In The File: The Exuberant Olivia Dean

Celebrated for her warmth and honesty, Olivia Dean’s music is grounded in her innate values, which uplift and inspire. There’s a strong sense of sisterhood in her sound, and experiencing her live is a fast track to falling in love with her – or yourself. She was born to be on stage, with a level of ease and naturalness that is rare to see pulsing the stages of today. And off stage, she is exactly the same. Her beauty, voice, and easy approach to life translate to the breath of fresh air the industry, and women everywhere need.

The way Olivia approaches life is just as simple and heartfelt as her music; do the work, be yourself. Her success is down to this, and incredibly she has remained intact from ‘selling out’ in a world that constantly forces one to do so in order to gain more. Integrity is in her backbone, and although she always gives work 100%, it seems she hasn’t had to fight to get there, and isn’t too caught up in being or needing more.

With the intense demand on women via the media, and social media, to constantly value themselves at image level – and often being rewarded for promoting themselves in a ‘sex sells’ kind of way – it’s commendable Olivia has not felt to reduce herself to get the views, remaining consistently elegant and inspiring in her portrayal and respect of herself. Actual sexy, and extremely refreshing. She knows she is more than that – we are more than that.

The radiance from Olivia is truly an inside-out job, as it comes down to the fact that she is real and isn’t caught up in trying to be any version of perfect. And what an incredible gift to women this is. What you see is what you get, with a call to ignite the world with more joy, empowering lyrics, and a glass-half-full kind of mentality.

Olivia shares the importance of applying yourself to whatever presents itself in front of you. And brings that care into every part of her world, including her much-loved and cherished beauty routine shared with The File.

Thank you Olivia for bringing to the stage true inspiration and honest beauty. The perfect poster girl for girls and women everywhere.

Beauty to me is all about feeling. It’s all about feeling the most like yourself, and I think that affects how you move through the world. It’s different for everybody. It’s exactly what it means to you and what makes you feel the most confident when you walk into a room or your most alive, you’re most healthy, the version of yourself that you want to present to everybody. It can mean so many different things.

I’m really big into my skincare. I like to make a ritual out of getting ready in the morning and also getting unready in the evening. I think it’s really important to start and finish your day looking after yourself. This is your time. 

And skincare for me is like getting dressed; like clothes; it’s how you express yourself. I feel like if you have a great skin day, you have a great day, you know?

When I was a lot younger, I felt like I needed a lot of makeup, and it was all about covering up (heavy foundation and just a bit crazy), and I think you have to experiment. But as I’ve got older, it’s all about the skin care and the base, and then you don’t really need a lot of makeup because your skin is healthy, and you feel confident without it. Then the makeup is about embellishing rather than changing the way that your face looks.

I think I was trying to look like other people for a while, but now I just feel like I look like me, which feels good. I feel so confident now. I actually feel the most confident I’ve ever felt in my life. 

I was very lucky to have been surrounded by a lot of very strong women when I was growing up. My mum, my auntie, my granny, and I always felt like anything was possible and that I was capable. I was definitely encouraged as a child, which is very lucky. 

My hair is a big thing for me too. It’s so funny because it used to be the thing that I disliked about myself the most, which is crazy to say now. But when I was younger, every day I would just wish for different hair. I grew up in an area, and at my school specifically, nobody had hair like mine, and I didn’t know how to do it, and it just was such a big, uncomfortable thing for me. And now it’s like my favourite thing about myself, and I play with it, and I can do so many things with it. And yeah, it’s just my thing. It feels like my confidence source; that’s where I get it from- all my hair.

 Yeah, oh my God, when you realise, this is the best thing about me. But when you’re younger, you’re like, ‘I hate that this makes me different. I don’t want to be different. I want to look like everybody else’. And then suddenly you go, ‘Oh my God, this is my superpower’. I’m so glad to be in that place now with it. 

I think we are living in a world now with certain procedures and treatments that mean everybody sometimes starts to look exactly the same, and it’s scary. I think of individuality, like when I’m walking down the street and I see people with distinct looks or interesting faces. I’m so fascinated by them. And yeah, I think we should all be trying to look like ourselves as much as possible, you know. Variety is the spice of life. 

I hope that people are going to start to understand their beauty and encourage their differences, rather than all wanting to look the same. 

I guess it is chasing perfection in a way, but what does that even mean? Like perfection to whom and perfection for what? You’re not going to get a medal at the end of the day when you’re suddenly perfect, because perfection doesn’t exist. There is not going to be a day when you look in the mirror and are like, I’ve done it. I’ve got my perfect look. Like, there’ll always be something more you’re trying to improve on. So I think it’s just about accepting what you have and the way you look and then just going from there, rather than being in this constant state of  ‘I need to change, I need to change, I need to change’ It’s very tiring, you know, and so boring.

I’ve had an interesting relationship with perfection, and it’s something I think about quite a lot at the moment. I think especially in terms of music and with my last album being called messy, I was talking a lot about allowing things to be imperfect and, you know, realising the beauty in that. But even after saying all that, in making my next album, again, I’ve got caught up in just wanting it to be as excellent as it can be, which I think is a good trait, but it can also hinder you so much. It’s like in trying to be excellent all the time, you’re actually stopping yourself from being productive. So I think there’s balance to be found. It’s amazing to care about your craft and want things to be excellent, but there’s a point where you actually have to let go and work with what you have and realise that what you have is amazing and not be so nit-picky with things. But, yeah, balance. I’m learning to balance my relationship with it, basically.

I feel very lucky that my work and my passion are kind of one, and I’m able to express myself every day in my work. I love what I do, and I love to work hard. Like I really do. I love to be productive. And maybe sometimes it is too hard, again I’m learning to find the balance between my personal life and my work life, but I just love to do things. I love to create. I’m very much a yes person, although it’s very important to say no to some things.

You know, life is full of opportunities, and I think it’s important to try different things, but also know when to say no. That’s really important too.

I’m really good at saying no. I’m getting better and better every day, and it’s such an important word, and it’s such an easy word to say, even though it feels hard to say sometimes.

One of my resolutions was learning to say no regarding time and my boundaries with my time. Listening to that gut intuition, where it’s like, do I want to go and do that thing? I know quite quickly if it’s no, I don’t. It’s the difference between being like I don’t think I’ll make it tonight, and I’m not making it tonight. Don’t say you don’t know, as it can build resentment and negative feelings in you, and why are you planting those emotions in yourself?

You might as well be honest with yourself because, ultimately, it’s only you you asked to live in your head, you know? 

I mean, there are always things to do, which are not going to be your favourite things to do, but it leads you to the next thing, or the next thing. It’s good to have perspective on the things that you need to do to get you from A to B. 

Something I really, really believe in is being present. And I think as long as you just do that every day and then apply that to whatever you’re doing, anything can be fun. Anything can be fulfilling for you. If you’re just like, this is what I’m doing, and I’m loving doing it. And if you’re not, then find something that you love. Find something that makes you feel like that. I apply this to whatever I am doing.

People. I’m a very romantic person. I sing a lot about love, whether it’s romantic, or friendship or family. I’m interested in how people interact with each other and the things we say to each other, and why we behave the way we do with each other. I think songs are supposed to document a time. And as long as you document them honestly and truthfully, then they’re timeless. Songs that I’m singing about, perhaps an ex-boyfriend that I don’t feel that love for anymore, I’m still able to tap into that love being true. I’ll never put anything out that’s not true. I might not feel that way now, but I can remember that feeling.