College doesn’t exactly come with a rulebook for love—but Olivia Dean’s newest album, The Art of Loving, comes close. Here’s the thing about college: we are constantly exploring and learning about love, whether that’s self-love, romantic love, or platonic love. The twelve-track album highlights the complexities of love from soulmates to situationships, making the album feel less like a playlist and more like a personal diary you didn’t know you needed.
- The Art of Loving (intro)
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Imagine this short intro track as the syllabus to the album Love 101. Dean sets the stage for the emotional rollercoaster of love that her listeners are about to embark on.
- Nice to each other
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This track is a shoutout to all the people who find themselves in “bare minimum” relationships. Take this song as a gentle reminder that in the haze of messy situationship and ghosting culture, it really isn’t all that much to be kind. Whether it is a casual hookup or a long-distance relationship, we could all just be a little nicer to each other.
- Lady lady
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Here’s to all the girls looking for a guide to loving themselves unapologetically. If you are in your self-confidence, self-love, and independence era, this track has your name written all over it. So, on those low self-esteem days, throw on some headphones and enjoy this upbeat soundtrack that radiates electric self-love from start to finish.
- close up
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To be vulnerable is to let your guard down. Dean uses this track to showcase how it feels when you let the people around you get close enough to see and love your true, authentic self, imperfections and all. For college students, it serves as a reminder that the strongest love often stems from vulnerability with the people who matter most.
- So easy (to fall in love)
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Let’s just say this song is the song for the infamous college crush. It is the kind of admiration that starts small, from glances in lecture, to late-night texts that leave you with butterflies. Dean’s tone here embodies a mix of excitement and caution. Love starts to sneak up on us, and what once was a fun little crush becomes a tad more complicated when one realizes they might be falling in love.
- Let alone the one you love
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We all know the “right person, wrong time” line. With the inherent chaos of college life, from long-distance relationships to conflicting schedules, sometimes growing apart is an inevitable consequence. The hardest part, of course, is knowing when to walk away from someone you love. Dean emphasizes that sometimes walking away shows more care and respect than holding on to a relationship that is not working.
- Man i need
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Take the immediate success of “Man I Need” on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 list as a sign that ladies, we need to raise our standards. Olivia Dean, here, taps into major big sister energy, reminding every listener they are worth more than a man who can’t even find the time to text them back.
- Something inbetween
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This song right here is the song of situationships: aka the reality of the college love experience. Here, Olivia demonstrates that love exists in a gray area of messiness and complexity. So what happens when you’re not friends, nor lovers, but something in between? Olivia Dean is unsure, and frankly, so am I, but know you are not the only one stuck in the middle ground.
- loud
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“The silence is so loud.” This is the track of ghosted relationships and doors left unshut at college. Dean unintentionally captures the very feeling of avoiding your failed situationship in the dining hall and escaping “opps” around grounds into words. Loud gives sound to that feeling of unresolved tension of college relationships that never got proper closure.
- baby steps
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“Baby Steps” is a reminder we could all benefit from: slow down. It is easy, in the midst of college, to think that you have to immediately find love, figure out your life, and understand yourself. Dean sends a melodic message that growth is supposed to happen gradually. This track serves as a guiding reminder that everything will eventually fall into place — it just takes time.
- A couple minutes
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It’s midterm season, which means a lot of UVA students are running on caffeine highs and studying through marathon sessions. Olivia Dean couldn’t have released this song at a more perfect time. In the chaos of exam season, this song serves as a gentle reminder to take a moment and be present for just a couple of minutes.
- I’ve seen it
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“I’ve Seen It” is the perfect closing track to an album that takes its listeners on an emotional rollercoaster of love. Dean leaves her audience with a hopeful reminder that love exists all around. This is the full circle moment that even in the hardest of times, we can find love in the little things in life.
College love is far from simple; Olivia Dean showcases this reality throughout the entirety of The Art of Loving.
She doesn’t just sing about romance, though; she notes all the complexities that come with self-love, patience, understanding one’s worth, and taking a moment to step back and watch life and love unfold right before your eyes. So whether you’re trying to get over a situationship, enjoying or independent-girl era, or just trying to survive the chaos of midterm season, it’s worth giving Dean’s album on Love 101 a listen. She offers a reminder that love is not perfect, and surely not easy. So grab some headphones, embark on a stroll around Grounds, and let The Art of Loving guide you because every crush, heartbreak, and personal rebrand is all part of, well, the art of loving.