Two young pop acts currently nominated for the best new artist Grammy Award — Alex Warren and Olivia Dean — will make their local arena debuts next summer.
Warren will play St. Paul’s Grand Casino Arena on July 2, with Dean following July 29 at Target Center in downtown Minneapolis. Tickets for both shows go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday through Ticketmaster.
Warren, 25, got his start online via TikTok and YouTube and began self-releasing his music in 2021. He signed to Atlantic the following year. He went on to release a series of singles that didn’t gain much traction. But that began to change after he starred in the Netflix reality series “Hype House.”
His 2024 single “Before You Leave Me” was his first hit and went gold. Fueled by his online following, Warren’s subsequent singles found similar success. He broke through to the mainstream in a massive way this year with “Ordinary,” which spent 10 weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 and hit No. 1 in more than 30 countries around the world.
Olivia Dean
Dean, 26, was born in London to a Jamaican-Guyanese mother and an English father. In grade school, she performed “Tomorrow” from the musical “Annie” at a talent show and, despite crying due to stage fright, placed second. She went on to attend the prestigious BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology where she studied songwriting.
While still a teen, Dean landed a gig singing backup vocals for the British drum and bass group Rudimental, which led her to self-release music and secure a contract with an EMI subsidiary. Her 2023 debut album “Messy” made some waves abroad, but Dean didn’t land a hit in the U.S. until this year’s “Man I Need.” She has said it’s “a song about knowing how you deserve to be loved and not being afraid to ask for it. It’s forward, sexy, fun. It’s made for dancing.”
Dean made her “Saturday Night Live” debut on this weekend’s episode, hosted by actor Glen Powell.
Warren and Dean are competing with the Marías, Addison Rae, Sombr, Leon Thomas and Lola Young for best new artist at the 68th annual Grammy Awards, which will take place Feb. 1 in Los Angeles.
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