How Grammy winner Olivia Dean became Britain's new global star

British singer Olivia Dean confirmed her status as one of pop's biggest breakout stars by winning the Grammy Award for best new artist in Los Angeles on Sunday.

Dean went into the ceremony as the frontrunner, thanks to joyful, soulful romantic pop songs like Man I Need and So Easy (To Fall In Love), which became transatlantic hits last year.

Despite competition from fellow Brit Lola Young and R&B artist Leon Thomas, she came out on top, making her the first Brit to win best new act since Dua Lipa in 2019.

"I'm up here as a granddaughter of an immigrant," the 26-year-old noted while accepting her award. "I'm a product of bravery and I think those people ought to be celebrated."

She added: "We're nothing without each other."

The star also performed a buoyant version of her UK chart-topper Man I Need, in the week it reached number two on the US Billboard Hot 100.

Her golden gramophone trophy crowned her as one of pop's biggest new names, joining former best new artist winners like Amy Winehouse, Billie Eilish, Adele and Olivia Rodrigo.

She was presented with her award by last year's recipient Chappell Roan.

The moment marked the culmination of a slow-burn success that began with Dean's first EP, OK Love You Bye, in 2019.

Since then, she has experimented with numerous genres and sounds before settling on the pillowy, jazz-toned sounds of her second album, The Art of Loving.

Born in Tottenham and raised in Highams Park, north-east London, Dean knew she wanted to be a singer from an early age.

From a distance, she'd watched her cousin - So Solid Crew rapper and actor Ashley Walters - top the charts, but it was another Londoner who really inspired her.

"People always try and say something cool when they talk about their first record - but I remember my granny taking me to Woolworths to buy Leona Lewis's A Moment Like This on CD single," she told BBC News two years ago.

Her debut album Messy was nominated for the Mercury Prize, but it was last year's The Art Of Loving that really put her on the map.

An intimate portrait of matters of the heart, it reached number one in the UK and earned her three concurrent Top 10 singles.

The entire album was composed and recorded in a rented house in east London, where Dean shunned A-list writers and asked her closest collaborators to spend two weeks there, mixing sessions with late night conversations over good food and "lots of red wine".

That easy-going, free-flowing approach is all over the record – whose stories of love and loss are conveyed with an easy informality, like your best friend spilling their secrets.

Man I Need became her breakout single in the US. Speaking to the podcast And The Writer Is..., she said it had been inspired by Michael Jackson's 1987 single The Way You Make Me Feel and Haribo's insanely fizzy Tangfastic sweets.

"I came in that day and there was a lot of energy in the room," she recalled. "And I was like, 'Guys, let's make something really fun. I want to make something I can dance to. I want to make something that when I perform live, it's just gonna be like a Tangfastic'.

"We started with the drum beat and I was like, 'Yeah, I want to do something kind of like Michael [Jackson]'s The Way You Make Me Feel-esque'.

"And I sat at the Wurly [a Wurlitzer electric piano] and we kind of just, like, wrote it."

It's not just the music that has made Dean stand out.

Early in her career, she railed against being pigeonholed as an R&B artist when her music spanned genres like pop, alternative and folk, alongside throwback soul.

"I have sometimes felt quite boxed in, like I have to make 'urban' music," she said, but "I feel like I can do anything".

Last year, she made headlines again after demanding, and obtaining, a refund for fans who had bought resale tickets for her US tour from Ticketmaster.

The star wrote an open letter to ticketing companies after some tickets were listed at more than 14 times their original face value, with prices rising above $1,000 (£750).

Dean called the practice "disgusting" and "vile", prompting Ticketmaster to announce a price cap on resale tickets, and promise to refund fans "for any markup they already paid" on its service.

Showing that she's unafraid to stand up for her fans increased the praise she's received from all quarters of the industry - including Sir Elton John, who interrupted the singer's camping trip to offer congratulations on her award nominations.

Dean's Grammy win comes just weeks after she - along with Lola Young - dominated the nominations for this year's Brit Awards, with five nods, including artist of the year.

On Sunday, the singer fended off Young as well as influencers-turned-pop stars Addison Rae and Alex Warren, girl group Katseye, rock star Sombr and US indie pop band The Marías to win the best new artist category.

For the second year in a row, all eight nominees performed during a special segment at Sunday night's ceremony - dubbed the biggest night in music.

That will have allowed her to win over yet more fans who may not have known her before.

"I think what Olivia has is charm," said Stuart Worden, principal of the Brit performing arts school, which Dean attended from the age of 15.

"She's a real hard worker, so she would have worked really hard on her stage presence, really hard on her stagecraft, she would have worked really hard on her songwriting," he said.

Broadcaster Abbie McCarthy told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that Dean "oozes this superstar charm".

McCarthy promoted one of Dean's early gigs in 2020, and "even then she had that star power", she said.

"The classic styling and the elegance that she brings on stage, she's going to go down as a classic legend, I think," McCarthy added.

"She's no longer the best-kept secret. She is the star that she's always deserved to be."