Olivia Dean Shows Us How to Be Nice to Each Other - Live in Montreal
Review by Meena Thakur
Phone photo by Meena Thakur
Stepping on stage, dressed in a beautiful ruffled white slip dress, Olivia Dean starts her set with her hit single “Nice to Each Other”. A song about finding independence in love, Olivia Dean’s music is warm and familiar, as if someone is finally putting words to the feelings you didn’t know you needed to hear.
At 26 years old, Dean commands the stage with elegance as she sways, dances, and compliments Montreal on its chicness. Through her set she performs songs mostly from her album Messy (2023), while filtering in some of her singles and older songs as well. Before singing her oldest piece, “Reason to Stay”, Dean takes the time to reflect on the person she was when she first released the song at age 19, the growth she has made since then, and the gratefulness she feels to be able to still perform this song. She also performed her newly released song “Lady Lady” which will appear in her new album The Art of Loving that is set to release on September 26th. She explains that the new album is about Mother Nature, the universe, and the existential uncertainty that so many of us hold, wondering where we belong in the world and asking ourselves, “why?”
Despite the 1,000 person capacity at Beanfield Theatre, between each song Olivia Dean manages to create an intimacy with the audience that feels like a late night conversation between friends. She chats openly about her perspective on love. She shares her belief people do not have second halves to search for. Instead, we are whole on our own, and to love someone is to recognize their wholeness. She then timely performs “Be My Own Boyfriend”.
For me, the heart of the concert came at the second last song. “Carmen”, Dean explains, is a love letter to her grandmother who immigrated from Guyana to the UK at the age of 18. This song features steel pans, horns, and organ music, setting it apart from her other songs. Dean dedicated this song to “any immigrant and anyone brave enough to take a leap” which drew a huge cheer from the audience. Throughout her music and stage banter, Olivia Dean revealed a great capacity to capture and honour the place and people we are in the present moment. She is able to acknowledge the personal and collective histories and moments that accumulate to make up a whole person. With her career only rising, it is a pleasure to see an artist so gracefully attuned to the present.