Jo Charrington can trace Olivia Dean’s recent breakout back to when she first heard the singer’s music, before she signed her record deal.
The Capitol UK president (above, right) came close to signing Dean back then, and kept a keen eye on the singer and her manager Emily Braham (above, left) until they crossed paths again, when the executive worked Dean’s Mercury-nominated debut Messy as EMI co-president alongside Rebecca Allen.
“Olivia was an artist that we'd identified very early on when we joined EMI, as someone just who had so much potential, and we really took her under our wing, particularly from an A&R point of view, very quickly,” remembers Charrington of that time.
Now, she and her Capitol team, with support from Polydor Label Group and the Universal ecosystem, are steering Dean to previously unexplored highs, with biggest ever hits Man I Need, Rein Me In, Nice To Each Other and Lady Lady jostling for position in the singles chart.
In August, the Londoner and BRIT School alumnus registered three simultaneous Top 10 singles, becoming the first British female artist to do so since Adele in 2021. Then, when her arena tour went on sale, the two London dates at The O2 promptly sold out, so two more were added, which also sold out.
Shortly after that, Music Week’s latest issue came out, with Dean starring on the cover, primed to tell the story of a breakout that has been expertly and carefully crafted, with contributions from Charrington, Capitol MD Tom Paul (above, second from right) and Braham.
Here, in an exclusive extract from our interview with Charrington and Paul, the pair dissect the campaign for The Art Of Loving, which finally arrives this Friday (September 26) and is set up to be one of the biggest releases of 2025…
Can you let us in on how the A&R process took shape for The Art Of Loving?
JC: “It’s all about foundations. On Messy, Jordan Jay [who signed Olivia] created some really strong A&R foundations. Some writers and producers that she worked with on Messy worked across this new album; Matt Hales, Max Wolfgang and Bastian Langebaek, who have been the spine of a lot of what Olivia has done up to now. It's really important that we carry that through with all our artists. It’s not just to suddenly go, because you've had a bit of a moment, ‘oh, scrap all that, and let's just find a load of new people’. We want artists to develop and we want to introduce them to new people, but not for the sake of it, only if it's going to really add value. We brought in Willem Ward, who was at Black Butter and signed Bakar and others, and he had a great existing relationship with Emily and Olivia. So while we made it with a lot of the same people, we've just tried to gently add some other songwriters. For example, Amy Allen has written on the record, Willem brought in a new producer, Zach Nahome, who has worked with Pink Pantheress and artists like that. It's about making sure Olivia is comfortable, retaining all her integrity, but ameliorating the team a bit where you think [it makes] sense.”
Listening to the album, it sounds like it worked out pretty well…
JC: “I think one of the things that we all really share is that we're all really ambitious, and we're not scared of talking about that and of challenging the status quo and asking, 'are there areas where we can improve things?' Olivia was suggesting songwriters and producers, then she performed with the Sam Fender at a stadium, and came back and was like, ‘Oh my God, I want to do that!’ She has huge ambition, so we just match that at all times, while being conscious of not overdoing it.”
To really break globally, you need to do some good planning, it's not very sexy, but that's where we can really make a difference
Jo Charrington, Capitol
How did the Sam Fender part of the story come together?
JC: “It’s such a nice example of just natural synergy between two artists who are part of the same label group, Sam reached out to Olivia, and she was just like, ‘Yep’. They kind of ran it together, once they'd got going, we just all got out of the way, and it was brilliant timing.”
Tom Paul: “When they performed Rein Me In for the first time at the London Stadium, it was just electric and an amazing way of launching the song.”
Are you targeting any particular areas with this campaign?
JC: “While we obviously love the UK, it’s our home market and the fact Olivia is having her first chart success here now is really, really meaningful and powerful. But we have always taken a very global approach, even from the beginning when nobody really cared. You know, she was doing European dates, she went out to Australia this year, it's been really global in an intentional way from the beginning.”
TP: “Before this campaign, she had never appeared in any Spotify chart, anywhere. The first one she appeared on was actually New Zealand, following her tour there, and since then she's had her first appearance in the global Spotify chart. She's had her first hit in Australia, New Zealand, Top 10s in the UK. She'd never had a Top 40 before this year. Our ambition is to headline the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury, but the milestones she's racking every day are pretty remarkable. She crossed a million followers on Instagram, she’s got two gold singles in the UK and America and Canada... There’s a snowball effect that you can feel already.”
JC: “It’s about creativity as well. Something that's always been really important to Emily and Olivia is videos. Do you remember Tom, a couple of years ago everyone was like, ‘Oh, no one wants to watch his videos anymore. They're not important’? But Emily and Olivia really wanted that creative statement and legacy, because she is such a visual artist. Now we look back and go, ‘God I'm so glad we did that,’ because it just shows her journey and has enabled us to make the videos we’re making now where we're stepping everything up.”
TP: “We want this music to be the soundtrack to people's lives, to help them get over heartbreak or navigate difficult parts of love. So the cultural importance is just as big as the commercial, too."
How important has live been to the Olivia Dean story?
TP: “Everything was scaffolded around the live moments, and that content has just been travelling everywhere. It feels like she's always on your phone, wherever she is. I guess this campaign is more condensed than the last one, because we put a bit of pressure on ourselves to get it out this year.”
JC: “Emily and Olivia’s live agent definitely manifested an ambitious touring plan, and it meant that we really needed to deliver a record. Olivia thrives under pressure and I was so impressed because there was a lot more of it. Things were a lot more defined and strategic, because we know how incredible she is and she deserves that kind of strategy. I think to really break globally, a point comes where you do need to do some good planning, it's not very sexy, but that's where you can really make a difference.”
Was there really that much time pressure? You wouldn’t know it from the rollout…
TP: “Yeah, we made this plan at the end of last year, and it's basically been stuck to, which is very rare. The dates that we set out, we have hit, which is pretty amazing, but it's testament to how close we all are, and moving the same direction.”
JC: “With the Universal restructure, one of the huge positives for us is that we've been able to work with some new people, some new really talented people like Jamie Ahye, who does the marketing, and it's made us way more focused. The detail of campaigns is so crucial, every detail is important, and it's enabled us to really get into the detail to deliver, hopefully, a great campaign.”
How has the label kept the momentum going?
JC: “That's all we think about and talk about all the time!”
TP: “We talk several times a day, weekends, evenings, always...”
JC: “We're passionate. You know, when Becky and I were doing Olivia at EMI, we were passionate then. And the whole Universal machine is as passionate as we are, which is incredible.”
Live content has just been travelling everywhere – it feels like she's always on your phone, wherever she is
Tom Paul, Capitol
Looking ahead, what is your plan for Olivia in the longer term?
TP: “Keep writing, keep touring, keep releasing great music. I mean, she's got a lot of work and a lot of touring to be done in the next six months, and then hopefully she'll get back in the studio."
JC: “Yeah, definitely. We’ll make sure she has breaks and support her. She's going to have an amazing, long career. She embodies great artistry, she's a young woman who's uncompromising, and I think she's just an incredible artist. So we couldn't be prouder. At the moment we're doing the most exciting bit, and then it's about helping her maintain it. And there might be dips in the future, I don't know, I hope not. But between us we've got experience, but we've also got young, passionate, individuals that can come up with new, novel ideas of how we market her. And Emily is one of the best managers, without a doubt, that we've ever worked with. She really knows her artists, and because of that so do we. It means we can help them make better choices and be a better support for her.”
TP: “Emily and Olivia will never take shortcuts if it compromises what they want to achieve and who they are. That's rare and also inspiring for us, plus the amount of stuff they turn down that [turns out to be] the right decision is quite unique, they always end up where they want to be.”
JC: “They will always hear us out, we'll have a debate and it's a really healthy dynamic. The key for us is to keep it that way. It’s about protecting Olivia, because it can be tough, and she needs looking after, that is part of our job. Yes, we're here to build a great career, but we're also here to protect her. Because if we do what's best for her, whatever that is, that's best for everyone in the long term.”
Read the full Olivia Dean cover story in our new issue, on sale now. Subscribers can find it online here.
INTERVIEW: COLLEEN HARRIS
PHOTO: CARSTEN WINDHORST
