Olivia Dean’s ‘The Art of Loving’ review: Big vocals, jazzy soul-pop

Olivia Dean, the rising British soul pop singer-songwriter, has returned with a confident sophomore album, “The Art of Loving.” Across 12 tracks, Dean cements her spot in a growing class of talented young U.K.-born vocalists — think Raye and Lola Young — as she embraces her role as a traditionalist and a romantic.

The album lands Friday, on the heels of Dean’s late summer hit, “Man I Need,” which has continued to rise on the Billboard Hot 100 and U.K. charts since its August debut. It also caps an expansive two-year period since Dean’s buzzy 2023 debut “Messy,” that saw her profile rise as she collaborated with Sam Fender on the anthemic “Rein Me In” and scored a place on the “Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy” soundtrack.

Dean wears her influences on her sleeve, and in her name — her middle name, Lauryn, is an homage to Lauryn Hill, a favorite of her parents. She also follows in the footsteps of U.K. pop powerhouses. “Loud” channels Amy Winehouse or Adele, her full voice isolated over strings and a plucked guitar melody. “Close Up” does the same over piano and horns. The smooth “A Couple Minutes” features a sample of the guitar riff from 1971’s “We Had True Love,” by the British soul-disco band Hot Chocolate. Dean’s vocals, interlaced with hums, amplify the familiar rhythm.

On “Baby Steps,” Dean embraces self-love after a breakup, returning to themes found on her breakthrough hits, like 2023’s groovy “Ladies Room.” “I’ll be my own pair of safe hands,” she sings atop varied percussion, rich organ and layered backing vocals. “There’ll be roses on the shelf / ‘Cause this house gone love itself,” she tiptoes toward a new beginning, the steady beat leading her into a confident groove.

Strings swell beneath the soft-sung album opener “The Art of Loving (Intro),” where Dean introduces the project as an exploration of the feeling. “It’s the art of loving / It wasn’t all for nothing,” she explains. “Something lost and something gained.”

“I’ve Seen It,” the album’s final song, is her conclusion. It’s a promise that if you look for it, you’ll find that love actually is all around. “I’ve heard it laced in every song,” she sings sweetly. And later: “I’ve seen it dance with friends around the table.”

“I know it’s somewhere in my chest / I guess it’s been inside me all along,” she observes at the song’s end, her voice soft and assured. It takes her far on the album and will do so in her career: Dean will tour with Sabrina Carpenter in the U.S. this fall, before launching her first arena tour in the U.K.