We constructed the mystery for ourselves all he had to do was vanish. Most of this proved to be either insubstantial, or flatly incorrect. Past and present blend, and the album's closer Futura Free freewheels though reflections provided by Ocean, and then his brother in a dated interview with skateboarder Sage Elsesser.The internet was awash with memes, GIFs, questions, conspiracies, and timelines fastidiously updating and voraciously over-analysing every fresh lead on where exactly Frank Ocean was, and what he was up to. Seigfried brings in Elliott Smith's A Fond Farewell for a solemn consideration of mortality. White Ferrari borrows from The Beatles, with haunting spots from Blake and Bon Iver. Close To You covers Stevie Wonder (covering Burt Bacharach), with Vegyn's production chopping and crushing Ocean's vocals. "I'm on this side, I'm on this side," chants Pretty Sweet, marking the turn, after frenzy gives way to a surprisingly fresh drum and bass drop. "Hand me a towel I'm dirty dancing by myself," opens the assertive, grubby Solo. Bey and K Dot are relegated to backing vocals in the biggest powerplay we'll see this year Andre brings one of his best verses on Solo (Reprise).Īfter nine tracks picking up where Channel ORANGE left off, we hit the record's suggestions for the future. Soulful, classic lines find Ocean celebrating his skill his voice is gorgeous and able and he revels in it. Soulful, impeccable production shines on every heartbreak and highlight, and we roll through a recognisable landscape of extroversion, self-reflection, coke, sex, swimming pools and expensive cars. Over seventeen tracks and a holy guestlist including (but by no means limited to) Beyonce, Kendrick Lamar, Andre 3000, Yung Lean, Tyler The Creator, James Blake, Jamie xx and Pharrell, Ocean sets out his vision for the future. 24 hours later, heralded by a magazine titled Boys Don't Cry – long suspected to be the title of his actual album – Ocean came through with Blonde, and a much healthier cut of the takings.Įven more astonishingly, Blonde has survived the media frenzy: it's a dignified, down-tempo celebration of taking all the damn time you need to get something done that's worth doing right.
The following weekend, on Frank Ocean's own terms, he brought out a visual album ( Endless) which reportedly fulfilled his commitments to his label Def Jam. Even the New York Times confimed the drop. After years of silence, signs and no-shows, the hype surrounding a new Ocean release reached fever pitch on 5 August.
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