The Art Of Loving by Olivia Dean
In her sophomore album The Art Of Loving, award-winning singer/songwriter Olivia Dean invites us into the different rooms that house her understanding of love.
With airy and emotionally rich melodies that buoy you through beautifully written and harmoniously produced songs (produced by Zach Nahome), Olivia uses this record to tell of relatable emotions and scenarios involved in the creating and sustaining of the art that is love.
The title and journey of this record was reportedly inspired by an art exhibition which Dean viewed at The Broad Museum called All About Love by Mickalene Thomas, an exhibition inspired by and named after bell hooks’ book All About Love in which hooks analyzes love and presents it as a practice we must engage in with intention and consistency while promoting the importance of self love and individuality.
These are themes we run into all through this record.
Art of Loving (Intro) has Dean's euphonious vocals carry us into a room with paint thrown erratically on the walls. She sings as though, before we came in, she had processed and come to the conclusion of love simultaneously being a loss and a gain; her job through the continuing tracks is to narrate how she came to her conclusion.
Dean sings of a fleeting relationship with a stranger which doesn't need to come with the "classic stuff" associated with love and in which they could just be Nice to Each Other. This self-preservation and passive approach to intimacy has become ubiquitous in today's world and she tackles the idea in a blithe tone over uplifting instrumentation.
The lead single Man I Need acts almost as an opposite request to Nice to Each Other as Dean calls for her partner to bring their relationship or rather, situationship, out of the limbo they are existing in. Dean asks for communication and honesty believing that these will permit the relationship to bloom; a situation some listeners might also relate to, especially involving new crushes. The infectious energy of the song is palpable as she vocally prances around expressive beats.
We experience Dean's impassioned voice explore the idea of self appreciation in songs such as Lady Lady in which she speaks through the lens of another version of herself living within and reacting to the changes that might come with the process of self-discovery, and So Easy (To Fall In Love), a groovy song about recognizing the love that you attract due to the love that you are.
This motif of self love is sustained even through heartbreak songs such as Let Alone The One You Love, a song addressing not feeling supported in a relationship, and Something Inbetween, a song spotlighting the need for individuality and space in love. Dean is proving that she's able to tap into the honest and raw emotions associated with the practice of the art of loving in relatable ways.
Although she explores upholding one's needs even through heartbreak, Dean doesn't shy away from investigating a love that leaves you stranded and standing by yourself in the middle of the party through songs like Close Up and Loud but just like a child, she recognizes that she can't stay stuck and must rediscover herself after the separation in Baby Steps.
Wrapping up her feelings on the relationship in A Couple Minutes by painting a hopeful picture of what a chance meeting with someone you once loved and knew intimately could be like; a meeting in which you realize that they will always have a soft spot in your heart and nothing is truly lost if love was shared.
Olivia's seasoned songwriting and indulgent vocals pair perfectly with the myriad of soulful and jazzy instruments dancing around each other expansively in these tracks.
In the Outro, I've Seen It, Dean contemplates on her still deepening and sometimes dwindling understanding of love through the acts of love she has been blessed to experience and the multifarious ways she's seen it show up in the world.
Through this album, Olivia reminds us that love is truly a practice that involves introspection, fulfillment, appreciation and some times, selfishness.
Dean has stated in an interview with Rolling Stone UK that she is intrigued by the ways in which we are all expected to have a visceral understanding of love and all its facets but we also recognize that is not our reality.
Just like anything else, we must study and understand it and The Art Of Loving acts a study of love and its rooms.