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Album Review: ‘Messy’ by Olivia Dean

Annabel Benton
Olivia Dean performing onstage in Manchester

Featured image courtesy of Annabel Benton.

Annabel Benton

Olivia Dean has released her debut album Messy, a self-assured record which justifies the hype surrounding this rising star.

I first saw Olivia Dean performing live at Manchester’s Deaf Institute almost three years ago. She played an hour-long set that had the 250 fans in attendance enraptured. Now, after the release of her debut album Messy, Dean has cemented herself as one of music’s up-and-coming stars.

THE ALBUM’S RELEASE

Taking to her social media accounts, Dean described Messy as “an album about learning to love again, the fear that comes with it, finding independence within that still and being grateful for where you came from.”

Released five years after her debut single Reason to Stay, her new album Messy continues the single’s themes of independence and growth. However, Reason to Stay wouldn’t feel out of place on her debut album. Although Dean has progressed as an artist in the last few years, there is a wonderful sense of continuity with the sound of where she came from.

A RISING STAR

After a recent performance at Glastonbury Festival, support from Elton John, and a string of sold-out headline shows, Dean has graduated from being a ‘one to watch’ into a certified star. Messy, then, has been released at the perfect time. It gives Dean the chance to show both new and old fans what she can do across a 12-track LP.

“Dean celebrates both where she has been and where she is going in her career.”

The Hardest Part, a single first released in 2020 and Dean’s most streamed song on Spotify, is a surprising feature on the album. Dean took to Instagram to explain the track’s inclusion on the record: “This one changed everything & it wouldn’t be right if she wasn’t on the album.” By including The Hardest Part, Dean celebrates both where she has been and where she is going in her career.

The other singles released in the run-up to Messy include Dive, UFO, and Danger. The album opens with UFO, which introduces love as one of its key themes throughout. The song also introduces Dean’s layered vocals which float throughout the rest of the record. Equally, Danger, the midpoint of the album, focuses on love as something both dangerous and healing. Musically, it echoes Dean’s past songs such as Ok Love You Bye in its bouncy rhythm and lyrical musings on the complexity of relationships.

“Messy’s slower songs such as Everybody’s Crazy and Dangerously Easy demonstrate Dean’s musical aptitude just as keenly.”

Dive in particular seems to show a shift from Dean’s previous EP Growth, released in the summer of 2021. Tracks on the EP such as Float illustrate a hesitancy – “Can we just float here for a while?” – which Dive transforms into certainty through the lyrics “I’m coming out and diving in tonight.” This surety is mirrored by the song’s upbeat drum and keyboard to accompany its vocals.

SLOWING IT DOWN

Messy’s slower songs such as Everybody’s Crazy and Dangerously Easy demonstrate Dean’s musical aptitude just as keenly. The album has a mix of both melancholy tracks and upbeat, jazzy numbers, yet these meld together effortlessly to create Dean’s signature sound. No song feels out of place. The title track prefaces that there is “No need to be ready, it’s okay if it’s messy.” The album, however, is anything but.

“Carmen opens and closes with the voice of her grandmother, and celebrates the story of the Windrush Generation.”

The album concludes with the song Carmen, which shares a name with her grandmother, to whom Dean dedicates the album. Carmen opens and closes with the voice of her grandmother, and celebrates the story of the Windrush Generation. The song’s lyrics “You transplanted a family tree and a part of it grew in me” are relevant as a whole for an album with themes of relationships and growth at its centre.

THE PERFECT SUMMER RECORD

Dean’s Messy is a self-assured debut, and its end-of-June release date is perfect. Tracks such as Ladies Room and I Could Be A Florist are upbeat summer hits that make you want to get up and dance. Although I wish that the album was longer than its 35-minute running time, this is evidence of Dean’s talent. The album is compact, compelling and leaves listeners wanting more. I’m sure we’ll be hearing a lot more from Olivia Dean in the future. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out Messy for an album to soundtrack your summer.

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Featured image courtesy of Annabel Benton. No changes have been made to this image.

Annabel (she/her) is a BA English Literature student at the University of Manchester. She enjoys writing about student life, culture, and music.

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