In April 2014, Frank Ocean announced that the follow-up to his widely-acclaimed 2012 debut LP channel ORANGE was almost completed. That announcement was unfortunately followed by over two years of constant misdirection and false hope regarding its release. Every few months or so Ocean or a music news website would tease a release date, the most buzzworthy one being when he posted a picture of a library card that contained the perceived album title Boys Don't Cry and a bunch of seemingly random dates onto his website in early July, that ultimately proved to be false. The wait appeared to be finally over when the New York Times reported in late July that Boys Don't Cry would be released on August 5th via Apple Music and iTunes, but that day came and went without the album surfacing. When it seemed like Boys Don't Cry was bound to become the next Detox or Chinese Democracy, Ocean quietly dropped the album,now known as Blonde, around 6:00 P.M. EST on Saturday August 20th. If Blonde is any indicator of what happens when you give Ocean time to fully flesh out his vision, he can continue to take his sweet-ass time with all of his future projects.
The musical approach Ocean employs on Blonde is gusty as hell for a hotly-anticipated follow-up to an album that helped him achieve breakout mainstream success. While channel ORANGE was by no means a straightforward R&B album, it was extremely accessible compared to the material found on Blonde. Ocean spends the entire album deep down the experimental rabbit hole utilizing abstract, ambient production, an array of different vocal effects and strange samples from a variety of different genres of music to enhance his original compositions. The addition of all of these new elements to the fold makes Ocean's song structures even more more unconventional and layered than they were in the past. The constant experimentation doesn't always yield positive results ("Skyline To", "White Ferrari" and "Self Control" are pretty dull), but Ocean still deserves a ton of credit for being bold enough to follow up channel ORANGE with such a bizarre, avant-garde album.
Despite having a vastly different sound than his previous material, Ocean's emotional transparency is still the driving force behind his music. Whether he's focusing on his loneliness ("Solo"), lost love ("Ivy") or overindulgence in sex and drugs ("Pink+White"), the pain, regret and rage in his voice on this collection of songs practically bleeds out of the speakers and stabs the listener directly in the heart. Every lyric he writes and feeling he displays is laced with overwhelming sincerity and that palpable authenticity is one of the main reasons his music is so consistently immersive and impressive. Plenty of artists put their internal feelings and personal experiences on display in their music, but few can generate the emotional resonance Ocean produces on almost all of his songs.
Blonde proves that channel ORANGE wasn't lightning in a bottle and Ocean really is one of the most profound, unique and emotionally-striking artists on the planet right now. While it's definitely not my favorite album of the year so far, I have a strong feeling that Blonde will have the most staying power and impact among future generations of anything released this year. It's the type of nuance and symbolism-filled record that demands to be discussed and dissected at length by music scholars and aficionados around the globe for decades to come. I have no idea where Ocean's music is headed next, but I'm absolutely elated to find out, regardless of how long it takes for that next batch of material to come together.
The musical approach Ocean employs on Blonde is gusty as hell for a hotly-anticipated follow-up to an album that helped him achieve breakout mainstream success. While channel ORANGE was by no means a straightforward R&B album, it was extremely accessible compared to the material found on Blonde. Ocean spends the entire album deep down the experimental rabbit hole utilizing abstract, ambient production, an array of different vocal effects and strange samples from a variety of different genres of music to enhance his original compositions. The addition of all of these new elements to the fold makes Ocean's song structures even more more unconventional and layered than they were in the past. The constant experimentation doesn't always yield positive results ("Skyline To", "White Ferrari" and "Self Control" are pretty dull), but Ocean still deserves a ton of credit for being bold enough to follow up channel ORANGE with such a bizarre, avant-garde album.
Despite having a vastly different sound than his previous material, Ocean's emotional transparency is still the driving force behind his music. Whether he's focusing on his loneliness ("Solo"), lost love ("Ivy") or overindulgence in sex and drugs ("Pink+White"), the pain, regret and rage in his voice on this collection of songs practically bleeds out of the speakers and stabs the listener directly in the heart. Every lyric he writes and feeling he displays is laced with overwhelming sincerity and that palpable authenticity is one of the main reasons his music is so consistently immersive and impressive. Plenty of artists put their internal feelings and personal experiences on display in their music, but few can generate the emotional resonance Ocean produces on almost all of his songs.
Blonde proves that channel ORANGE wasn't lightning in a bottle and Ocean really is one of the most profound, unique and emotionally-striking artists on the planet right now. While it's definitely not my favorite album of the year so far, I have a strong feeling that Blonde will have the most staying power and impact among future generations of anything released this year. It's the type of nuance and symbolism-filled record that demands to be discussed and dissected at length by music scholars and aficionados around the globe for decades to come. I have no idea where Ocean's music is headed next, but I'm absolutely elated to find out, regardless of how long it takes for that next batch of material to come together.
4/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.Pink+White
2.Nights
3.Solo
3.Solo
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