He is a different man than he was four years ago, and it is quite evident here.įor the most part, the crispness and brightness of Nostalgia, Ultra and Channel Orange give way to a more hazy and spacey atmosphere. Ocean is no stranger to the topics of drugs, nostalgia, and love, but now, he approaches these subjects in a much different light. Now this is not to say that this album is a complete departure from Ocean’s previous material, as Blonde’s subject matter and themes have been prevalent in his discography dating all the way back to 2011’s Nostalgia, Ultra. Even the skits, which have a tendency to be superfluous in other projects, contribute to the album by adding to its richness and further fleshing out its themes. In fact, every part of this project feels meticulously crafted, with each choice only adding to the album thematically, atmospherically, or musically. Throughout Blonde, Ocean is constantly toying with convention, from the high-pitched distortion of his vocals on “Nikes” to his erratic lyrics on “Skyline To” and even to the beat switch on “Nights.” Yet for how random and bizarre Ocean’s decisions may seem, the opposite is true. However, Blonde is a bold, entrancing, and poignant project that shows just how much Frank Ocean has matured not just as a singer and songwriter, but as an artist. So does Blonde live up to the endless amount of hype behind it? Well, yes and no.įans that were expecting Channel Orange 2 will be disappointed in that respect, as Blonde is a highly experimental album that is not nearly as accessible to mainstream audiences as its predecessor. This, combined with Channel Orange being both one of the best albums of 2012 and one that resonated with many individuals (myself included), meant that expectations for this project were extraordinarily high. In these four years, Ocean mostly kept out of the limelight, with rare guest appearances and the occasional post on his Tumblr page. After four long years of speculation, cryptic messages, and flat-out lies, Frank Ocean has finally dropped the long-awaited follow-up to his phenomenal debut album, Channel Orange.
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