Olivia Dean recently took the spotlight in the music charts for her second studio album, “The Art of Loving,” which was released on September 26th to thunderous support.
Olivia Dean wasn’t a name I was formerly familiar with until I decided to sit down and listen to her album “Messy” and “The Art of Loving” back to back. In the process, I discovered a fantastic artist with a really enticing and unique feel.
Dean’s style is what I would describe as “jazzy” and “mellow”. When listening to “Messy,” I could describe the album’s tone as “expressive” and “chill”. Even the songs about more melancholy topics had upbeat tones behind them, which still worked really well. I personally vibed with the well-blended vocals that became a clear staple of Dean’s music the longer I listened. I was really surprised I hadn’t heard of any of her songs sooner, because her mood sounded right up my alley.
The title song of the album, “Messy” (of course), speaks of self-acceptance in any season of your life. The song “Carmen” is a poignant tribute to Dean’s grandmother, who was part of the “Windrush generation” and serves as a sentimental reflection on heritage and appreciation for family.
All-in-all, a really fabulous first listening experience, and I was ready for more.
When I pressed play on the first track of “The Art of Loving” I noticed a very similar style with a slightly more polished, mature sound. Track three, “Lady Lady,” sported the same mellow, jazzy vibe with layered vocals and message of accepting yourself through the changes of life. The song “So Easy (To Fall In Love)” was a confident, upbeat and flowy piece with lyrics like, “I’m the perfect mix of Saturday night and the rest of your life / Anyone with a heart would agree / It’s so easy / To fall in love with me”.
Both of these albums were comparable in style and energy, but Dean’s growth as an artist is apparent in her newest work.
What was surprising to me was finding out that “Messy” only brought Dean to number four on the UK music charts, whereas her newest album, “The Art of Loving,” brought her all the way to number one. Her song “Man I Need” even managed to dethrone the song “Golden” from “KPop Demon Hunters,” which held the top spot for many weeks this past few months.
With both albums being so stylistically similar, what caused “The Art of Loving” to jump so much higher than “Messy” did? I have a few theories about what the reason for this might be.
First, two songs from “The Art of Loving” became very popular on TikTok following their release. The first one is the aforementioned “Man I Need,” which quickly earned a choreographed dance that was used to flaunt users’ significant others; the second, “Nice to Each Other,” is a song about balancing dynamics in relationships.
Some might see online success like this as positive, but I can see where there could be negatives to TikTok fame, too.
Modern social media makes us by far the most informed generation. Creators can now grow their audiences faster than ever and push their work to more people online than ever before. When a song is picked up as a TikTok trend, it can lead to increased growth and reach for artists, but also has the capacity to create the dreaded “one-hit wonder”.
In the case of Olivia Dean, her song’s online popularity led to people doing more research on the rest of her discography, boosting her public image and the success of her new album. However, in a lot of cases, that earwormy song you don’t know the name of in the back of every “get ready with me” video might actually be a small piece of another really artful album. Unfortunately, if an artist isn’t marketed well and doesn’t have a strong enough cultural presence to leverage this kind of popularity well, you might never discover the rest of their work beyond the hit.
Dean’s album “Messy” may have started out niche, but since it didn’t have one or two songs blow up via short-form video entertainment, it became a solid foundation for her career and saved her from “one-hit wonder syndrome”.
Overall, I really enjoyed my Olivia Dean listening experience, and I’ve already added a few of her songs to my Spotify library. Her soulful, mellow instrumentation appealed to the part of my brain that is drawn to beautiful sound, and her eloquent, meaningful lyrics appeal to the part that snaps its fingers at good writing, as if it were at a slam poetry event. Not to mention her vocals are just lovely.
I definitely intend to keep an eye out for any new releases she has in the future, because I enjoy her style in its entirety and didn’t just get hooked on one song.
I believe this is why I had the best introduction to Dean’s music I could have had. I wasn’t just recommended one track (as one would a popular TikTok song), but instead I was invited to give my thoughts on her artistry as a whole.
Through this experience, I learned that in a world of fast-paced entertainment and instant gratification, we should all take the time to explore a new piece of art in its entirety for ourselves, rather than latching onto the “in” and the “now.”
