Fourteen of CMY’s young people see Olivia Dean live
On Monday 5 October, a group of fourteen young people from across CMY programs were gifted the opportunity to see Olivia Dean’s first Melbourne show as part of her The Art of Loving Tour by Olivia herself and the Creative Artist’s Agency. Shiao Lu is a Malaysian migrant currently based here in Melbourne, is a member of CMY’s Metro YAG and was one of the young people given tickets. Here is Shiao Lu’s reflection on the night and what this opportunity meant to her and the other attendees.
The concert was absolutely amazing, especially since Olivia’s music has always been very much awesome to listen to, and now live! I absolutely enjoyed watching the show and would most definitely be back when she’s back in Melbourne next.
The evening was so powerful, and I felt empowered by her statement before singing “Carmen”, a song dedicated to her grandmother who came to England at a young age on her own, in dedicating this song to all migrants and those who are brave enough to go across the world on their own. As someone who is still undergoing the complex processes of migration myself, I truly felt seen and heard by her words and her singing.
I love how Olivia talks about love manifesting in many forms, and how much of her music is about positivity and self-love too.
My best friend of six years was the person who got me to start listening to Olivia, so this was a truly special milestone in being able to see Olivia in-person too after our shared conversations about her.
Thank you to Olivia and her team, as well as CMY, for their amazing generosity – it was truly a wonderful night with other young people and to just immerse ourselves in the music, be present and take away Olivia’s beautifully spoken words and sung lyrics into our memories.
Other young people shared their thoughts:
“For me personally that was soooo therapeutic! She is one of my favourite artists and has been for a while sooo seeing her live literally was everythinggg and healing in so many ways! It was definitely one of the best concerts I have ever been to, just the way that she introduced every song, had a meaning behind every single song and the way she interacted with the crowd was amazing!” – Aaliyah, Le Mana Pasifika
“A true artist, had a great show for my first concert! Thanks team for the wonderful night.” – Ali, Reverb/Speak Up
“Something that really stuck to me was that song ‘Carmen,’ about her grandmother. I think as immigrants, as newly-arrived multicultural young people, it’s really great to hear that song. I think it’s also such an important message on the importance of art and storytelling in cultures all across the world. I think it’s a really important piece of advocacy that we do that sits really well alongside our programs that we run at CMY.” – Adriel, Metro YAG
Thank you once again to Olivia, her team and Creative Artist’s Agency for the amazing opportunity!