However, there is a distance that Ocean puts between himself and the listener, felt most in his use of cold beats and vocal manipulation. The song, like the rest of the album, is free-floating, almost formless, but somehow still has a definitive shape. It is a reminder that Ocean is not only a brilliant songwriter, but also a master at bending the intricacies of song structure to his will. “Nikes,” the cerebral, genre-bending opening track to Blonde, is gorgeously intricate, and it also serves as the album’s lead single. Unsurprisingly, the music accompanying the visuals has the same sophisticated feel. He may even near avant-garde territory with the release of the zine and the visual album. So the question is, where does Frank Ocean fit into music now? Apple Music dubs his music as pop, but it all has an obvious inclination toward soul. It’s left many wondering: Was he working on this the whole time since then, or did he take time off, then finish this all at once just to please everyone?Įither way, both Blonde and Endless are beautiful, there’s no denying it. Four years have passed since the media buzz, the praise for his openness about his sexuality and the Grammy nods. It’s been four years since Frank Ocean put out the ethereal, superb channel ORANGE. Not only did he give us Blonde and Boys, but we also have Endless, a sparse black-and-white visual album full of covers and older material, also exclusive to Apple Music. He gave the title Boys Don’t Cry back to the extensive, glossy magazine, which itself resembles a concept more modern-art than DIY. To accompany the album, Ocean also distributed a zine in pop-up shops located across the country, including his native Los Angeles. Over a year later, it has since been rechristened Blonde, 60-minute opus streaming exclusively on Apple Music. The reclusive writer, singer and producer has been clamored after since last summer when fans were promised new material in the form of a project called Boys Don’t Cry. Using the phrase “long-awaited” would be trite in welcoming the release of Frank Ocean’s third album.

Cover of frank ocean blonde album