15 BRIT Awards nominations are going to former students of the BRIT School in Croydon including Lola Young, Raye, FKA Twigs and Cat Burns. However, this year is all about Olivia Dean who looks set to follow in fellow pupils Adele and Amy Winehouse’s footsteps by sweeping the board, here’s how she and the school did it.
SINGER SONGWRITER Olivia Dean is favourite to sweep the board at tonight’s BRIT Awards and it’s all thanks to the performing arts school that keeps churning out homegrown superstars.
The BRIT School in Croydon previously nurtured global talents Adele, Jessie J, Leona Lewis and Amy Winehouse, but the class of 2026 has exceeded all expectations with 15 BRITs nominations going to former students including Lola Young, Raye, FKA Twigs and Cat Burns.
Olivia has five nods and is in a league of her own after racking up an incredible two billion streams and mega hits on both sides of the Atlantic.
The BRIT Awards marks a full circle moment for Olivia who will be performing live on the Manchester Co-Op Arena stage tonight: “I’m feeling all the feelings, I’m feeling very loved and just received and understood, and I’m very grateful for that.
“I went to the BRIT Awards ten years ago when I was at the BRIT school…in the pit, so coming back to perform is crazy!”
The BRIT School provides free education in music, film, design, theatre and Olivia had to travel an hour and 45 minutes each way from Highams Park to attend as a 15 year-old, regularly falling asleep on the commute. Nevertheless Olivia calls the experience “the best thing I ever did” and has remained in close contact with the institute ever since.
Stuart Worden, the BRIT School’s principal since 2012, recalls “hard worker” Dean along with fellow stars Lola Young, Rachel Chinouriri and Raye who were all together in class: “They started in year 10, all pretty close together. Lola and Olivia stayed for sixth form, Raye left after her GCSEs because she was already on her way and making money from her music.
“Those women are fantastic role models of what’s achievable if you give young people access to the arts.”
Former BRIT School students have shifted an incredible 300 million albums and more than 70 billion streams, but it’s not just about the superstar names says Worden: “Olivia met her bass player Finn [Zeferino-Birchall] in the canteen, Adele met her guitarist here when they were 16.”
After graduating from the BRIT School, Dean toured as a backup singer for Rudimental, began busking on London’s South Bank, and released a series of EPs during a tricky COVID period. Her debut album, Messy followed in 2023 to much acclaim, along with a raft of celebrity admirers including a certain Sir Elton John who told Olivia: “You’re going to be a star” after they met at Glastonbury.
Olivia, who now receives regular phone calls from the Rocket Man told the Daily Star: “It’s important to validate yourself, but it’s nice to have Elton John say: ‘I like your album’ too. That gives you a little confidence.”
She certainly oozes self assurance on stage, but the real Olivia is a little different hence the title of her debut.
The Rein Me In star laughed: “Messy isn’t a metaphor, I’m a messy person.
“My room is a mess and I love going out dancing on a messy one.
“It’s funny everyone pretends they’re fab all the time on Instagram, but I’ll walk down the street looking absolutely busted.
“I’m not pretending to be messy and have my life together – Messy is all true.”
Messy was a big hit but it was Olivia’s second album, The Art of Loving that transformed her into an A-lister, becoming the UK’s biggest selling artist of the year.
Inspired by Bell Hooks’s book, All About Love she recalled: “(It talks) about love as less of a fantasy thing and more of something that you can practice, like a skill you could get really good at.
“And I thought, I’d like to do that. I’d like to be more loving and love people better and myself better, and I think this album was just me exploring that.”
Olivia gets labelled a soul singer, but with influences as diverse as Paul Simon and Aretha Franklin pigeon-hole her music at your peril: “I felt impossible to commit to one style.
“If I’d just made a ballads album, I’d be bored on stage when I want to dance around.
“But if I’d just made Motown songs, when would I get to play guitar and have my singer-songwriter moment?”
That realness extends to wanting an organic long-lasting career at the top…even if it means disappointing fans.
“I’m not looking for instant success and I’m not interested in blowing up,” insisted Olivia.
“That sounds horrible – who wants to blow up?
“I’m interested in making many albums in a long career.
“To do that, I have to switch my music up to keep it interesting, for myself and the listener.”
Man I Need cracked the US Top 5 recently, and despite multiple No1s here in the UK Olivia is keeping her feet on the ground: “I’m not somebody who looks at the charts too much.
“It’s obviously amazing, but it is a bit of a dangerous game for me personally to have that as a barometer of success. But it feels great.”
After the BRITs Olivia will tour UK arenas including an incredible six nights at The O2 in London and a chance to finally enjoy a few home comforts.
She laughed: “I have custard creams on my rider but sometimes when you go to different places they don’t really understand what it is so often we get a lot of custard!”
A four night stand at New York’s Madison Square Garden follows in the summer after whichshe is already eyeing up possible 2027 plans.
She teased: “I’d love to headline Glastonbury one day.”
Watch the BRIT Awards tonight on ITV1 and ITVX from 8.15pm as well as ITV ’s YouTube channel.
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