Fans have endured an excruciating season of silence since singer/songwriter Frank Ocean’s Channel ORANGE back in 2014. Serenading his audiences with soulful voicings floating above simple yet entrancing guitar licks, Frank Ocean returns (finally) breaking the long-term silence with his latest album, Blonde.
The album, formerly titled as Boys Don’t Cry, reintroduces the classic Ocean-esque ambience, becoming the stage in which Ocean portrays storyteller to numerous unique themes and subjects. With relaxing tones and colorful sentimental tunes, both familiar listeners and unfamiliar enthusiasts will simply find themselves captivated.
Debuting one day before the record’s release, many fans found no difficulty regarding the album’s lead single “Nikes” as another Frank Ocean classic, arguably positioning beside the memorable “Thinkin’ Bout You’.
“I got two versions,” Ocean begins, voice distorted and slurred. Initially being linked to a certain Tumblr post back in 2015, the “two versions” Ocean sings about pertain to the different artistic perspectives between the separate albums released this week, Blonde and his visual record Endless.
While the leading track invited listeners into Ocean’s contrasting personas, the song “Be Yourself” narrates intimate scenes with mama Ocean preaching to his younger self. “Many college students have gone to college and gotten hooked on drugs, marijuana, and alcohol / Listen, stop trying to be somebody else / Don’t try to be someone else / Be yourself and now that that’s good enough”.
“Be Yourself”, however, is only one among others in the album taking fans back to Ocean’s younger years. In the track, “Godspeed”, Ocean revisits significant chapters in his boyhood, “letting go of his claim” towards a speculative love interest, which many fans believe to be the reason behind Ocean’s previous album. Nevertheless, the song weaves into a beautiful soliloquy, reminding listeners that love flows freely from within, and should not need another to prevail.
Several iconic artists also join in celebrating Ocean’s return. “Skyline” features Ocean with Kendrick Lamar, emphasizing unique phrases such as “smoke” and “haze” into the tune’s already-enigmatic presence. Andre 3000 turns up the volume in the album’s reprise track “Solo”. In “Pink + White”, Beyoncé provides very subtle vocal accompaniment to the point of barely noticing her presence. The unbalanced pairing, however, suggests Ocean’s confidence with his project.
On the contrary, many fans agree that his new record offers a step-down from channel ORANGE’s show-stopping characteristics. However, Ocean’s meticulousness toward Blonde strongly indicate the young artist’s growth as a songwriter, guiding fans towards deeper themes and facets in his progressing mind as both an artist and an individual personality.
By Jods Arboleda for RAPstation.com
