December 2022 - Music

Album of the Month - The Hardest Love by Dean Lewis

Australian pop star Dean Lewis is back with a new album for listeners to enjoy, to the delight of listeners worldwide. The 34-year-old singer first captured widespread attention with his 2016 hits, ‘Be Alright’ and ‘7 Years’ though some singles preceded these. This week, his sophomore album, The Hardest Love has dropped, and it’s a rollercoaster of emotions – let’s break it down together.   

Admitting that they’re primarily about one girl, the album is a haze of heartbreak, tumultuous times, and relatability. Made during the pandemic, he openly acknowledges in a recent interview the difference The Hardest Love has made sonically and productively – having been in the driving seat as sole songwriter and producer at once. While this may prove challenging for some, the 10-track record comes across as a triumph rather than a tribulation in all the ways that matter.  

 As a result of the pandemic, Dean acknowledges that time has been on his side during creation, resulting in a finely tuned second album that he is very proud of. The cover is in a way, a visual motif of this, Dean centered in a car with nature in both the foreground and background. Bringing in autumnal hues combined with spring blooms and summer greenery, viewers get the sense that The Hardest Love is a progressive album that transcends time, feelings and seasons.  

The Hardest Love opens with ‘Small Disasters,’ a slow, metaphoric and rhythmic track exploring the safer parts of experiencing life with someone before it slowly falls apart in a string of unstoppable events – like tiny natural disasters on a catastrophic slope. Dean sings, ‘I’d give it all, just to feel something real’ and the pain of memory is evident in his voice. Starting quietly with a series of almost twangy notes, the song builds into an intense crescendo by the bridge, with Lewis comparing the experience to ‘movies drained of color.’ It’s a moving opening and effortlessly sets up the tone for the album as the track ends, both in subject matter and pace.  

One of the most poignant tracks on the album, ‘How Do I Say Goodbye’ is one of the few that doesn’t play out with a romantic central theme, rather focusing on parental-child relationships. Created in the wake of Dean facing the potential loss of a parent, it’s a story that is far happier in real life than in the music.

The closing track, ‘To Have You Today.’ It comes across as more heartwarming than heartbreaking, with the lyrics addressing what seems to be a date frozen in time, just two people and a beautiful view. It’s one of the softer, more uplifting tracks in lyricism and instrumentals, and it’s a tender, emotionally nourishing conclusion to The Hardest Love.