While UK-pop-singer Olivia Dean has been putting out work since 2018, it wasn’t until 2025 when the world finally took notice. Her rise up the charts and to mainstream success began when Dean released the lead single to her second album, ‘Nice to Each Other.’ Hitting the top 10 charts in the UK, Ireland and Australia, and earning her her first appearance on Billboard’s Hot 100, it didn’t take long for audiences to be hooked, and yearning for more.
So when her second album, The Art of Loving was released in September, it immediately gained traction and critical acclaim. It begs the question, why does it take some artists much longer to get the recognition they deserve? And why was 2025 the perfect moment for Olivia Dean?
There’s no 5-step formula, and for Dean, it was all about finding her moment. While the singer’s influences and blend of genres across jazz, pop and soul can be heard from her first ever release ‘Reason To Stay’, her most recent album sees her at a place where she seems to know exactly who she is. Co-writer and producer Tobias Jesso Jr. told Nylon “she knows exactly who she is, and it radiates into her music in a beautiful way”. Dean’s music is soft, warm and strong all at once. The different facets of herself seep into her writing, which is exactly what audiences seem to be resonating with.
While finding oneself and cementing their sound is key to artists, how they work into the current music landscape and culture certainly plays a factor. In a world on tiktok songs, viral sounds, social media, dating apps, you name it – we’re longing for meaning in an unpredictably evolving society. Olivia Dean gives us exactly this. She is vulnerable, earnest and cares about the feeling in her songs, which undoubtably shows in The Art of Loving. To have an artist with such a clear vision of herself, her influences and what she wants to share with audiences is rare. She blends sounds, genres and influences all the while creating a body of work that seems so authentic and true to herself.
She shares more than her sound in this album, she shares the importance of love in all its colours.
Speaking to Apple Music, Dean says that the idea for the album came when she visited an art exhibition in LA that referenced Bell Hook’s text ‘All About Love’. She explores love in her album – through her parents, friendships and romantic relationships. The title track ‘The Art of Loving’ introduces us to these themes, and tells us that there is always something to be learnt, to be gained, from matters of love. While she delves into romance and heartbreak, so much of what seems to be resonating with this album is her exploration into love as being ‘all around you all the time’. The closing track ‘I’ve Seen It’ tells us to look outward, to our friends, to our families, to the strangers on a train, the books you read and also to ourselves; and that when we do this, love will be there. It’s an important message in today’s landscape and in a society the puts romantic love on a pedestal, neglecting all the other ways in which we can give and receive love in our everyday life.
Olivia Dean’s The Art of Loving cemented herself as a standout breakout artist of the year. She gives herself and her vulnerability with audiences, unafraid to put her feelings on the line to share these experiences with anyone who will listen (which in her case – is a lot of people).
Most importantly, her work reminds us that love comes in many forms, a reminder I think we all need every once in a while.
Article by Grace for Musik Magazine 2025
