If there has been one breakout popstar of 2025, it has to be Olivia Dean. She has been absolutely everywhere this year. She's had a steady rise over the past few years, cropping up on features and I remember Dive from her debut record being a pretty moderate hit and hearing it on the radio pretty frequently. But something has been in the air with the roll-out of this album. Lead single Nice To Each Other quite quickly went viral on Tiktok and its not hard to see why. The very detailed, intimate lyrics about love without labels and summery, washed out synths, reverb-y pulsating drum beat and gentle strumming is tailor made for 'wholesome' montages of people's summer escapades. The song is pretty damn catchy to boot. Following on from that, she went Tiktok viral again for her duet performance with Sam Fender on his track Rein Me In (which was then released as a single that also charted in the top 10). I think it was at this point that we all knew that this album was going to be big.
The second single, Lady Lady, has been more of a grower for me. The gentler neo-soul instrumentation and a less earwormy hook made it have less of an immediate impact on me, but over time the themes of constantly being in a state transition and 'trusting the process' have really sunk their teeth into me. It is one of the most mature songs on the record and is the only one that isn't overtly relationship centred, which makes it a notable exception as you get deeper into the record. Man I Need was released as the third single, and while it lacks a little of the depth of the first two singles, it makes up for it by being so damn fun and catchy. The bouncing piano riff and Olivia's warm, impassioned delivery have made it her biggest hit yet, even crossing over into the US charts.
Unfortunately, this momentum hasn't really carried into the rest of the tracks here, as they feel very safe and by-the-numbers both lyrically and musically. So Easy (To Fall In Love) has been released as the fourth single alongside the album's release and musically it is a pretty bog standard bossa nova tune; and lyrically, while it is cute, it is so underdeveloped and cliché. The second verse opens with "The way I do my hair, the way I make you laugh / The way we like to share a walk in central park" and really epitomises this. Where Nice To Each Other was relatable through its detailed lyrics, So Easy just goes for broad generalisations to achieve the same relatability. It is catchy, I'll give it that, but it doesn't have the legs that the other singles have.
Much of the rest of the album follows suit, being songs that sit very comfortably within the textbook definitions of their various styles, and all having very generalised, borderline-cliché lyrics and themes revolving around love and non-committal relationships and heartbreak. Close Up has that smoky, throwback jazz-soul fusion vibe akin to Amy Winehouse, but lacks any of the rawness or danger Winehouse is known for. Let Alone The One You Love is a pretty bog standard slow-jam waltz and Loud is the big, bombastic, Bond theme-esque power-ballad. Olivia's personality on the singles just doesn't translate to these tracks.
Things do pick up again towards the back end of the record, with some of the more detailed lyrics returning on the track Baby Steps. It's not mind blowing, but I like the ideas around taking 'baby steps' when moving on from a heartbreak and the little moments of yearning that occur when you'd least expect it. "No-one to text when the plane lands" as Olivia puts it. She also pulls off the vintage 60's R&B of A Couple Minutes, even if it isn't a new spin on the style. The record closes out with the acoustic ballad I've Seen It about not giving up on love and seeing it everywhere: with your parents, friends, and strangers out in public. It's a nice full circle moment back to the carefree love of Nice To Each Other in an album that does get caught-up in the Heartbreak in places.
There is some real highlights on The Art of Loving, but they are surrounded by what are some pretty standard pop soul tunes that don't really move the needle either way for me. Olivia's warm, heartfelt vocals are consistently great throughout, so it's pretty easy to throw on in the background; but I am am bit disappointed considering how great the singles were. I think Olivia has it in her to carry on from this and make a deeper, more consistent record for the third to around.
Top Tracks: Nice To Each Other, Lady Lady, Man I Need, I've Seen It
6/10
No comments:
Post a Comment