The Art of Loving is the second studio album by British singer-songwriter Olivia Dean. It was released through Capitol Records and Polydor on 26 September 2025. For a pop and R&B record, it features production from Dean herself, alongside Julian Bunetta, Matt Hales, Bastian Langebæk, Leon Michels, Zach Nahome, John Ryan, Max Wolfgang, and Matt Zara. It was supported by the singles: "Nice to Each Other", "Lady Lady", "Man I Need", "So Easy (To Fall in Love)", "A Couple Minutes" and "Baby Steps".
Upon its release, The Art of Loving received praise from music critics and won the British Album of the Year at the Brit Awards. Internationally, the album peaked at number one in Australia, Ireland, the Netherlands, and New Zealand, as well as the United Kingdom where Dean became the first British solo female artist to top the albums and singles charts simultaneously since 2021. The album debuted in the top ten globally on many charts, including the Billboard 200 and the Canadian Albums Chart.
Background After the release of her debut studio album, Messy (2023), Olivia Dean started working on her next studio album project. In an interview with Paper, Dean shared that she had been "working really hard" on the album, expressing a desire to "sing for everybody" and be welcomed with "open arms" and "love", a gesture she described as a "vulnerable" act. The album was written and recorded in a grand house in East London transformed into a live-work studio for eight weeks between March and April 2025.
Composition and conception
The Art of Loving consists of twelve tracks, written by Dean herself in collaboration with songwriters and producers, including Julian Bunetta, Matt Hales, Leon Michels, John Ryan, Amy Allen and Sir Nolan. The album is a pop and R&B record, that incorporates elements of pop and neo-soul, bossa nova, jazz pop and Motown sound.
Dean explained that the album title was inspired by American painter Mickalene Thomas' art exhibition All About Love at The Broad in Los Angeles, California, which was in response to bell hooks' book "All About Love: New Visions".
On 1 October 2026, Mattie Music Group filed a lawsuit claiming that Dean's song "I've Seen It" had copied Grover Washington Jr. and Bill Withers 1981 single, "Just the Two of Us".
Release and promotion The album's release was preceded by several live performances, including joint appearances with Sabrina Carpenter and Sam Fender, as well as her own headlining North American tour. Dean announced The Art of Loving on 2 June 2025. The album was released on 26 September 2025 via Capitol Records and Polydor Records, issued through CD, vinyl LP, cassette, and digital formats.
Singles The album's lead single, "Nice to Each Other", was released on 30 May 2025, and simultaneously announced the upcoming album. The album's second single, "Lady Lady", was released on 11 July 2025. The album's third single, "Man I Need", was released on 15 August 2025. The album's fourth single, "So Easy (To Fall in Love)", was released on 26 September 2025, coinciding with the full album. In July 2026, "A Couple Minutes" was released as a single for American radio and "Baby Steps" for Italian radio.
Tour
The album is supported by The Art of Loving Live tour, which commenced 23 April 2026, in Glasgow, Scotland, and will conclude on 17 October 2026, in Auckland, New Zealand.
Critical reception
Upon its release, The Art of Loving received widespread critical acclaim. The review aggregator AnyDecentMusic? assigned the album a weighted average score of 8.0 out of 10 from 13 critic scores. Writing for Rolling Stone, Larisha Paul praised the record as a significant artistic step forward, highlighting "Man I Need" and "Let Alone the One You Love" as career-defining moments and comparing Dean's balladry to Amy Winehouse, Adele, and early Beyoncé. Helen Brown of The Independent called it both "deep and breezy" and commended Dean's ability to "de-complicate and de-escalate romance with playful generosity." Similarly positive, Rhea Hagiwara of The Skinny saw it as "a continuation and a step forward" from her debut Messy, with a new level of "maturity and authenticity".
In The Guardian, Alexis Petridis credited Dean for shedding the "neo-soul clichés" of her debut in favour of 1970s Los Angeles-inspired pop and soft rock, while praising her understated vocals and diaristic lyrics. Clash described it as "a quiet, meditative exploration of love," while noting occasional repetitiveness in its pacing. The review nonetheless praised Dean's voice as the centrepiece of the record and "crystalline, versatile and laced with warmth". Andy Kellman of AllMusic called the album "a couple cuts above her promising debut." Emma Way of DIY said the album "is all of these lessons; from the need for independence ('Man I Need') to the art of letting go ('Let Alone the One You Love'), Olivia manages to convey all wisely, without becoming preachy." Adele Julia of The Line of Best Fit described Dean's performance as her "most compelling yet". Hannah Mylrea of NME said the album "marks the next chapter in Dean's career, one as a popstar risen." Some criticism was more reserved. Pitchforks Walden Green characterised Dean's voice as warm and engaging but suggested that parts of the record leaned too heavily on retro pastiche, particularly on "Close Up" and "Baby Steps".
Rankings + Select year-end rankings for The Art of Loving Publication/critic List RankBillboard The 50 Best Albums of 2025 5Complex The 50 Best Albums of 2025 28Entertainment Weekly The 10 Best Albums of 2025 8Exclaim! The 50 Best Albums of 2025 12NME The 25 Best Albums of 2025 18OOR The 20 Best Albums of 2025 8Rolling Stone The 100 Best Albums of 2025 28The Guardian The 50 Best Albums of 2025 37Us Weekly The Best Albums of 2025 N/AVogue The 45 Best Albums of 2025 N/A
Industry awards +Awards and nominations for The Art Of Loving Organisation Year Category ResultAmerican Music Awards2026Album of the Year Breakthrough Album of the Year Best Pop Album Brit Awards2026 Album of the Year Ivor Novello Awards 2026 Best Album Mercury Prize Album of the Year MOBO Awards 2026 Album of the Year MTV Video Music Awards 2026 Best Album Music Producers Guild Awards 2026 Album of the Year
Commercial performance
United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, The Art of Loving debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart with 52,366 album-equivalent units, marking Dean's first number-one album and the highest debut for a British female artist on the albums chart since Adele's 30 (2021). "Man I Need", the album's third single, also reached number one on the UK Singles Chart the same week as The Art of Lovings debut, making Dean the first British solo female artist to top the albums and singles charts simultaneously since Adele in 2021 with 30 and "Easy on Me". On 22 May 2026, The Art of Loving was certified double platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for sales of 600,000 album-equivalent units.
United States In the United States, The Art of Loving debuted at number eight on the Billboard 200 chart with 43,000 album-equivalent units, of which 11,000 were pure album sales. In its second week, the album rose to number seven, moving 35,000 units. On the chart dated 17 January 2026, the album rose again to a new peak position of number three. The Art of Loving was only the third album of 2025 to debut in the top ten of the Billboard 200 and reach a new peak in a subsequent week, following Bad Bunny's Debí Tirar Más Fotos and the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack. On 4 February 2026, The Art of Loving was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales of 500,000 album-equivalent units.
Oceania In Australia, The Art of Loving debuted at number one on the ARIA Albums Chart, the first by the artist to achieve this result, simultaneously occupying the top position in the singles chart with "Man I Need". As of April 24, 2026, the album has spent thirteen non-consecutive weeks at number one on the chart. The Art of Loving also debuted at number one on New Zealand's Official Aotearoa Music Charts, spending twenty-three non-consecutive weeks at number one. With the simultaneously number one charting of the single "Man I Need" for twenty-two weeks, Dean now holds the record for the most weeks at one for an album and a related single, surpassing ABBA's 50-year-old record with The Best of ABBA and the song "Fernando".
Track listing
Notes signifies an additional producer. signifies a vocal producer. signifies a strings producer. “A Couple Minutes” samples "We Had True Love" (1971) by the band Hot Chocolate, written by Louis Ragland and James Hawkins.
Personnel Credits adapted from Tidal.
Musicians
Olivia Dean – vocals (all tracks), background vocals (2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 11), piano (2, 5, 7, 8), keyboards (3, 7), synthesiser (7) Zach Nahome – programming (1, 6), synthesiser effects (1, 10, 12), bass (2, 7), drum programming (2), electric guitar (2, 7), lap steel guitar (2), drums (3, 4, 7, 8, 11), percussion (3, 7), synthesiser (7, 8), guitar (10), rhythm programming (11) Bastian Langebæk – piano (1, 4), background vocals (4, 10); drum programming, organ, Rhodes, Wurlitzer electronic piano (10); synthesiser (12) Rosie Danvers – string arrangement (1, 9, 11) Wired Strings – strings (1, 9, 11) Finn Zeferino-Birchall – bass (2–4, 6, 8), background vocals (2, 4, 6) Deschanel Gordon – background vocals (2, 4, 6), keyboards (2, 4), piano (2, 6), keyboard arrangement (6), Wurlitzer electronic piano (6) Daniel Rogerson – background vocals (2, 4, 6); acoustic guitar, electric guitar (2, 4); guitar (6, 8) Joel Waters – background vocals (2, 4, 6), percussion (2), congas (4), tambourine (6) Jermaine Amissah – saxophone (3, 4, 6) Joe Bristow – trombone (3, 4, 6) Jack Banjo Courtney – trumpet (3, 4, 6) Leon Michels – acoustic guitar, bass, guitar, keyboards, percussion (3) Homer Steinweiss – drums (3) Matt Hales – keyboards, percussion, synthesiser (3) John Ryan – programming (4–6); bass, guitar, horn, piano (5) Julian Bunetta – drums (4, 5), programming (4, 6), bass (4) Matt Zara – programming (4, 6); bass, drums, guitar, piano (4); percussion (6) Max Wolfgang – background vocals, organ (4, 10); bass (9, 10), piano (9); electric guitar, percussion (10); guitar, synthesiser (12) Mark Rudin – horn (5) Eric Hagstrom – drums (6) Ollie Clark – guitar (9) Michael Stafford – background vocals (11)
Technical Charlie Holmes – mixing Simon Francis – mastering Jan Trafas – engineering (2, 3), engineering assistance (4, 8) Dan Ewins – engineering (2) Austin Christy – engineering (3) Jeff Gunnell – engineering (4–6) Zach Nahome – engineering (4, 6–8, 10, 11) John Ryan – engineering (5) Max Wolfgang – engineering (6) Nick Taylor – strings engineering (1, 9, 11) Adele Philips – engineering assistance (2)
Charts
Weekly charts + Chart (2025–2026) Peakposition Australian Albums (ARIA) 1 Canadian Albums (Billboard) 3 Croatian International Albums (HDU) 10 Danish Albums (Hitlisten) 2 German Pop Albums (Offizielle Top 100) 1 Greek Albums (IFPI) 3 Icelandic Albums (Tónlistinn) 7 Japanese Dance & Soul Albums (Oricon) 5 Japanese Hot Albums (Billboard Japan) 58 Japanese Western Albums (Oricon) 15 Lithuanian Albums (AGATA) 9 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ) 1 Nigerian Albums (TurnTable) 96 Norwegian Albums (IFPI Norge) 2 US Billboard 200 3
Year-end charts + Year-end chart performance for The Art of Loving Chart (2025) Position Australian Albums (ARIA) 9 Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) 70 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) 39 Danish Albums (Hitlisten) 57 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) 17 French Albums (SNEP) 195 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ) 6 Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) 48 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) 54 UK Albums (OCC) 11
Certifications
Release history + Region Date Format(s) Label Various 26 September 2025
Note
References