#Blonde frank ocean album review full

#Blonde frank ocean album review full

It’s an album packed full of ideas and surprises – one minute there’s a tribute to Trayvon Martin, the Florida teenager fatally shot by his neighbour (“that nigga look just like me” as opening track Nikes puts it), the next minute Frank’s mum is popping up in a charming answerphone message warning him not to take drugs, and then later on there are incredibly subtle musical and lyrical homages to The Beatles and Elliott Smith. However, if Blonde lacks the pop sensibility that Channel Orange had in spades, it also has a weird, shimmering beauty all of its own. The first track, Nikes, sees Ocean’s gorgeously soulful vocals wilfully distorted out of all recognition, while the ‘big-name’ guest stars (none other than Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar) have cameos so understated that you’d be hard-pressed to recognise them at all on the first few listens. There are no real hooks to be found on Blonde (styled Blond on the accompanying packshot), the entire hour-long affair being as languid and introspective as Channel Orange. The pre-release activity for Blonde has only stoked up the hype – whether it be a seemingly live stream of Ocean cutting up pieces of wood, or the surprise release of an entirely new ‘visual album’ called Endless – completing his contractual obligations to former label DefJam – or even an apparently last minute title change from Boys Don’t Cry, it seemed for a while that this album was just an figment of a particularly excitable Twitter storm.Įventually though, late on a Saturday night, Ocean’s ‘official’ new album was finally released and it’s as mystifying and contrary a beast as you’d expect. Yet four years has seemed like an eternity to everyone desperate for a follow-up to Channel Orange, a fact Frank Ocean himself poked fun at in a Tumblr post by thanking everyone “who never let me forget I had to finish. Brian Wilson, after all, took nearly 40 years to complete Smile, Guns N’ Roses‘ Chinese Democracy became a long-standing joke ages before the album’s eventual release 15 years after its predecessor, and only last month The Avalanches eventually brought their 16 year hiatus to a close with their album Wildflower. ( Author rating: 8.When you think about it, four years isn’t that long a period between albums. Judging by the way that Ocean sings without abandon on Blonde, he’s well aware of what his true fans need. If casual fans looking for simpler, catchier grooves to vibe to don’t get it, then so be it. These elements and more prove that Ocean is one of today’s boldest artists, not only in R&B but also in any genre. “Skyline To,” meanwhile, has a subtler, but no less effective Black Lives Matter reference in the opening line, as Ocean sings: “This is joy/this is summer/keep ‘em high/stay alive,” before lamenting about how time flies in his old age -he is an elderly 28 at this point, after all -over warbly synths reminiscent of rippling heat waves in the distance. The cuteness of that delivery is juxtaposed compellingly by Ocean’s lyrical shout out to Trayvon Martin, the black teen famously slain by George Zimmerman in 2012 (“That nigga looked just like me,” Ocean sings). Opening track, “Nikes,” pushes the limits even further, thanks to a vocal effect that renders Ocean’s singing to an Alvin and the Chipmunks high pitch. When he sings about a “bull and a matador duelling in the sky,” it’s pure bliss. But when it hits a gentle climax, Ocean belts out the chorus in remarkably cheery fashion. “Solo,” for instance, might initially bore impatient listeners because it starts with a subtle instrumental and vocal buildup that both border on quiet a cappella, as Ocean sings about tripping on acid. However, much of the rest of Blonde is far less accessible than its predecessor. Indeed, the song’s gentle, soulful, and slightly jazzy instrumentation, along with the 28-year-old R&B star’s breezy crooning, are all what Ocean’s legions of fans have come to expect from him (the song was produced by Ocean himself his Odd Future cohort Tyler, the Creator and star beat maker Pharrell Williams).

“Pink + White,” one of the standout tracks from Frank Ocean’s latest album, Blonde, would have fit nicely on his last proper album, 2012’s Channel Orange.