BRIT Awards: Olivia Dean claims British Artist of the Year and British Album of the Year prizes
Olivia Dean won both the British Artist of the Year and British Album of the Year awards at the BRITs in Manchester on Saturday (28.02.26).
Olivia Dean took home both the British Artist of the Year and British Album of the Year gongs at the BRIT Awards.
The 26-year-old star won two big prizes at Saturday’s (28.02.26) ceremony in Manchester as she was honoured for her 2025 record The Art of Loving.
It meant that she took home four prizes in all, after winning both Song of the Year for Rein Me In with Sam Fender and Best Pop Act earlier in the evening.
After winning the Artist of the Year prize, a tearful Olivia said: "It takes a lot of people to be a good artist and it's not lost on me that I have good people around me, so thank you, I love you.
Dean was later honoured for The Art of Loving - which included tracks such as Nice to Each Other and Man I Need - and explained how the record had “changed (her) life”.
She said: “Making this album has changed my life.
“This album is about love and loving each other in a world that feels loveless right now.”
The Art of Loving topped the charts in the UK but she confessed that she found making the album “very tricky” to start with as she felt the “pressure” of living up to her acclaimed 2023 debut Messy.
She told Harper’s Bazaar of the process: "[It was] Very tricky. I definitely think I took on that trickiness at the beginning of the process. I was scared. I felt the pressure. I made a lot of stuff that I didn’t think was that good. Then I thought, 'Okay, well, if I want to make an album about love and loving and my understanding of that, I need to be really comfortable. I need to be in a space where I’m able to be vulnerable, not just with myself but with other people that I’m working with; that must be done at home.'"
On how she overcame the initial trickiness, Olivia added: "So I stripped it right back. I went back to East London, where I grew up, and we rented this house, and I brought my piano in and just invited everybody to come to me. I think that made such a difference to the music. It brought such a warmth and comfortability and authenticity, which is what I was trying to achieve. It was a lovely process making this album: lots of cups of tea, lots of red wine, and just my favourite people in the studio."
