the-floor-at-the-wedding dancing by the 27-year-old during an ecstatic cover of Curtis Mayfield\u2019s Move on Up.<\/p>\n There are tears to go with the joy on Sunday evening. Dean just about holds it together as night descends when she tells the crowd that her vocals are shot and that she\u2019s fighting to make it to the end. \u201cI want to be honest with you,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m losing my voice, and it\u2019s making me cry.\u201d<\/p>\n She\u2019s high on emotion from the very start, running on to the stage with a huge grin. Her polka-dot dress is a frock to steal the spotlight \u2013 at least until she plunges into her opening song, Nice to Each Other, a soul-jazz souffle as smooth as its message that we should all try to be a little more tolerant and kindly towards both friends and strangers.<\/p>\n Dean is a wonderful singer and a versatile songwriter, moving at ease from the confessional soul of Lady Lady to the Laurel Canyon folk of Carmen \u2013 a celebration of immigrants dedicated to her Guyanese grandmother and performed from a ramp extending from the stage.<\/p>\n She\u2019s also a great advocate for her music. Dean is blessed with expressive features, so you can see the feeling on her face as she celebrates emotional self-care on the mid-tempo So Easy (To Fall in Love) and to take the positive from a break-up on the bustling Time.<\/p>\n