Music Review: 'Blonde'

Instead of following up 2012’s “channel ORANGE” with another concept masterpiece, Frank Ocean opted for something simpler—and better—with his new album, “Blonde.”

The scope of “Blonde” is far more intimate than that of “channel ORANGE,” which touched on themes ranging from Ocean’s bisexuality to race and class divides to prostitution to drug abuse.  “Blonde” instead focuses, for the most part, on Ocean’s feelings following a breakup with a person whose gender is intentionally obscured by a lack of pronouns, and feels much more personal, an impressive feat considering the emotion poured into every track on his previous effort.

The album opens with “Nikes,” which is easily the track least focused on the album’s general theme of love.  A cold critique of the trappings of wealth and those who wish to take advantage of Ocean’s success, the tune features Ocean’s pitched-up voice singing a rambling verse over a hazy trap beat. The drums drop out and the singer plunges into another verse about the wait between his albums and his drug use before an auto-tuned coda addresses the past lover— “I’m not him, but I’ll mean something to you.”

The second song, “Ivy,” follows a similar theme as Frank sings about a failed relationship which, despite the animosity between himself and his ex, was still worth it — “But we both know that deep down / The feeling still deep down is good.”  A gentle dream-pop guitar lifted straight out of a Beach House song and written by Rostam Batmanglij, previously of Vampire Weekend, accompanies Frank’s voice. 

Guitar defines “Blonde,” which differs from “channel ORANGE” in the intimacy of its production.  Songs are often built around a single guitar part, rather than the traditional R&B drums and bass found in Ocean’s other work.  This lets Ocean’s voice take center stage, where, of course, it thrives. 

The album starts out clear and unambiguous, with songs including “Nikes,” “Ivy,” and the waltz “Pink + White” all featuring unexpected, but clear production.  The end of the album, however, ventures further into the experimental range, as songs like “Pretty Sweet” and “Close to You” are built around walls of feedback and skittering electronic drums, in addition to a strong James Blake influence in the latter. The album loses focus over these songs—which are separated by a monologue about a Facebook-facilitated breakup by French DJ Sebastian—but regains it by the emotional close of the album. 

The album also features performances from a variety of guests:  Beyoncé backs Ocean’s voice in “Pink + White”; a childhood friend’s mother warns about “weedheads” and other substances in the voicemail skit “Be Yourself." Kendrick Lamar whispers about six words in total in the structure-less “Skyline To.”  André 3000 receives an entire song to himself in “Solo (Reprise),” in which he extols his ability to do it alone—calling out rappers with ghostwriters in the process.

With “Blonde,” Ocean does not try to answer any questions, and, compared to “Channel ORANGE,” barely even asks any.  The comparatively narrow focus of the album allows Ocean to more fully develop his thoughts on love, and the pared-back and slightly unorthodox production only brings his voice more fully into light.  “Blonde” is a worthy successor to the excellent “Channel ORANGE,” and only opens up more and more to the listener after each spin.