The five records that have shaped Olivia Dean

In partnership with DHL

It’s been a big year for Olivia Dean. The last 12 months have seen the London singer-songwriter release her Mercury Prize nominated debut album ‘Messy’, be nominated for three BRIT Awards, embark on her first North American tour, and perform to sold out audiences across the UK and Europe.

In January, Olivia travelled to the vibrant city of Rio de Janeiro, where she reconnected with friends at Vivendo Um Sonho Surf (VUSS), a local surf school in Rio’s Rocinha favela. Both Olivia and DHL have a shared love for the Brazilian surf community, and to ensure the continuation of the great work that VUSS does, DHL and Olivia donated much-needed equipment to the school.

During her stay, Olivia also performed to a group of lucky fans at an intimate show delivered by DHL at the iconic Fundição Progresso venue in the city’s bustling music district.

As she reflects on her trip, Olivia tells NME about the records that have shaped her own progression as an artist, and that have helped her to reach the special milestones of the last year.

Aretha Franklin – ‘(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman’

“Every time I hear this song I’m like, ‘I wish I wrote this’. I’m like, ‘Damn, Carole King!’ I just think it’s a beautiful piece of music. And I think that album [‘Lady Soul’] was a real confirmation of what I wanted to do – really simple, beautiful songwriting that stands the test of time that people can sing along to, and just makes you feel like a human. I love that song, I love that album. Thank you, Carole.”

Paul Simon – ‘Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes’

“I was in college at the BRIT School studying music, and I had a very cool music teacher called Conor Doherty. I’d never listened to Paul Simon before; I’d never heard ‘Graceland’, didn’t have a scooby what it was. And in a lesson one day, he played the live version of the song on the projector. And it just blew my mind. It was such a pure representation of joy in a live show. I remember thinking, ‘I want my live show to be that. I want to bring that to people’. What a representation that album was of cross cultures! And I feel like that sometimes because I’m also a cross of cultures, I sometimes want to smoosh things together, kind of how I’m smooshed together.”

Gloria Gaynor – ‘I Will Survive’

“This is my karaoke song forever and always. This song has gotten me out of some dark moments. Moments where I’m like, ‘I don’t know if I can do this’, or, ‘This boy’s broken my heart’ or ‘I’m feeling down and out’. I’m talking public and private karaoke moments where you’re just like, ‘I will survive, and must survive’. It’s just a floor filler. If I’ve been at a house party and it’s my turn to cue up a song I’m like, ‘This will go off’. This song just seems to always be with me in some way.”

Lauryn Hill – ‘Ex-Factor’

“The whole of ‘The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill’ is one of the best albums, and was such a North Star for me when I was making my album, in the sense of when that album came out, it was so standalone and has always stood alone. Even though I didn’t want to make something that sounds exactly like that, I guess it was that same spirit of being like, ‘This is me’. ‘Ex-Factor’ is just really beautiful, and my middle name is Lauryn after Lauryn Hill, because my mum just loved her and listened to her when I was in her tummy. And so I think something Lauryn Hill flavoured runs through me.”

Joni Mitchell – ‘Both Sides Now’

“When she performed this at the 2024 Grammys, I literally ugly sobbed in my flat. I hadn’t had a cry like it in a really long time, and I really needed to. We’re so lucky to have watched her sing a song that she wrote when she was literally 21/22, and now be singing it when she’s 80. I just can’t even comprehend that she wrote that when she was that age, and to have such worldly foresight. And then to have lived her whole life and had a brain aneurysm, and then had to learn how to sing and play guitar again, and then sing it again and be like, ‘I really don’t know life at all’. It’s just heartbreaking and magical. She’s a legend and we’re so lucky that she wrote that song and that song exists in the world.”

As told to NME. Interview by Hollie Geraghty