Olivia Dean has done it again. With her new release Touching Toes, she solidifies her reputation as a soulful storyteller who knows how to pull on your heartstrings. The track is a tender love song about those magical, early stages of connection—the kind where you’re letting someone into your space and feeling the moment when it clicks: this is love. Olivia herself describes it as a “delicate bookmark to the end of this chapter of music.” And delicate it is. From the opening soft acoustic guitar to her soulful, ethereal vocals, Touching Toes feels like a warm embrace wrapped in sound. Produced by Zach Nahome, whose credits include dreamy artists like PinkPantheress and Biig Piig, the song is a mellow, stripped-back offering with atmospheric backing vocals that elevate its intimacy.
The lyrics cut deep in the most beautiful way. Lines like “They say your body knows when it’s really something, when we’re touching toes” and “That’s the warmth of loving, and he flows and flows like a river in my mind” hit on that universal, heart-fluttering feeling of knowing. It’s love, it’s vulnerability, it’s real—and Olivia delivers it all with her signature vocal magic.
Touching Toes comes at the height of what’s already been a groundbreaking year for Olivia. With standout performances at Coachella and Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage, plus her first festival headline slot at Love Supreme, she’s cemented her place as one of the UK’s most exciting musical talents. Add in her Mercury Prize and BRIT nominations, and it’s clear Olivia is a rising star who’s just getting started. And speaking of star power, she was recently spotted out and about with none other than Harry Styles. Could it be a budding friendship? Something more? Who are we to speculate—but it’s another reason everyone’s talking about her right now.
This track is a gentle reminder of what makes Olivia Dean such a force: her ability to tell intimate stories that feel universally relatable, all while maintaining a sound that’s undeniably her own. If her debut album Messy was about finding herself, then Touching Toes is about finding someone else—and letting them in.
So, pour yourself a cup of tea, put this song on repeat, and let Olivia Dean’s heartfelt ballad remind you of the beauty in love’s quietest moments.
