Blond
by Frank Ocean

3 of the last 5 ratings are less than 1 star. Tell me you listened only once without telling me you listened only once. I'm no better really, I'd have given the same rating, but I do know better than to actually give a rating that low to a top 100 album like that. Back when this was pretty new, I gave it a listen and it went in one ear and out the other. After I noticed it was in the top 100, I listened again and still didn't get it. I thought it was simple and slow. I was honestly bored. I thought maybe it was just being hyped up by bots, for sales or something. I didn't know, but was pretty sure it didn't deserve the praise. Also, there WAS NO vinyl release until recently, so I really didn't even want it to be any good.

Even after knowing what it was, like an idiot I was still expecting good rap, obvious bangers with killer beats, great flow, the sort of thing you expect from a rap album ranked up there with Illmatic. But this isn't just a rap album, and the rap isn't even the secondary strength here.

I recently listened 5 times in a row and that first time I still wasn't in love, but I noticed just little pieces of each song that I missed without knowing I missed them, flashes of brilliance that I wondered how I didn't notice the first 2 times. With each successive listen over the past 2 days, I loved it more and more. I feel like such an idiot for missing the beauty that's so obvious now.

It's soul/r&b with the occasional killer rap verse, and those verses hit like the Baptism sequence in The Godfather when they DO come. Lyrically, it's usually really not that good either, which is also far below expectation for a highly rated album with rap on it. I laugh out loud at the lyrics on occasion. I've had thoughts such as, "this is the most soulfully anyone could possibly sing about cutting people, getting their dick sucked, and smoking weed, and the accompanying music couldn't match those amazing vocals any better!" It's not what you get while listening to Marvin Gaye, that's for sure! But this is absolutely up there with What's Goin On, it's possibly even better. I never listened to What's Goin On 5 times in a row before. It could be recency bias, but for now I can definitely say I do prefer this, although memories of Inner City Blues are screaming (Hollerin'?) at me to reconsider.

Vocally, it's mind blowing, the best soul I've ever heard. Musically, it's VERY beautiful in the most subtle way. It takes inspiration from indie rock, shoegaze, dream pop. I don't think I've ever heard an experimental soul/r&b album before this, certainly not with rap. It ranges from breakbeats, rhythms and speeds of both dirges and dances, but it's not erratic or all over the place, it's just like a layer here, a layer there, and it flows perfectly, each layer NATURAL. It never just abruptly, jarringly changes to some inappropriate new sound, but transitions between sounds in a way that literally gives me goosebumps and brings tears to my eyes (even as I type this, just remembering it, I feel this, no hyperbole).

The very best comparison I can think of, another album that manages to appropriately blend such a wide variety of influences like this in such a subtle manner would be Deathconsciousness. Whereas that album's beauty is interrupted by the occasional harsh noise, this one interrupts with really good rap. It demands repeat listens. Also, I'm not sure about headphones for this one. I couldn't appreciate it until I filled my living room with it.

For what it's worth, my wife wasn't really listening, made negative comments during the first 4 of my last 5 listens, and didn't mention how beautiful she found it until the most recent listen, so it's not just me. Stop giving 1 star reviews after a single listen or 2. At most, maybe it'll have to sit in your head for a week/month before another listen shows you how much you missed some of these layers. If you don't like it, I promise it'll grow on you. It's not my go-to style, the opposite in fact (I've been on a noise rock kick), but even I can greatly appreciate this.

It really does transcend ANY genre you could place it in. Any label you could put on it, it's more than that. Like all the best albums, it's greater than the sum of its parts, too, even if the lyrics practically goad you into arguing.

EDIT: OF COURSE Siegfried, White Ferrari, Solo, Ivy, and Nikes aren't even in the top 3 tracks right now, lol. I haven't been paying attention, but I'm sure this is one of those albums where the top tracks are constantly changing between almost every track. I should probably mention that I'm already itching to listen again for the 6th time in the past 2 days and it seems like as soon as I hit play, I'm getting up to flip the record back over b/c time just FLIES when I'm listening to this.

RE EDIT: As for the album's weak points. The weakest parts of this album are Be Yourself and Facebook Story, which are very short vocal interludes. Even those though, have this beautiful, broken and soft melodic music in the background and the record is better for them. There's something off about the music in them, reminiscent of Loveless. Close to You is probably the weakest track that's actually a track, but it's only a minute long and it isn't bad, even though maybe the borrowed vocal melody from the Carpenters is either inappropriate OR I'm missing something. I like how it sandwiches Facebook Story with Pretty Sweet though, as both Close to You and Pretty Sweet have the most frantic, syncopated layers on the record. Aside from those, the weakest is easily the outro, Futura Free, which is musically beautiful but vocally exhausted and nonchalant, easily the worst on record, vocally. And lyrically, it's hilariously bad, like it's not even trying. The lyrics once again go back to smoking weed, sex, and of course cutting people. "Fuck these n*****" is said 6 times in a row, before acknowledging that this is the "last song" and telling you that you could have switched the track a long time ago. Then there's some absolute silence, followed by THE MOST INCONSEQUENTIAL interviews of all time. Interviews of Odd Future members, as children, barely even audible over pure noise. It's a 9 minute long "FORGET ABOUT IT," and underlines the nihilism of this "soul" music. Overall, this album's electronic layers, occasional autotuned vocals, distorted vocals, and lyrics give even the gospel elements a blasphemous bent. I may have given the wrong impression of the lyrics, btw, I love them. I love how they're antithetical to standard soul. I love the euphoria of laughing at their content in between being in states of awe and wonder at how good the music itself is. It's legitimately a high, reminds me of when I did psychedelics daily. I love the fact that what is perhaps the best soul album of all time isn't about god, unless it's the god of drugs and sex and violence. I came back to edit this with the album's CONS and I'm just back to praising it. I don't only think it's better than What's Goin On any more though, now I do think it's at least my favorite NON-ROCK album period, if not the best non-rock album objectively (which it might be). I know what that's saying, I'm very familiar with the rap and jazz albums I'm comparing this to. I went from thinking this was way overrated in the top 100, to actually underrated even way up here. It belongs higher, "where god could fear," to use more of its own words.

Post-soul perfection.

I really don't get this album - even though he has a great voice a lot of the vocals are annoying. It's like a collection of samples that don't actually become proper tracks. The only track I enjoyed was Seigfried but even that isn't really a proper song it just has some nice instrumentation. This is apparently the 93rd best album of all time, shows I don't quite understand music as much as I thought I did.

Totally captivating songwriting and performances. Beautifully imagined and executed.

A fantastic modern record where Frank Ocean is not frightened to experiment at all which leads to some of his most complex music so far. To start with the negatives, I do think there is some stuff on here which could be cut out such as a few of the shorter songs. Frank Ocean does have a tendency to get a little lost in places as well where I think he is trying to do too much at one time which can lead to a few moments which sound like a bit of a mess. Despite this, when he gets the experimentation right on this record it is stunning. We are treated to some compositions which are perfect for introspection and getting completely lost in the music. The best example of this for me is White Ferrari which always leads to me just staring off into the distance and becoming completely transfixed on the music. His words are great as well with him challenging modern issues in an intelligent way making it very enjoyable to look into his lyrics. The best thing about this album for me however is the atmosphere that Frank Ocean creates. It is moody and distorted but calm and carefully crafted which allows the music to just glide past as you are lost to this brilliant environment. It stuns me every time I revisit this album with how good Frank Ocean was at taking you away from reality. Overall, there is so much to love on here from the lyrics to the atmosphere to the experimentation, making it a work of modern brilliance that is the peak of Frank Ocean's career so far.

Blonde proves to be a fascinating insight into depression and loneliness in the 21st century in a way that elevates the genre that the music is based within. There is something about the record that drags you back into Ocean's despair to unpick something new each time.

Depressing yet beautiful

Moody, hazy poeticism; to be listened to while lying on your bed, staring at the ceiling in wonderful despair.

This and Channel Orange are both such great albums. Frank is really a talented guy. CO just edges this one for me, but Nights is his best song. It's such a great album. 9/10

From Jboy56 04/13/2022 10:18 | #284154

Evaluating this music is not easy. This is a sort of meditative album and to me separating the songs in just one sitting is tedious.

A tedious album, to my ears. This is the musical equivalent of throwing a handful of spaghetti against the wall to see what sticks. When an actually catchy hook is stumbled upon, Ocean moves away from it quickly to chase the latest squirrel.