Blonde (album) by Frank Ocean

From Timestarter 5 days ago

blond

I do not get the hype for this album it is really not all that great in my opinion.

The ideas and the writing behind blonde are rather beautiful. Lyrics invoke everything from Norse heroes to lean recipes in Texas while describing love, sadness, and nostalgia. The production on the other hand just never finds success. The pitch up vocals sound wonky and pull you from the emotion of the songs. The bland almost ambient mixing drones on and on through the album. I do think the second half makes a little bit of a comeback with "White Ferrari","Siegfried", and "Godspeed" but that's not enough in a 17 track album.

From Boltzmann 01/18/2020 21:14

Seeing that Pitchfork put it on top of their 2010s list, I wondered whether they were hearing something I wasn't. Hearing it again, I can say it certainly does something different than Channel Orange, but not necessarily something superior. The most impressive thing I hear is the '90s IDM ('Night''s instrumental could be on a lost Selected Ambient Tracks III) and '00s indie psychedelia influence (okay, I can hear some '60s psychedelia influence too), and how he doesn't make it sound like he just jams it in to appear interesting; Frank is real, but we knew that already.

The biggest issue I have with this album is how it has great (fucking great) ideas, but places them at such awful moments or only in the background noise, which makes the whole sound rather theatrical. They're used as plot devices rather than as ways to improve the listening experience (even though they would). Which is exactly the shit that the smug hipsters at Pitchfork love: Great ideas executed poorly or with insufficient commitment so they can be the heroes who bring the misunderstood genius to the foreground, while the reason why it isn't on the foreground is simply that it is poorly executed. And when I say "executed poorly" I mean those great little ideas I was talking about; the simple things like singing perfectly soulful and making catchy, perfectly produced loops (I cannot call them beats right?) he executes perfectly. And those are the things you enjoy the most from this album, not the "experimental" tinges it has, that's just justification you need to call it a masterpiece, rather than saying "it's just good". I love 'Nikes' because it makes me feel sadness in the same way Ray Charles' soul from the '50s did. Does the fact he pitched and used every effect in the studio on his vocals add anything?... Okay yes, but does it change everything? No. It's still just a soul song, and a fucking great one and there's nothing wrong with that. No reason to praise it to the heavens, no need to stomp it into the ground.

Criticizing this album is extremely difficult, which is often misunderstood as proof for quality (it just hints at quality).

From danmarzella 11/05/2019 22:46

One of the most overrated albums I’ve ever heard. Channel Orange is SO much better than this. This album is just plain boring and disappointing.

9.1

Just edges out Channel Orange

From danmarzella 08/15/2019 14:18

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Frank Ocean's Blonde is my favorite album of the 2010s. It's extremely personal and emotional, using concept structures to deliver dreamlike songs, reflecting on nostalgia and the current state of romance in the world. I think Self Control is one of the best songs ever written. The album is stunning to listen to beginning to end, often feeling meditative and hypnotic.

100/100

This is the ultimate Soul , R&B music album of recent times, every track has a feeling that awakes you and make you enter the lyrics

Almost peerfect album

Blonde is maybe the most emotional album I've ever heard. No other album hits me harder in my feelings than this one. Frank Ocean created an album where we can get lost in his most intimate world. His distinctive songwriting, singing style, vibe, the minimal production, and tons of emotion (obviously sad, nostalgic, etc) makes Blonde a world of its own. You need to listen to it entirely to experience it all.

I find it hard to describe all the things that this album provoke on me. Everytime I hear it, it just destroys me, but at the same time, makes me happy because of the amazing piece of art that Frank Ocean created. At the same time, it's a very original album in almost every way.

Self Control always makes me cry and hits me hard, I always get lost in a sea of feelings with Siegfried, White Ferrari, Nikes, Godspeed or Ivy, other songs make me feel good like Pink + White, Solo, Skyline To or Futura Free and other songs are simply amazing, like Nights.

This thing never ceases to amaze me. I really feel this is Frank Ocean's masterpiece and a benchmark in contemporary music. Blonde has marked me in a significant way, and im sure im not the only one feeling the same