Olivia Dean’s New Album is Like a Love Letter Wrapped in Soul

On her second album, The Art of Loving, Olivia Dean returns as a storyteller and seeker for answers. Olivia Dean decided on the title before she actually started working on any of the songs themselves. The title is a theme she wanted to explore personally and sonically. On twelve tracks, she shares the journey on her path to answers and really embraces the questions of how to love others, how to love yourself, and how to stay open through heartbreak. And most importantly, is there an art to loving, and how do you master it?

Even before the album dropped, it already felt like we were having a little Olivia-Dean-Summer: dancing around the room to Man I Need or belting out the line “'Cause I don't want a boyfriend” from Nice to Each Other (while later on guiltily lying in bed and swiping through dating apps, let's be real for a second). The singles already connected Olivia to love, to rom-com energy, and to the giddy highs and heartbreaks of summer crushes. While she was touring the world, looking like a glamorous '70s star escaped from a jazz club, she brought warmth, groove, and effortless charm to every stage. Olivia Dean is a natural, and her talent is shining bright on her sophomore album. So let's dive deep into the heart of her newest project.

Love Dissected in Twelve Ways

Olivia has always been a hopeless romantic, but here she also becomes an observer, almost an anthropologist of love. The record opens with the short and delicate violin-laced The Art of Loving (Intro) that frames the album's essence: “It wasn't all for nothing, yeah, you taught me something.” Dean sets the tone early: it is better to have loved and felt the pain than never to have opened up at all. This duality runs through the whole album: lush, romantic arrangements paired with moments of stripped-back vulnerability where only her voice and calm presence remain. The album continues with Nice to Each Other, a well-received single that shows a playful side of Oliva and makes you want to dance. It represents the push and pull of exploring your independence in dating and enjoying someone's presence while still keeping it light yet meaningful. Great advice for all the overthinkers out there!

Elsewhere, the album wrestles with change and self-growth. Lady Lady personifies the universe as an unpredictable force, pushing you onto new paths without warning. It is a blessing to believe in the theory that the universe always has a plan for you, but it is also scary to not know what Mother Nature holds up its sleeve next. This song perfectly encapsulates that bliss and gratefulness, as well as the slight fear involved.

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.

On Close Up, Olivia Dean questions whether feelings in a relationship were ever real. It is a stage of heartbreak that is almost inevitable, so of course, there had to be a song about it. Many of us might have experienced this dreadful pondering, and Olivia finds the perfect words to describe it. Even when she takes a closer look and realizes there was no love from that person, she comes to the brave conclusion not to close up. A reminder to keep your heart open.

I can't tell if you need me or want me all that much. Did I misread completely every single touch? Do you even see mе?

Sometimes you really have to give a shoutout to yourself, right? Olivia does just that. On So Easy (To Fall In Love), she sums up all the reasons why it is actually very easy to fall in love with. Maybe we should all do that the next time we prepare for a first date. Know your worth, ladies!

I could be the twist, the one to make you stop. The icing on your cake, the cherry on the top. There's heaven in my heart, and we could find you some space.

Love is never easy, and Olivia Dean captures just that rollercoaster. While Let Alone The One You Love is a dramatic song about overcoming the act of holding onto someone that makes you small and treats you badly, on Man I Need she made her way out of those dark times and serves us a breezy dance hymn about knowing your worth and only attracting the right people. Go, Olivia, thanks for putting the true essence of having a crush into a song.

Just come be the man I need. Tell me you got something to give, I want it. I kinda like it when you call me wonderful. Whatever the type of talk it is, come on then.

In Something Inbetween, Olivia captures the realization at a point shortly before the breakup, where you know you have to move on but can't handle leaving yet. It sums up the thirst for independence and freedom, and a slow realization that the potential to save the bond is lost. While the beat is dynamic and fast, Olivia is singing slowly, illustrating the back and forth of her mind and heart. With Loud, the absolute gut-punch of the album follows. It is a beautiful ballad with guitar fingerpicking, leading into dramatically layered strings and Olivia's voice building up, releasing all repressed emotions. For me, Loud is the perfect embodiment of the pain you feel once you have broken up and feel how many parts of yourself are irreversibly tied to your ex-partner because of memories. The impact of that void is perfectly captured in the emotions of her voice.

And you weren't allowed to come around and throw my heart about. To turn me on just to turn me down. And everything's unspoken now. I'm out; the silence is so loud.

Baby Steps is just what I needed to recover from hearing Loud. Like a mantra for us to repeat and sing along to when you feel the void left by someone who used to be by your side. Olivia Dean created an ode to slowly getting better and filling holes left behind with your own actions and self-love. A jazzy, upbeat song to celebrate the small wins in the long way of healing. I'll be right back; I just need to get me and my besties some flowers, because we deserve that. To all the people in situationships and the ones who tend to run back to their exes, enjoy this next song with a warning. A Couple Minutes is about the fleeting moments where you reconnect with an old lover or run into them and try not to let this vulnerable, fleeting moment of familiarity go before it's gone again. The song ends with a beautiful realization that the familiar isn't always the right thing, so there is beauty in goodbyes.

And although it's over, I'll always be there. Only have a couple minutes, guess we're going back to real life.

By the time I've Seen It closes the record, borrowing the melody from Bill Withers’ iconic love song Just the Two of Us, Dean leaves us with a humble resolution: love is everywhere, messy and uncontrollable, but always worth seeking. And sometimes you don’t have to look that far away, because actually, we all have it within us.

How to Mend a Broken Heart? Listen to Olivia Dean!

The Art of Loving doesn’t claim to hold the answer to its own question. Instead, Olivia Dean invites us to sit with the contradictions and reflect on our own journey with love. She wants us to feel it all: joy and pain, independence and intimacy, certainty and doubt. Olivia reminds us that maybe love isn’t about mastery at all, but about learning to stay open, kind, and honest along the way. The album makes you want to dance, yet also curl up in bed and shed a tear while rethinking past relationships. Wrapped like twelve love letters sent straight to us, it’s an album that makes you dance, makes you cry, and makes you fall in love. Whatever song speaks to you the most is definitely a message you needed to hear. While we are all falling in love with this album, let's not forget to have a look around; love can be found in a lot of places and, most importantly, within you!

Time to fall in love with Olivia Dean: Listen to the new album here