Love may be pop’s oldest subject, but Olivia Dean finds fresh angles with her newest album, “The Art of Loving.” Released Friday, the 26-year-old British singer-songwriter blends breezy soul pop with quiet yet astute observations. She doesn’t claim to have mastered love; instead, she maps it, tracing it in all its forms: romantic, platonic and personal.
Dean’s sophomore album follows “Messy,” her 2023 debut album that landed her a Mercury Prize nomination and helped cement her as a “star in the making” according to Forbes. While “Messy” showed her versatility, “The Art of Loving” feels more focused. Dean zeroes in on one theme — the act of giving and receiving love — and carries it across the tracklist in a way that feels warm, confident and experienced.
Following the intro, the album opens with “Nice to Each Other,” a gentle guitar-led track that sets the tone for the rest of the record. Dean cuts through the usual pressures of romance with lines like, “Cause I don’t want a boyfriend / But we could be nice to each other / Nice to each other.” It’s a simple thought; Love doesn’t have to be complicated, sometimes it’s enough just to be kind.
From there, she shifts gears. “Close Up” drifts into moody and smoky territory, its layered with instrumentation circling her lyrics as she sings, “I can’t tell if you need me or want me all that much.” The song captures the uncertainty and insecurity of being in your twenties, trying to figure out love and desire.
The mood brightens with “So Easy (To Fall In Love)” where playful harmonies support flirty lines like, “I’m the perfect mix of Saturday night and the rest of your life,” and “And maybe one night could turn into three / Well, I’m down to see.”
The album’s centerpiece, “Man I Need,” is a standout. Ranked No. 3 on Spotify’s Top Global Songs Charts at the time of publication, the easy breezy chorus creates a love song that resists cynicism and instead radiates a unique kind of sunny, airy optimism.
She also takes creative risks on “Let Alone The One You Love” and “I’ve Seen It,” stretching her vocal range and experimenting with different dramatic and contemplative arrangements.
In “I’ve Seen It,” she notes the places she’s spotted love: in her parents’ favorite films, around a dinner table with friends, in a glance on public transportation. The track encapsulates the album’s central theme, that love is everywhere, if you are paying attention.
In a recent Vogue interview, Dean explained what she hopes listeners take away from the record.
“I just hope that people listen to it with intention and from front to back. If you have the time, maybe put on headphones and go for a walk. Take it all in, girl,” she said in the interview.
It’s a fitting sentiment for an album that treats love not as a grand spectacle, but as something to notice, experience and appreciate in all of its forms.
