In 2016, Frank Ocean released his sophomore album, Blonde. This album took listeners through the emotions of love and heartbreak through compelling lyrics, tasteful musicality, and storytelling. It remains one of the most influential albums in contemporary music today, as it continues to influence how artists write. In “Blonde,” Ocean portrays themes of searching for love, identity, and acceptance. He uses metaphors to paint an intimate and nostalgic musical scene detailing events from his past. This album is a testament to his maturity as he recalls his past mistakes and endeavors. He creates a second universe in which he can mend his past mistakes. The most notable piece of the album is the difference between the album title and the album art. On the album art, Frank uses the male spelling of “blond,” but the album title is the female version, “blonde.” This has left room for many different interpretations of this inconsistency.
Frank’s songs engage listeners and allow them to listen to his introspective storytelling. He uses progressive sounds throughout his music to bring a new sound to the music industry. All of his songs take us through a journey of his past. In Ocean’s closing songs “Futura Free” and “Godspeed,” he expresses his thankfulness for these hardships and how he wishes the person the best and will care for them forever.
In the opening track, “Nikes,” Frank’s lyrics talk about how materialism in our society is taking away from the real problems that plague our society. His lyric “R.I.P. Trayvon” was written in remembrance of Trayvon Martin, who was an African American who was a victim of police brutality. He wrote this lyric because people are so focused on moving up in society that they have missed things like this. This song is a testament to Ocean’s rise to fame and how he has learned that money and material items are the main focus of society these days. He explores his belief that this ideology will create overwhelming greed in our society. Additionally, Frank sings in two different tones, one high and one low-pitched. This gives off the impression of two different sides to all stories, and in this, he uses different pitches for each side. The higher pitch calls to the song’s synthetic theme of materialism, while the lower pitch shifts to “reality,” as do the lyrics.
Overall, Frank’s exploration of these themes gives this album a sense of realism. These songs bring comfort to those who are hurt, happiness to those who are in love, and a sense of feeling seen by those who are grieving. Frank is relatable in his words, and his catchy music emphasizes this feeling among listeners.
