Olivia Dean’s ‘The Art of Loving’ offers warmth, comfort for hopeless romantics
Olivia Dean let listeners into her relationships with three singles released before her album, “Man I Need,” “Lady Lady” and “Nice to Each Other.” She gave fans the whole story in her new album “The Art of Loving,” singing about themes of transformation and romanticism. Maria Masek | Contributing Illustrator
Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox.
Subscribe to our newsletter here.
While other artists may go out of their comfort zone, Olivia Dean remains firm in hers with “The Art of Loving,” her sophomore album.
The London-born singer worked on the album at a home studio in East London. Building on the success of her debut album, “Messy,” her second album focuses on providing listeners with the same warmth she felt while writing from the cozy confines of her hometown.
“Why can’t I be comfortable?” Dean said to The Irish Times. “Why do I have to be in distress to make good music? Why can’t I just be happy?”
Those themes are reflected across the 12 tracks and 34-minute runtime of “The Art of Loving,” which was released Friday. Dean’s voice, blended with her soulful pop style, brings a sense of comfort to life. The singer, a self-described hopeless romantic, offers love to others like her throughout the album.
Dean’s unmistakable sound conveys this message, letting listeners know that even if they don’t feel loved in the way they think they deserve, there are other forms of love they can find. In the album’s 40-second intro, “The Art of Loving,” Dean sets the scene for that self-realization as strings swell and birds chirp behind her raw vocals.
Dean follows the intro with “Nice To Each Other,” released in June as one of the album’s three standalone singles. It’s easily one of the highlights.
The singer grapples with the challenge of pursuing a relationship while remaining true to herself, but remains hopeful that it’ll work out.
“Here we are, back again / Fighting what’s in front of me / There’s so much to unpack again,” she sings.
In “Lady Lady,” another one of the standalone singles, Dean has changed herself to try to make the relationship work. Instead of taking a negative tone, she sings about how the changes helped her become a better person with lyrics like “She’s always changing me without a word / And I was just, I was just getting used to her / Keeps rearranging me a little bit.”
The next track, “Close Up,” draws inspiration from Amy Winehouse, who Dean has cited as a major inspiration in her work. Her vocals build throughout before crescendoing at the chorus, where Dean sings about her previous relationship lovingly, despite its bittersweet ending.
Her vulnerability carries over into “So Easy (To Fall In Love)” and “Let Alone The One You Love,” two quintessential songs for hopeless romantics. Across each track, Dean aches for a new relationship and a deeper feeling of love while searching for a soulmate.
Through these two songs, it’s clear that Dean’s fantasizing of love and how to share it is one of the main themes of the album. She captures the duality she faces in searching for love, all while trying to meet the expectations of her significant other.
With “Man I Need,” the third and final single, the tempo picks back up. The hopeless romantic side of the singer shines again as a vulnerable Dean sings openly about her desires and the type of love she’s searching for.
“Something Inbetween” follows the happy tones of “Man I Need” with a more somber track, grounding the listener from the previous track’s highs as the singer searches for an honest definition of what her new relationship is, leaving Dean trapped.
“I’m not his, I’m not hers / I’m not your all or nothing / I’m more, can we still be something in between?” Dean sings.
In “Loud,” one of the album’s more vulnerable tracks, she realizes that her new relationship isn’t anything like she imagined it to be, which forces Dean to reflect. There’s an unnerving feeling behind the chorus, pushing the album to a tipping point with the next track, “Baby Steps.”
“Baby Steps” not only marks a shift in Dean’s personal growth, but it pushes the album back in a happy direction with its catchiest track. Dean learns how to trust again and rediscovers the meaning of love, even if it wasn’t the love she envisioned.
“It’s not the end, it’s the making of / Right, left, for now / I’m taking ba-ba-ba-baby steps.”
Dean builds on “Baby Steps” with “A Couple Minutes,” leaning into her soulful side. She recounts how far she’s come since “Nice To Each Other” with another look at her previous relationships, finding comfort in the love she shared with full closure.
The album’s final track, “I’ve Seen It,” reaffirms her hopeless romantic side. While Dean’s the same hopeless romantic at heart, she’s matured and paints a deeper picture of the love in her life and its various forms.
“The more you look, the more you find / It’s all around you all the time / Catches your eye, you blink and then it’s gone / Brings out the worst, brings out the best,” she sings.
There’s no denying the rise in popularity of British artists, and the release of “The Art of Loving” puts Dean at the forefront of that shift. With her latest album, Dean proves she has all of the makings of the U.K.’s next pop star, ready to share her music globally.
