Aren’t we all kind of a mess?
Review of Olivia Dean’s debut album Messy
Olivia Dean — Messy
Released June 30, 2023
It’s been a big year for Olivia Dean. Heralded as “one of our most exciting new pop voices,” the 25 year old has already named BBC Music Introducing Artist of the Year, been nominated for 3 BRIT awards, played Glastonbury’s Pyramid stage and her debut album Messy was shortlisted for a Mercury Prize.
After 5 EPs, Messy represents Dean’s first formal introduction, but for those who have been following her musical journey from the beginning, this album “feel[s] like a turning point instead of an introduction.” Dean started officially releasing music in 2018, but the year before she was performing to crowds of 16,000 as a background singer for Rudimental.Before that, she was a student at the BRIT School, studying first theatre then songwriting, the same school that alumnae Adele, Amy Winehouse, Jessie J, and Leona Lewis attended.
This album, which “does everything a debut should,” takes inspiration from Dean’s heroes like Carole King and contemporaries like Clairo and the late Mac Miller, whose influence from his Divine Feminine album can definitely be felt here.
My favorites on this album include “Dive,” “No Man,” “Getting There,” “Danger,” “The Hardest Part,” “Messy,” and “Carmen.”
Obviously the best thing about this album is Dean’s vocals. Not only are they impressive, but they’re also warm and personable. Songs like “UFO,” “Getting There,” and “Everybody’s Crazy” really stand out for her vocal performance. Across the album, Dean proves she’s able to do the big vocals of an Adele, but also be able to bring it down and show vulnerability like on “Messy.”
I really enjoyed the overall sound of this album as well. Dean’s music has been described as “neo-soul” “pop-soul,” “jazz-tinged,” but I think those ignore the obvious R&B influence that can be heard on tracks like “Dive.”
“Carmen” is a special track on the album as it’s about Dean’s grandmother who came to Britain from Grenada. Dean spent a lot of time with her grandmother when they briefly shared a bedroom when Dean was little, and it’s her most personal track on the album.
None of the songs are particularly long, most being just over three minutes long, but Dean knows how to use the time well. Each song feels full and lush instrumentally, often making them feel longer than they are, but to me that just means that they were carefully thought out and well-produced.
The number one stand out track for me is “The Hardest Part,” but particularly the version with Leon Bridges. I remember seeing a live video of them performing this song online and it’s what initially piqued my interest in Dean to be begin with. The album version is still good, but Bridges’ voice in addition to Dean’s adds a depth to the song that the original version just doesn’t have. I do wish the album had included this duet version, there aren’t any features on the album so it definitely could have been added, but I do also understand and can respect why an artist would want their debut to be their own work and not include any features.
Another reason I’ve always been rooting for Dean and this album is because of a personal connection I have to one of the album’s songwriters. When I was 15 years old, I did my first ever interview with a band called Wolf Gang. I first saw them open for Bastille in June, and then later that year they came back through Pittsburgh on their own tour and I got to ask them a few questions. I was so nervous and my questions were probably not very good, I still can’t really think about it without having secondhand embarrassment and anxiety, but it was the first time I ever put myself out there to do something like that and I’ll always remember how nice the band were. They were generous with their time and treated me very seriously, not like a silly little kid. It was probably just another day to them, but of course it’s a foundational memory for me. The band is no longer together, but the lead singer Max McElligott is now a songwriter under the name Max Wolfgang and he’s written for artists like Rudimental, ZAYN, Laufey, Sam Ryder, and Why Don’t We, he’s written for the upcoming Victoria Canal album, and of course, Olivia Dean. Wolf Gang was an incredible band, so I know not only how talented McElligott is, but I also know first hand how kind he was to a 15 year old interviewer just starting out, so for that, I will always root for him and I’m happy to see this album that he worked on so well received.
I also can’t talk about Olivia Dean without mentioning her absolutely incredible version of Phil Collins’ “You Can’t Hurry Love” from last year’s Jools Holland’s Annual Hootenanny. She absolutely makes the song her own and in my opinion, hers is now the definitive version. I don’t know if it’s because it was on a New Year’s Eve program, but it sounds so sparkly and celebratory. This is another performance I found through clips on TikTok, but it was officially released on Spotify in October of this year, so I highly recommend checking it out as well, even if it isn’t on the Messy tracklist.
Not enough good things can be said about Dean’s voice, but overall I feel like this album was lacking in Dean herself. While I am happy to see Dean working with songwriters that I personally enjoy, I do wish the songwriting was a bit more personal to her (“Carmen” being the exception.) One review even went as far to say the album itself “can feel too manicured,” but that her live performances are really where she shines. While the album is good, from clips I’ve seen online and reviews of her live gigs it does seem that she’s an even better live performer than a studio recording artist. In just one year she went from playing small venues like King Tut’s in Glasgow with a capacity of 300 to venues four times its size. Especially with the style of music she sings, I can imagine feeling her energy in the room is half of the experience in itself.
I also want to briefly mention the album cover. Although it’s not something you can hear, I absolutely love the purple and slight out-of-focus photo of Dean on the front. She said herself that it was actually an image from another shoot, but after the initial cover shoot failed to represent the feeling of the record, she kept coming to this image by Petros and “love[d] how it felt blurred and candid,” Dean also said “I love the purple too. It’s a very powerful and comforting colour [sic] for me.”
Also, I NEED a Christmas album from Dean immediately. She’s previously released a version of Nat King Cole’s “The Christmas Song” as an Amazon Exclusive, but I’ll be needing a full album of Dean’s warm voice and crackling vintage aesthetic on some holiday standards, thank you.
