Olivia Dean’s music feels like a heart-to-heart with a friend who just gets it. If you’re ready to fall in love with her sound before she takes the stage at LaLaLa Fest Manila, these 10 songs are the perfect place to start.
If you’re still working out who Olivia Dean is beyond the viral hooks, think of her catalogue as a house with many rooms. Her second album, The Art of Loving, took its name and spirit from an art exhibition in Los Angeles.
In an interview with TODAY, Olivia Dean notes that the exhibition was itself a response to bell hooks’ All About Love, and that visiting it in 2024 changed how Dean thought about romance. Dean has also said she wanted the record to explore being more loving toward other people and toward herself. She also took home Best New Artist at the 2026 Grammys, though her story starts well before the trophy.
Here are ten songs, in the order we’d walk you through the house.
1. “Dive” (Messy, 2023)
“Dive” is the first leap off the high board.
This is the song that made her cult following sing back at her. It’s about the shaky thrill of letting someone in after your heart has been stomped on a few times. She wrote it with Bastian Langebæk and Max Wolfgang on a scorching London day, after starting a new relationship.
Specifically, the joy has a bruise under it. Olivia Dean has said the line where she announces she’s ready to dive is the saddest part. A Motown devotee, she also tucked in a wink to a Diana Ross anthem, which makes sense for a girl raised idolizing Diana Ross and The Supremes.
2. “The Hardest Part” (Messy, 2023)
“The Hardest Part” is a quiet door closing in a loud house.
Olivia Dean calls this one defining. She wrote it while grieving a relationship she believed was “the one,” then realized the person couldn’t love who she’d grown into. The hardest part, she concluded, was accepting that. It is a breakup song with no villain, only two people on different clocks.
3. “Carmen” (Messy, 2023)
“Carmen” is the family portrait set to guitar and sunshine.
Skip this one and you’ll miss her heart. Olivia Dean shared through an interview with W Magazine who Carmen is. It turns out that Carmen is Dean’s grandmother, who was part of the Windrush generation of Caribbean immigrants who helped rebuild the U.K. The track is soca-infused, and it tributes her Guyanese grandmother. Dean has said she is “a product of her bravery.”
When she first heard it played back, she burst into tears. She also says it connects her to audiences more than any other song, and it starts conversations about identity and heritage. For Filipino listeners, whose families so often cross oceans for someone else’s future, it may land especially close.
4. “Messy” (Messy, 2023)
“Messy” is the permission slip written to herself.
The title track was the last one Olivia Dean wrote for the album. She kept playing a guitar part and repeating the word “messy,” unsure what the song was about, until she realized she was telling herself she’s allowed to be messy. Think of it as a cardigan for the overthinker, soft and a little frayed at the cuffs.
5. “Nice to Each Other” (The Art of Loving, 2025)
“Nice to Each Other” is a situationship, reimagined as a truce.
Everyone has been in the hazy middle of something undefined. According to The Suffolk Journal, the track flips the situationship anthem on its head: instead of a sloppy end, two people agree to be nice to each other however things fall apart. The Panther Newspaper hears a lounge-jazz feel and a question about whether it’s enough to meet someone where they are right now. W Magazine calls it her viral single, one where she’s happy to savor a connection she knows won’t last.
6. “Lady Lady” (The Art of Loving, 2025)
“Lady Lady” is a lullaby from the universe.
Olivia Dean describes it as a song about the universe, mother nature, and trusting the plan she has for you. It captures the odd ache of having to change just as you’re getting used to a version of yourself. She wrote it with her longtime collaborator Matt Hales, also known as Aqualung, and co-writer Leon Michels played much of the instrumentation. Moreover, the mood is surrender without defeat, like a river that knows the sea is coming.
7. “Man I Need” (The Art of Loving, 2025)
“Man I Need” is the dance floor as a declaration of standards.
The song that made Olivia Dean a household name started with a simple brief. In early 2025 she walked into an East London studio with Zach Nahome and Tobias Jesso Jr., wanting to write something she could dance to. Specifically, they began with the 6/8 groove. Her own summary of its message: it’s about knowing how you deserve to be loved and not being afraid to ask for it. Particularly, it became her first number one in Australia.
Wanting good things is not greedy, and this song says so while you sway.
8. “So Easy (To Fall in Love)” (The Art of Loving, 2025)
“So Easy (To Fall in Love)” is a pep talk wearing a Burt Bacharach coat.
The bossa-nova sway and orchestral polish give it a vintage glamour. Critics hear echoes of Bacharach’s orchestral pop. Olivia Dean told Elle she had written songs to uplift other women, and this one targets the pre-date jitters. She noticed friends fretting about whether their date would like them, and wanted to remind them they’d be easy to fall in love with. Moreso, it plays with the balance between a fun night out and a lifelong love.
Think of it as a compliment you can hum.
9. “Baby Steps” (The Art of Loving, 2025)
“Baby Steps” is learning to walk again, in heels you can barely afford.
The album’s emotional hush comes late. It’s about the slow, clumsy process of learning to stand up again after a breakup. One lyric about having no one to text when the plane lands became a Gen Z loneliness anthem on TikTok. It also touches on small acts of self-care, like keeping a light on for yourself and buying yourself flowers.
If “Man I Need” is the dance floor, “Baby Steps” is the taxi home at 2 a.m., and both are part of love.
10. “A Couple Minutes” (The Art of Loving, 2025)
“A Couple Minutes” is a reunion on a borrowed sofa.
Save the best for the end. The song is about the bittersweet nostalgia of reconnecting with an old flame, and accepting that the love wasn’t wasted even though it ended. It was released as a single in July 2026. One reviewer said it would sit comfortably beside R&B legends like Sam Cooke and Diana Ross. Additionally, it gives the album its quiet closing thesis: love can leave without making you foolish for having stayed.
Olivia Dean set to visit the Philippines for LaLaLa Fest
Meanwhile, Olivia Dean will make her Philippine concert debut at LaLaLa Fest Manila on January 14, 2027, at the Philippine Arena. She will perform alongside local acts BINI, Up Dharma Down, Lola Amour, and Sunkissed Lola, with general ticket sales opening on October 17 via TicketMelon.
Start with “Dive” and end with “A Couple Minutes,” and you’ll hear a young songwriter who learned that love is a skill you practice.
Source: Olivia Dean Website, W Magazine, TODAY
