Title: Blonde
Artist: Frank Ocean
Label: BOYS DON’T CRY
Release Date: August 20, 2016
Genre: contemporary r&b, psychedelic pop
Available: Spotify, Apple Music, Youtube Music, iHeartRadio,Deezer
Blonde is one of the most significant albums of the decade and something everyone needs to give a listen to in their lives. After the release of his first studio album, Channel Orange,in 2012, Frank Ocean seemingly went off the map for four years. Being overlooked and stuck in his contract with the record company Def Jam, Frank made the visual Album Endless,which was really just a live stream of Frank building a staircase, with music playing in the background, so technically he released an album, thus ending his contract with the company. This is where Frank basically uses that decoy to showcase and release his new album, Blonde,independently on August 20, 2016. Doing this, Frank finesses his now former record label Def Jam for twenty million dollars.
Blonde is a contemporary r&b album that tackles themes such as love, drugs, depression, and heartbreak. The album kicks off with the opening track ¨Nikes.¨ In ¨Nikes,¨ Frank talks about the feeling of being used for his money in relationships. Frank reveals his feelings of past relationships with the song ¨Ivy,¨ where he talks about the feeling of a failed relationship and the heartbreak that follows. With each song and the more you listen to it, it is very clear how much emotion is put into the album. The production and just theme of the entire album is so grand and perfect at the same time. In songs such as ¨Nights,¨ Frank is somehow able to use a beat switch to mark the exact midpoint of the album, switching it to an even more emotional and tear shedding album that will send goosebumps throughout your body that will leave you wondering where Frank Ocean has been all your life.
The more you actually listen to Blonde the more you can just feel everything in it. With the instrumentals in each song and Franks pouring his heart out in songs like ¨Godspeed,¨ where he talks about always loving someone no matter what, but you are also letting them go from your life. It was no wonder it had three different nominations of the year. Blonde is definitely an album people have to listen to and is something I have always enjoyed. The only problem that would be in the album is that the album isn’t exactly just something you can listen to in the background. You kind of have to sit down and take time to listen to it to enjoy it, but even then it is something that is gonna be appreciated and praised for generations.
Above: Alternate album cover for Blonde
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