“We started with the drum beat and I was like, ‘Yeah, I want to do something kind of like The Way You Make Me Feel.' And I sat at the Wurly and I went, ‘duh-du-duhh’”: Olivia Dean on writing Man I Need and the Michael Jackson hit that helped to inspire it

AUSTIN, TEXAS - OCTOBER 04: Olivia Dean performs in concert during the 2025 Austin City Limits Music Festival at Zilker Park on October 04, 2025 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Gary Miller/Getty Images).

Olivia Dean’s Man I Need has turned out to be the post-summer feelgood pick-me-up that the world needed, landing in Top 10s around the globe.

Now, in an interview with And The Writer Is…, the UK singer-songwriter has been discussing how the song was created, and the intention behind it.