Reviewing: Blond
Artist Review: Frank Ocean
Few popular musicians have ever been as bold or dramatic in their approach to releasing a new album as Frank Ocean. After winning a Grammy for his contributions to Kanye West and Jay-Z’s 2011 track “No Church in the Wild” and releasing both a mixtape and a wildly successful album, Nostalgia: Ultra and Channel Orange respectively, Frank Ocean disappeared practically off the face of the earth until summer 2016. After four years without any new solo material, Ocean returned suddenly with the release of Blonde, an album which takes Pop and R&B music to interesting new heights. Blonde was released August 20, 2016.
Ocean takes on much more mellow sonic properties on Blonde than on his previous work, taking an airy and laidback approach that often shies away from heavy drum beats or rhythms. Ocean instead relies on vocals to carry the tracks forward in this stripped back style, this sound being most apparent on tracks such as “Ivy” and “Self-Control”. The trippy, scaled back vocals on “Seigfried” echo in the listener's ear in a structureless song that is hard to get a firm grip on initially. Conversely, “Nights” is instantly understandable with its drum line and rhythms. In addition, the beat switch towards the end of “Nights” is sudden and reminiscent of trap music being produced in the south.
Lyrically, Ocean takes an ambiguous approach to songs about love and personal struggle. Songs like “Ivy” and “Seigfried” are stripped back love songs which discuss Ocean’s good and bad experiences in love. Meanwhile, “Nights” and the skit “Be Yourself” reveal Ocean’s struggles with substance abuse.
One of the most apparent and interesting discrepancies between Blonde and Ocean’s earlier work is the pitched vocals which are ubiquitous throughout the record. Ocean often raises the pitch of his voice in a mostly unprecedented style that has somewhat divided fans. Overall, the contributions make for a new and fresh sound that is rarely attempted on Pop records.
Much in the same way that The Beatles elevated Pop albums to the level of high art in the 1960’s, Ocean creates a lyrically and sonically complex and emotional work that has simultaneously deconstructed and improved on the current Pop sound.
