Album Review: Frank Ocean ‘Blonde’
After endless speculation, delays, and teased content, visionary American artist Frank Ocean has finally released the follow-up to his beloved and highly praised 2012 debut album, ‘Blonde’. Coming just a few days after the release of his visual album ‘Endless’, Ocean has released a 17-track collection of minimalistic neo-soul, RnB, and modern hip-hop that’ll leave you both falling in love with him all over again and at the same time questioning why the f*ck the album took so long.
Originally named ‘Boys Don’t Cry’, ‘Blonde’ starts slow and steady with Nikes. Ocean’s vocals begin sounding like a drunken chipmunk before the strange auto-tune effect wears off to a minimal level, allowing him to drop a rap verse. The album’s opener sounds more like new Drake than Frank Ocean, but its five minute duration means the song eventually wins you over, leaving you intrigued for what’ll come next.
Ivy’s opening wobbling guitar and clean vocal delivery is reassuringly Ocean-esque compare to Nikes. Singing about a relationship that’s just ended but there’s still plenty of feelings in the air, Ocean’s voice builds from a timid beginning to a confident soar as the song progresses. However, in the last 30 seconds Ocean looses his mind with distracting vocal effects before closing with sounds of trashing the studio. This may be to convey the fact he’s still battling plenty of emotions as the lyrics suggest, but honestly it’s an unnecessary aggressive end to a great slow-burner.
“Lyrically there are nods to Ocean’s childhood, but the strength in the music means the narrative takes the backseat.”
Pink + White is perfectly placed in the album’s track list with its upbeat feel, simple drumbeat, beautifully constructive vocal layers, and Beyoncé’s warm harmonies. Opening with chirping birds and driven by a subtle strings and a delicate piano melody, the track is a welcome departure from the production-heavy sounds on ‘Channel ORANGE’. Lyrically there are nods to Ocean’s childhood, but the strength in the music means the narrative takes the backseat.
Be Yourself is a voicemail from my mum Ocean’s mother telling him not to take drugs at college. The lyrics are pretty relatable, I mean who hasn’t been told to not be “a weedhead” by mum before? On one hand there’s a lovely caring sentiment behind the short track, but on the other hand the repeated phrase that drugs make you “sluggish, lazy, stupid, and unconcerned” may be Ocean subtly alluding to why the heck the album took so long…
Opening with Ocean spittin’ “Hand me a towel I’m dirty dancing/by myself goin’ off tabs and that acid/form me a circle/watch my Jagger”, Solo’s lyrics immediately spit in the face of his mother’s voicemail. A gloriously booming organ drives the song, allowing Ocean plenty of space to somewhat shamefully describe his single life shenanigans. The simple arrangement lends an intimate quality to Ocean’s voice, which compared to the album’s previous songs actually makes it feel like he’s singing to you rather than in a studio.
Skyline To sees Ocean blend his signature soulful vocals with rushed and sporadic phrases from Kendrick Lamar, backed by a super smooth synthesiser and ambience. There’s a cool stepping synthesiser melody and an attempt to layer vocal harmonies similar to in Pink + White, but overall the song doesn’t do enough with its instrumentation and Lamar’s flow.
Next up is Self Control, Ocean’s less-lame equivalent to Justin Bieber’s Love Yourself…however with lyrics like “I’ll be the boyfriend in your wet dreams tonight” the song won’t be getting quite as much commercial airplay. It’s a solid slow burner with soothing strings and simple guitar work, which allows Ocean finally open up his pipes and sing without restraint. Closing with some subtle quirky manipulated vocal embellishments, this song will surely be the favourite track on ‘Blonde’ for many.
Interlude track Good Guy is disappointing but quickly forgotten as Nights is as disorientating as it is absorbing. Ocean channels his inner Drake for the first half of the song as he lazily croons over a jagged chiming guitar and beat. The introduction of a synth transitions the hip-hop track into sight RnB vibe, then after a random shredding guitar Nights drops into a deep neo-soul mixed hip-hop progression. The song doesn’t make sense but hey, it helps keep ‘Blonde’ interesting!
“If Self Control will be the mainstream favourite of ‘Blonde’, White Ferrari will be the favourite for the rest of us (and surely a Top 20 entry in 2016’s Hottest 100).”
André 3000 spits some emotive fire on Solo (Reprise), before a crashing symphony signals the start of another strange track Pretty Sweet. Those jumping on the Ocean bandwagon late will dislike this track, while those who say Ocean’s a visionary will say it’s one of the best on ‘Blonde’. The short-lived Drum & Bass two-thirds the way through is an interesting change up to the album’s sound, but overall Pretty Sweet sounds like it was written, as mother Ocean would say, by weedheads…
Interlude track Facebook Story is about ze time SebastiAn ‘ad a karayzee jealous girlfriend, and adds zero vibe to the album. It’s “songs” like these which start to explain why the album took Ocean so long to make. Close to You is a cool little track, it’s just a shame the auto-tuned track isn’t longer.
If Self Control will be the mainstream favourite of ‘Blonde’, White Ferrari will be the favourite for the rest of us (and surely a Top 20 entry in 2016’s Hottest 100). Opening with Ocean’s delicate vocals backed by lush, minimalistic production, the song is simply beautiful. Where previous songs on ‘Blonde’ with more than three instruments have missed the mark, White Ferrari brings the intricate, minimalistic instrumentation together to form an incredibly absorbing, somber soundscape. There are also nods to Bon Iver with the introduction of an acoustic guitar and Ocean’s captivating three-way harmonies. In fact, it’s yet to be confirmed, I’ll eat my hat if it’s not Bon Iver’s dreamy vocals at the 3:07 mark…
Seigfried continues the beautifully somber tone of ‘Blonde’ with another Ocean ballad and dreamy soundscape. Lyrically, Ocean contemplates settling down “somewhere with a view…with two kids”, but it’s obviously with a key change and “This is not my life/it’s just a fond farewell to a friend” that Ocean’s dealing with some heavy emotional trauma.
The second half of the song is very Kanye West-esque in the delivery of Ocean’s monologue, before, backed by an echoed synth, he slowly trails out with “I’d do anything for you/In the dark”. It’s a powerful song, but also accidentally a bit of a buzzkill after White Ferrari.
The gospel vibes of Godspeed thankfully pulls ‘Blonde’ back up and on its feet with playful vocal production and a timid, short croon from Ocean. Kim Burrell’s closing vocals are a nice tonal change to Ocean’s and help set up ‘Blonde’ for an epic conclusion.
“Futura Free is a strange and emotionally intense end to a closing run of songs that are as beautiful as they are depressing.”
Futura Free closes ‘Blonde’ out in a very different vibe to the optimistic energy openers Nikes and Ivy conveyed. The last track begins with Ocean somewhat ranting about money troubles and where he came from, before dropping some pretty explicit lines…let’s just say you’ll at least learn how he likes his BJs.
The chop and changing production and lyrical tone makes the track very melancholy, and his Drake-ish verse when the beat drops out further clouds the water as to if the track is a rant at someone or just another depressed monologue. Lines like “I ain’t had me a job since 2009…Tyler once slept on my sofa/yeah niggas go back that far” suggests he’s having a blow up at someone, but the tone’s so sad that Futura Free struggles to convey much at all apart from that Ocean seems to regret quite a lot.
There’s a sneaky 30-second silence before a melancholy synth progression forms the backdrop for vocal samples from yesteryear conversations. It’s hard to make out any of the conversations and seeing as I’m pretty white I don’t want to speculate what the snippets say or mean. Futura Free is a strange and emotionally intense end to a closing run of songs that are as beautiful as they are depressing.
Frank Ocean’s follow-up to ‘Channel ORANGE’ is full of genre-bending, sonic surprises and melancholy narratives. There’s plenty of publicised and yet-to-be publicised contributors and featured artists on the tracks, but ‘Blonde’ manages to carry the signature sound of Ocean without sounding similar to his breakthrough debut album. There are some interludes that should have been scrapped from the final album and there are songs that I’d wish were longer. But overall ‘Blonde’ (only just) lives up to the four-year hype surrounding its release, but somber soundscapes and heavy lyrical themes mean not many of these songs should feature on a party playlist.
