Olivia Dean clinched the Grammy for best new artist Sunday in a milestone moment for the British pop singer-songwriter known for her soulful voice and timeless sound.
Dean, who is part of a growing class of young U.K.-born vocalists, made waves last year with her romantic sophomore album “The Art of Loving,” with tracks including “Man I Need,” “A Couple Minutes” and “So Easy (To Fall In Love).”
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Olivia Dean poses in the press room with the award for best new artist during the 68th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)
Olivia Dean performs "Man I Need" during the 68th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
Olivia Dean performs "Man I Need" during the 68th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
Olivia Dean arrives at the 68th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
Chappell Roan, right, presents the award for best new artist to Olivia Dean, left, during the 68th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
Olivia Dean accepts the award for best new artis during the 68th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026, in Los Angeles. Chappell Roan looks on from right. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
Olivia Dean accepts the award for best new artis during the 68th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026, in Los Angeles. Chappell Roan looks on from right. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
“I want to say I’m up here as a granddaughter of an immigrant," Dean said in her acceptance speech. "I’m a product of bravery, and I think those people deserve to be celebrated.”
Celebrities in the audience were wearing pins protesting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the celebration.
In being crowned best new artist, Dean bested KATSEYE, The Marías, Addison Rae, sombr, Leon Thomas, Alex Warren and Lola Young for the award.
She joins past best new artist winners such as The Beatles, Carly Simon, Bette Midler, Culture Club, Mariah Carey, Toni Braxton, Christina Aguilera, John Legend, Adele, Dua Lipa and Chance the Rapper.
Lauryn Hill, a favorite of her parents to whom Dean's middle name pays homage, also won the award in 1999.
The Grammy is designed for artists who achieve “a breakthrough into the public consciousness.” Eligible artists must have released at least five singles or one album, though there is no maximum.
The best new artist category is constantly evolving as the Grammys try to keep up with ever-complicated measures of fame. A screening committee determines whether artists have attained the necessary “breakthrough or prominence” required for nomination.
But there’s a new exception this year: acts featured on previous album of the year nominees are now considered new enough for eligibility. Their contributions just have to fall below 20% of the album’s playing time.
Olivia Diaz is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
Olivia Dean poses in the press room with the award for best new artist during the 68th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)
Olivia Dean performs "Man I Need" during the 68th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
Olivia Dean performs "Man I Need" during the 68th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
Olivia Dean arrives at the 68th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
Chappell Roan, right, presents the award for best new artist to Olivia Dean, left, during the 68th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
Olivia Dean accepts the award for best new artis during the 68th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026, in Los Angeles. Chappell Roan looks on from right. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
Olivia Dean accepts the award for best new artis during the 68th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026, in Los Angeles. Chappell Roan looks on from right. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
CAIRO (AP) — Gaza’s Rafah border crossing with Egypt reopened on Monday for limited traffic, a key step in the Israeli-Hamas ceasefire but a mostly symbolic development on the ground as few people will be allowed to travel in either direction and no goods will be going into the war-torn territory.
Within the first hour of the opening, no one was actually seen crossing in or out of Gaza. An Egyptian official said 50 Palestinians would cross in each direction on the first day of the crossing’s operation.
About 20,000 Palestinian children and adults needing medical care hope to leave devastated Gaza via the crossing, according to Gaza health officials. Thousands of other Palestinians outside the territory hope to enter and return home.
State-run Egyptian media and an Israeli security official also confirmed the reopening. The officials spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss the issue.
Before the war, Rafah was the main crossing for people moving in and out of Gaza. The territory’s handful of other crossings are all shared with Israel. Under the terms of the ceasefire, which went into effect in October, Israel’s military controls the area between the Rafah crossing and the zone where most Palestinians live.
Violence still continued across the coastal territory, and Gaza hospital officials said an Israeli navy ship had fired on a tent camp, killing a 3-year-old Palestinian boy.
About 150 hospitals across Egypt are ready to receive Palestinian patients evacuated from Gaza through the Rafah crossing, authorities said. Also, the Egyptian Red Crescent said it has prepared “safe spaces” at the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing to support evacuated Palestinian patients and wounded from Gaza Strip.
Israel has banned sending patients to hospitals in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem since the war began — a move that cut off what was previously the main outlet for Palestinians needing treatment unavailable in Gaza.
Israel has said it and Egypt will vet people for exit and entry through the Rafah crossing, which will be supervised by European Union border patrol agents with a small Palestinian presence. The numbers of travelers are expected to increase over time, if the system is successful.
Fearing that Israel could use the crossing to push Palestinians out of the enclave, Egypt has repeatedly said it must be open for them to enter and exit Gaza. Historically, Israel and Egypt have vetted Palestinians applying to cross.
A 3-year-old Palestinian was killed Monday when Israel navy hit tents sheltering displaced people on the coast of Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis, Palestinian hospital authorities said.
According to the Nasser hospital, which received the body, the attack happened in Muwasi, a tent camp area on the Gaza Strip’s coast. The boy was the latest among Palestinians in Gaza since the October ceasefire in Gaza.
Israel's military said it was looking into the incident.
More than 520 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire since October 10, according to the strip’s health ministry. The casualties since the ceasefire, which UNICEF said include more than 100 children, are among the over 71,700 Palestinians killed since the start of Israel’s offensive, according to Gaza health ministry, which does not say how many were fighters or civilians.
The ministry, which is part of Gaza's Hamas-led government, keeps detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts.
Israeli troops seized the Rafah crossing in May 2024, calling it part of efforts to combat arms-smuggling for the militant Hamas group. The crossing was briefly opened for the evacuation of medical patients during a ceasefire in early 2025. Israel had resisted reopening the Rafah crossing, but the recovery of the remains of the last hostage in Gaza cleared the way to move forward.
The reopening is seen as a key step as the U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement that took effect on Oct. 10 moves into its second phase.
The truce halted more than two years of war between Israel and Hamas that began with the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Its first phase called for the exchange of all hostages held in Gaza for hundreds of Palestinians held by Israel, an increase in badly needed humanitarian aid and a partial pullback of Israeli troops.
The second phase of the ceasefire deal is more complicated. It calls for installing the new Palestinian committee to govern Gaza, deploying an international security force, disarming Hamas and taking steps to begin rebuilding.
Federman reported from Jerusalem.
Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
A crane enters the Egyptian gate of the Rafah crossing to the Gaza Strip, in Rafah, Egypt, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohamed Arafat)
Trucks carrying humanitarian aids line up to enter the Egyptian gate of the Rafah crossing, heading for inspection by Israeli authorities before entering the Gaza Strip, in Rafah, Egypt, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohamed Arafat)
Ambulances line up to enter the Egyptian gate of the Rafah crossing on the way to the Gaza Strip, in Rafah, Egypt, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohamed Arafat)
