Released: 2016

Genres: R&B, Art Pop, Neo-Soul

The Musiquarium’s Blonde Review Score: 10 out of 10

After dropping his highly influential debut, channel ORANGE, in 2012, Frank Ocean had become the defining voice of 2010’s R&B, with the entire music world eagerly awaiting for a follow-up. Four years went by with nothing until Endless, an Apple Music exclusive audio visual album had dropped, perplexing many. This unconventional release wrapped up Frank Ocean’s contract with Def Jam, which led him to self-releasing his true sophomore album, Blonde, the very next day.

Compared to channel ORANGE (but similarly to Endless), much of Blonde revels in minimalism and ambience, making for music that feels very progressive and boundless, but despite this description, there are still several layers to unfold within the space.

Nikes is a soulful opener with chipmunk vocals (is this Frank Ocean’s Camille?) and an ambient instrumental, up until the midpoint, where Frank Ocean’s vocals return to normal, and some gentle guitars enter the stage. Ivy is divinely sublime R&B, with its gorgeous, chorus-soaked guitars that will make your ears almost feel wet — Pink + White is equally soulful and heavenly, with an instrumental co-produced by Pharrell Williams.

Be Yourself is some sort of interview, where the speaker advises the listener to never try to be anybody but yourself, as well as warning them to stay off drugs — this is followed by Solo, where Ocean recounts experiences with drugs, with nothing accompanying him but an organ and his memory.

The keyboards in the latter half of Skyline To make the Brian Wilson influence apparent, evoking the experimental keyboard bliss and harmonies of The Beach Boys’ unreleased SMiLE project. Self Control sees a return of Ocean’s sped up vocals, perhaps like he’s playing two different characters on the album; the song is also very minimalistic, but sometimes less is more, with the music requiring space to breathe.

Nights is like two songs in one, with its two distinct halves equally euphoric. OutKast’s André Benjamin has the closest thing resembling a feature on Solo (Reprise). Pretty Sweet uses heavily reverbed vocals and a children’s choir. Facebook Story is another interview track, with the same instrumental from Be Yourself.

There’s a tasteful interpolation of The Carpenters’ They Long to Be (Close to You) on Close to You, as well as a very subtle interpolation of The Beatles’ Here, There and Everywhere on White Ferrari. Frank lays his soul bare on the heartfelt Seigfried, which adds some strings midway to increase the intensity of the emotions that he’s feeling.

The penultimate sermon-like gospel track Godspeed is followed by the 9 and a half minute closer Futura Free, where Frank Ocean candidly admits “Sometimes I feel like a God, but I’m not a God” and has other stream of conscious ramblings.

Blonde is a lot like a film, with every detail seemingly intentional and elaborate — even the cover spells out Blond without the “E”, despite the album being officially-titled Blonde. Perhaps this symbolizes the duality of gender, as Blonde is an album that embraces its anima more than most R&B stars or rappers would ever be comfortable enough to do in their music. This is the work of a man who isn’t afraid to seem weak or emotional (further evidenced on the cover artwork and the album’s working title, Boys Don’t Cry).

Blonde may not be as immediate channel ORANGE, with no songs resembling a conventional hit, and might require subsequent listens to fully understand it, but it is one of the best produced albums of its decade, challenging and progressing the notion of what R&B music can be and how much one can bare their soul to millions.

For credit breakdowns and historic release details, view Frank Ocean on Discogs.

Back to the 2016 Album Guide or the Frank Ocean Reviews page.

Written by Brett Nippard