Artists Like Olivia Dean: Soul-Pop Voices to Try Next

If you're chasing what pulls you toward Olivia Dean — an unhurried tempo, a lead vocal that sits right up front, jazz chords resting under plainspoken soul lyrics — the search gets easier once you know what you're actually after. Listen for chiller melodies, a vocal-forward mix, relaxed soul phrasing, and candid songwriting. Each artist below pulls on a different thread of that sound, so pick the quality you want more of and follow the matching group to a concrete place to start listening.

Current British Soul-Pop Peers

RAYE, Joy Crookes, and Sienna Spiro are the closest current matches when the lead vocal, not a strict genre tag, is what you're following.

RAYE — start with "Oscar Winning Tears." RAYE shares Dean's habit of turning a conversational lyric into a full pop arrangement, then pushes the drama further, letting the vocal build from restraint into a big release rather than staying relaxed the whole way through. A Reddit discussion in r/ToddintheShadow described the two as "becoming big stars of a new generation of British R&B," a fair way to hear how closely their catalogs sit together. Hear RAYE's catalog on Apple Music.

Joy Crookes — start with "Feet Don't Fail Me Now." Her tone sits lower and grainier than Dean's, and the groove carries more insistence underneath, but the songwriting instinct — candid, unhurried, vocal-first — is close kin. One listener on Pi.fyi put it simply: "she has more of a jazzy vibe, like raye but her music is fantastic. she sounds a bit like amy winehouse imo." Hear Joy Crookes' catalog on Apple Music.

**Sienna Spiro — start with "Die on This Hill."** Spiro trades Dean's relaxed pocket for sparse piano ballads that put breath, rasp, and held notes front and center, so the connection here is vocal color more than production style. The Hollywood Reporter described her as one of several acts "spearheading a new British invasion fronted by soulful pop girls, joining the likes of Olivia Dean and Lola Young."

Emerging Newcomers

Lola Florial and Nectar Woode carry that vocal-led soul sound in two distinct directions.

**Lola Florial — start with "It Ain't Been Easy".** San Francisco's Lola Florial writes original jazz-pop songs on a vintage-soul foundation. Her smoky, grain-textured voice moves between close, conversational phrasing and a raw, full-bodied release, giving candid lyrics an unvarnished emotional edge — the same vocal-led blend of jazz, soul, and sophisticated pop that makes Dean's music so inviting. Her debut EP, "If You Have to Ask," arrives July 24, 2026.

**Nectar Woode — start with "How It's Gotta Be."** Hypebae's guide to artists for Olivia Dean fans places Woode alongside Amber Mark on its list. Her buoyant rhythm bed and light, uncluttered hook make her a good stop once the closer matches above start to feel familiar, and a natural test of how far your playlist can drift while staying vocal-led.

Neo-Soul and R&B Voices With the Same Warmth

Cleo Sol, Amber Mark, Jorja Smith, and Solange each carry Dean's vocal-forward, soulful instinct into more neo-soul or R&B-leaning territory.

Cleo Sol — start with "When I'm in Your Arms." She leaves wide space around the voice, so small shifts in phrasing register as the main event rather than decoration — the closest thing here to Dean's own unhurried calm. Hear Cleo Sol's catalog on Apple Music.

Amber Mark — start with "Worth It." The vocal stays central and emotionally open, but the arrangement around it gets busier — brighter percussion, stacked harmony, more visible production detail than Dean typically uses. Hear the album on Apple Music.

Jorja Smith — start with "Blue Lights." Smith holds phrases back rather than resolving them, and the beat underneath carries more shadow than Dean's arrangements usually do, which makes her a cooler, moodier branch of the same restraint. Hear Jorja Smith's catalog on Apple Music.

Solange — start with "Cranes in the Sky" on A Seat at the Table. AllMusic describes her as an "adventurous, expectation-defying" voice in retro-soul and alternative R&B, and the same lineage of jazz-and-soul-inflected pop that shapes Dean's records runs through this album.

Older Records That Explain the Lineage

Britannica's profile of Dean names Angie Stone, Aretha Franklin, and Lauryn Hill among the singers she cites as direct influences — useful context for why these older records still reward a return trip.

Sade — start with "Kiss of Life." The connection is control: an elegant, relaxed lead vocal, a groove that never rushes, a band that creates motion without pressuring the singer. Hear the album on Sade's official site.

Lauryn Hill — start with "Ex-Factor." Hill moves between delicacy and rasp inside a single verse, and the arrangement leaves room for the lyric's temperature to change mid-song — an early blueprint for the honest, unguarded writing listeners hear in Dean. Hear Lauryn Hill's catalog on Apple Music.