"Euphoric yet faintly distant, it conjures the feeling when you're on a dancefloor, slightly out of it, and gazing at the human melee around you. And so it proves here, with a performance where Styles is in the moment, jiving with his considerable band and backing singers, and twitching in time with dancers in snail T-shirts and sunglasses and yet also one level above the moment, not letting himself become too giddy beyond a couple of grins."
"In her acceptance speech she said her winning album is just about love, and loving each other in a world that feels loveless right now, and not only is that so well expressed on the record itself it is so alive to the possibility of love, even as it acknowledges the potential hurt she also embodied that spirit in her performance of Man I Need."
"A latent part of Dean's appeal has been quite how much she actually enjoys what she does, filling her performances with wriggles of pleasure and ahh this is happening! facial expressions, and so it was here, as she leaned into every curve of Man I Need's syncopation. The joy at the first flush of love, and the fun of the romantic chase, was also written through every one of her movements."
Styles opened with Aperture, a UK No. 1 that is rapidly declining in chart position, presenting a stylistic departure in contemporary pop. His performance balanced engagement with distance, featuring energetic band and backing singers while maintaining emotional restraint. His vocal delivery echoed Kings of Convenience's Erlend Oye and David Bowie's observational detachment. Olivia Dean dominated the evening, winning four awards for her album The Art of Loving, which explores love and connection in an increasingly loveless world. Dean's performance of Man I Need showcased her characteristic joy and pleasure in performance, with movements reflecting the excitement of romantic pursuit and early love.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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