Clash Issue 131 - Olivia Dean

Olivia Dean is the first face of CLASH 131. 

We honour the East London artist with her first CLASH cover, in association with Magnum Ice-Cream.

Two years on from her Silver-certified, Mercury Prize-nominated debut LP ‘Messy’, Olivia Dean returns with ‘The Art Of Loving’ - a pillowy collection of burnished soul, jazz and bossa, accented by the sheen of modern pop.

Inspired by the exhibition All About Love by Mickalene Thomas - an homage to the feminist writer bell hooks, who deepened the concept of love and relationships in all its forms - Dean traces a non-linear journey through her mid-twenties with self-love as the bedrock. 

Opening up her repertoire to a stellar blues-rock collaboration with Sam Fender, featuring in the end credits of a Bridget Jones movie, and bypassing fears of a sophomore slump on an album that soars with heart and intention, Olivia Dean is asking her listeners to slow down and meet her at this moment. This is her utopia. 

She tells CLASH: “I want listeners to luxuriate in their feelings… I want them to think about how we treat each other, and how we neglect and love ourselves. I sit with my feelings, and they can be intense. But I’m honouring that intensity because I feel strongly.” 

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Words: Shahzaib Hussain

Photography: Florence Mann

Fashion: Simone Beyene  

Photographer 1st Assistant: Shiori Ota

Hair: Sophie Jane Anderson

Make Up: Emily Engleman

Direction: Rob Meyers

Video: Haruki