Frank Ocean Blonde Review

Track-by-Track

By: Niklas Hegg

10/10

The album “Boys Don’t Cry,” now titled “Blonde/Blond”, is covered in mystery. The third Frank Ocean Lp was first mentioned by the Grammy-award winning artist on his Tumblr account. The post mentioned a magazine that he was making, two versions of the album, and the date July 2015. Fans waited but July came and went with no sign of any album.

Many waited and finally Ocean has released it. With a lot of hype, fans are often worried about being disappointed, but when breaking down the album, it’s clear that it was worth the wait.

Nikes

Nikes is the only single from Blond. It offered something new from Ocean. The first half of the song has Ocean’s voice with an elevated pitch. With each listen, it gradually gets more admirable as you find new things hidden deep in the bottom layers of the song. The slow tempo keeps your head bobbing along. The meaning is a little all over the place with the song sounding and feeling like a dream. The song is strongest when Ocean’s real voice comes towards the end. He has surely matured, but he hasn’t lost his amazing vocals.

Ivy

Ivy sounds a lot like Ocean’s Channel Orange vocals. It’s a love song at its core but offers a little more than most. It has multiple layers of wavy guitars. It talks about growing up, and reflecting on mistakes. It shows how Ocean has grown up since his last album, and it is a powerful song.

Pink + White (Ft. Beyonce)

Pink + White offers some of Ocean’s best vocals. This song is more upbeat than the first two and feels nostalgic. Beyonce’s vocals are limited with her only offering some hums in parts of the song. It’s a beautiful track with lots of things going on in the background. It all sways in a melodical way.

Solo

Ocean’s voice in Solo is absolutely beautiful. The lyrics offer various parts of being alone. It speaks of loving one’s self. It could be interpreted as sad, but I see it as more of an optimistic song. It’s a fan favorite due to his amazing voice. The background vocals and whistles keep it all more upbeat, and I love it.

Skyline To

Skyline To is another song from Ocean that will make listeners nostalgic of summer. This one’s written by Kendrick Lamar, Tyler The Creator, and Ocean. Although they are hard to find, it even offers some background vocals from Lamar himself. It provides many random thoughts of the past and it all comes together well in the end.

Self Control

Self Control is one of the strongest songs on the album. Ocean’s voice changes slowly in each verse. It’s almost like he’s slowly breaking down while he’s is trying to get to someone who has caught his eye. It’s about loving someone who’s already been taken. The song is absolutely its best in its outro. It becomes so powerful  as it builds stronger and stronger. My first listen I found myself getting the chills.

Good Guy

Good Guy is a quick track about a blind date. Ocean realizes that the person he is with is just there for a fun night out and that’s not what he seems to be looking for. It has some cool edited vocals that sound dreamy.

Nights

Nights is by far my most favorite song on the album. It tells a story and has a great instrumental. The song talks about Ocean’s long nights in the studio using an extremely catchy hook. Then in the second half Ocean raps with a different pitch. He talks about Hurricane Katrina, since he is from New Orleans, and the struggle that it brought. The lyrics are catchy and strong. It gets stuck in my head every time.

Solo (Reprise)

The actor and magnificent rapper Andre 3000, from Outkast,  teams up for the second time with Ocean since the Channel Orange track Pink Matter. Compared to Pink Matter, Andre raps with more speed. His verse makes up the entire length of the song. The song came as a surprise from Andre and Ocean with them being as elusive as they are. The song “reprises” the same themes as Solo from earlier. And Andre disses other rappers for not writing their own songs, and he wonders if he has been working just too hard.

Pretty Sweet

Pretty Sweet is a more ambitious song on Blonde. The song starts loud and bold with layered voices and instruments. It sound more experimental than usual. The song is bold with the beginning being a little unsettling and overwhelming. It’s not a song I’d listen to regularly but it is an intense experience.

Close to You

A song written over 40 years ago is revived in a mind-blowing cover by Ocean. The song is a cover of Stevie Wonder’s cover of Close To You by The Carpenters. The Wonder cover was performed on the David Frost show with a talk box. Wonder’s cover is even sampled in Ocean’s. Ocean’s track is a quick cover but the lyrics feel just as powerful nonetheless with a prismizer effect added onto the background voice, making it sound slightly robotic. It’s a heartbreaker.

White Ferrari

This is a track that has Ocean’s soul which makes it break your heart every time. It says so much about love. When people call Ocean a legend, this is what they mean. It’s something new. One could call it original, but it clearly has influence while keeping it new. The outro is powerful with the lyrics and I almost thought it was Bon Iver the first listen. It’s amazing.

Seigfried

Seigrfried was first premiered by Ocean in 2013 at the BMW Welt in Munich, which just goes to show how long he has been working on this album. The song is about Frank’s reformation. He questions where he wants to go in the future. He is evidently unsure and his singing in this track is astounding. A powerful sounding song, it too is one of my favorites. It is a powerful sounding song.

Godspeed

In Ocean’s new magazine, he has a screenplay called Godspeed which talks about his teenage years being his favorite even though his current life is what he’s been wishing for all these years. The song itself is slower and a bit less notable than the rest, but it still has amazing vocals. It’s a good song to give a listen, but I don’t find myself returning to it often because it doesn’t have a strong structure like the rest.

Futura Free

This track is another one with an increased pitch added onto Ocean’s voice in the first part then a bit of auto-tune gets added to his voice in the later part. It’s another song from Ocean that expresses what seem to be random thoughts, where he talks about Tupac and Selena Quintanilla who both died at a young age. After the song, there is a long silent pause and then an interview takes place. First, Ocean’s little brother is interviewed, then some illegal immigrants. Both of which are written in the magazine.

In the end I find Blond to be a masterpiece. Ocean has grown up so much since Channel Orange and if he does decide to make another album, I’m extremely excited to see what he has to offer. Blond gets a 10/10.