This year’s best new artist Grammy category was one of the most stacked in years, with Leon Thomas coming into the race with six nods, the most of any of this year’s nominees in the category. But when last year’s winner, Chappell Roan, announced this year’s honoree on Sunday (Feb. 1), it was no surprise that British singer Olivia Dean came out on top.
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After a rousing performance of her breakthrough hit, “Man I Need,” during the preceding best new artist medley, Dean took the stage in a black sparkly dress with a feathered skirt, and after saying “thank you” and seemingly dropping an excited curse that was censored, the 26-year-old London native wiped away tears as she said she “never really imagined” she’d ever be up on the Grammy stage.
“I’m up here as the granddaughter of an immigrant,” said the singer born to an English father and Jamaican-Guyanese mother to raucous applause, a pointed comment given the roiling debate over the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement actions across the U.S., which in January resulted in the killing of two American citizens in Minneapolis.
“I wouldn’t be here … I’m a product of bravery and I think those people deserve to be celebrated,” Dean added. “We’re nothing without each other.”
The comments were especially poignant given that many of the A-listers in the audience were wearing black-and-white “ICE Out” pins as part of an ongoing protest against the raids being conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement troops across the U.S.
Dean came out on top over a new artist roster that also included Lola Young and K-pop girl group KATSEYE, who each had two nominations this year, as well as sombr, The Marias, Addison Rae and Alex Warren. In an extended performance slot, all the best new artist nominees performed, with Dean, wearing a sparkly red minidress, helping to close it out with her smash the pop bop “Man I Need,” which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 last year.
As host Trevor Noah noted, between them, this year’s class of best new artist nominees have amassed more than 225 million followers on social media, 27 billion combined streams over the past year and 18 Grammy nominations this year.
