On Sunday, February 1st, Los Angeles’s Crypto.com Arena hosted the 2026 Grammys. Olivia Dean was a first-time nominee this year as well, earning the Best New Artist award driven by the success of her acclaimed album The Art Of Loving and multiple charting singles, including “Man I Need.”
All of the other nominees performed in the ‘Best New Artist’ segment alongside Dean including, Alex Warren, Addison Rae, KATSEYE, Leon Thomas, Lola Young, Sombr, and lastly the Marias. The group of talented artists sang their own individual songs to showcase their accomplishments in direct succession of one another. Warren performed, “Ordinary” while moving throughout the venue. Rae performed “Fame Is A Gun” on a truck in the arena’s loading dock. KATSEYE brought energy to the crowd while performing “Gnarly” with their “robotic” like choreography. Thomas brought his guitar out and performed “MUTT.” Young showcased her vocals during the miscellaneous segment. Sombr took himself to the floating stage and performed “12 to 12.” Lastly, The Marias performed “No One Noticed”. This segment is a great way to showcase the rising talent in the music industry.
Alex Warren is also a first-time nominee this year, earning a Best New Artist nomination propelled by the success of his album You’ll Be Alright, Kid and record-breaking hit “Ordinary.”
Another nominee, Addison Rae was nominated for the first time this year in the Best New Artist category, backed by the success of her debut album Addison.
The group, KATSEYE were nominated for two Grammy Awards this year: Best New Artist and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance (“Gabriela”).
Another nominee for the Best-New Artist category was, Leon Thomas. Thomas was also nominated for five other Grammy Awards this year: Album Of The Year (MUTT), Best R&B Performance (“MUTT (Live From NPR’s Tiny Desk)”), Best Traditional R&B Performance (“VIBES DON’T LIE”), Best R&B Song (“YES IT IS”), and Best R&B Album (MUTT).
Lola Young, who is best known for her song, “Messy” was nominated as well.
Along with Young’s nomination for Best-New Artist she was also nominated for Best Pop Solo Performance. Sombr, best known for “Back to Friends”, “12 to 12”, or “Undressed” was also up for Best New Artist this year, from the success of his debut album I Barely Know Her.
Lastly for other nominees is the group, The Marias due to the popularity of a new single, “Back To Me.”
“I do not think that Olivia Dean deserved to win, I think there were better nominees.” stated Sadie Devue. “Alex Warren for example, he went from living in a car with his girlfriend to joining the hype house and making a career for himself and getting pretty famous from that career and his music isn’t that bad” Devue continued.
CJ Weisenstein shared her thoughts about Dean, “I like her but I feel like I only know one song but she is definitely a good singer and fits the bill for the award, also hot take but, she wasn’t nominated for this award but I whole heartily think that Jessie Murph should have won the award, I also feel like Sombr and Alex Warren have a few more hits than Olivia Dean does.
After researching Olivia Lauryn Dean from many articles found across the web including, oliviadeano.com, billboard.com, allmusic.com, and britannica.com. Dean was born 26 years ago on March 14th, 1999. Dean was born in the London Borough of Haringey. She spent most of her childhood in Highams Park, England.
Her childhood was filled with music and family. Dean and her father would spend hours dancing around their kitchen together, which sparked Dean’s love for music. Her parents also got her into all different kinds of music artists by introducing her to artists like, Jill Scott, Angie Stone, Lauryn Hill, Carole King, and Al Green. By age 8, Dean was sure she was set on becoming a singer.
Though Dean was extremely shy, it didn’t stop her from being involved in musical theater, singing in her local gospel choir, and taking part in local singing competitions. During her elementary school years she participated in a competition where she sang the song “Tomorrow” from the musical Annie. This made her so nervous to the point where she started crying on stage while singing but still managed to get second place. Filling her Saturday’s with Musical Theater lessons.
By age 15 she was accepted into the BRIT School, which is a very highly selective performing Arts school in South London. She was very committed to this school and even each day she traveled an hour and 45 minutes each way to attend this school. All of those hours of commuting were worth it for Dean saying attending BRIT School was “the best thing I ever did.” Up until her final two years at the BRIT School she studied musical theater but then Dean switched to focus on songwriting.
At age 17 Dean knew that songwriting and performing is what she wanted to do with her life when her teacher played a live version of Paul Simon singinging ‘Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes’ with a South African group and Dean stated that it “just sparked something.”
Dean grew close friendships with other singer-songwriters, Rachel Chinouriri and Raye at school.
Dean has two studio albums released, her first album being ‘Messy’ in 2023 and with her newest album titled, ‘The Art of Loving.’ She also has another two live albums with a whole mix of songs she has released.
Five of her songs are EP’s which is a smaller recording of a few songs not making up a whole full-length album.
In April of 2021 she was named the ‘Breakthrough Artist of the Year’ by Amazon Music. Recently her single ‘Man I Need’ reached number one on the UK singles chart. Other songs titled, ‘Nice to Each Other’ and ‘So Easy (To Fall in Love)’ which made her the first female solo artist to ever have four songs in the UK Top Ten singles at the same time.
The GRAMMY AWARDS described Dean’s voice to be “deep, and soulful” and that her “Jazz-inspired pop melodies are a treasure love, filled with nostalgic gems about love and heart break.’
After releasing the EPs ‘OK Love You Bye’ and ‘What Am I Gonna Do On Sundays?’ She was named Amazon Music’s breakthrough artist of the year in 2021.
Continuing with her success her 2023 debut album “Messy led to her selection as BBC Music Introducing’s Artist of the Year, a place on the shortlist for the Mercury Prize, and nominated for multiple BRIT Awards.” “Since then, Dean performed at Glastonbury 2024, and supported Sam Fender and Sabrina Carpenter on tour. By the time her second LP, The Art of Loving, came out on Sept. 26, 2025, its three singles “Nice to Each Other,” “Lady Lady,” and “Man I Need” had already crowned her as a new industry favorite. As the world falls in love with her sensibility, she receives her well-deserved first GRAMMYS nomination and the award for Best New Artist.”
