Frank Ocean is an American singer and songwriter. Ocean dropped his sophomore studio album which is also his last released album “Blonde” on August 20, 2016.
Although he doesn’t have much music, a lot of his early works are credited by some music critics for pioneering the alternative R&B genre. He has such a wide range of music that every song you listen to has a different sound. Ocean is best known for his impressive vocals and the diversity throughout his music catalog. Ocean has only two studio albums out in “Channel Orange” and “Blonde,” which are both great in their own right, but he also has some albums that were never released to streaming such as “Nostalgia, Ultra” and “Endless.” Not only did Ocean change the music industry with his unique sound, but he also affected how music was released. He dropped “Blonde” through Apple Music only and still went #1 in 7 countries and 232k units.
This album is unbelievable from start to finish. It starts with the intro track of “Nikes,” which is a perfect start to the album and sets the tone very well. The tracklist then goes into more substantial songs in “Ivy,” “Pink and White,” and “Solo” which are all great in their own right. Then, we have “Self Control” which is without a doubt, one of the best on the album. It demonstrates the versatility of Ocean’s music perfectly. After this is, “Nights” which is another example of how versatile Frank’s music is. The beat switch in this song is fantastic and when you hear it once, you won’t be able to stop going back to listen to it. This is easily another one of the standouts on the album. After a few more good songs, there is the song “White Ferrari.” This is a fan favorite as many people have an emotional tie of some sort to this song. This is another fantastic song that demonstrates the singer’s versatility and use of different sounds. To end of the album, there’s another great three song run in “Seigfried,” “Godspeed” and “Futura Free,” which are all great songs and again are each individually different.
There aren’t really any bad things to say about this album. It showcases Ocean’s unreal mind for music and his fantastic voice along with that. The album doesn’t have many features and even that, most of the features are just background vocals. For example, there are vocals from legends such as Beyoncé and Kim Burrell. There are even background vocals from legendary rapper and member of Outcast, André 3000. Although he does have his own track on the album titled, “Solo (Reprise)” which almost acts as an interlude to the album, Ocean is not present on the song. Without a doubt, Blonde is his best work. Top to bottom, it is filled with fantastic songs that contain a sound that you can’t get in other artist’s music. Ocean’s life took a turn for the worst when he tragically lost his little brother, Ryan Breaux who died in a car accident in 2020. Many fans speculate that this is a huge reason for Ocean’s disappearance in the music industry. The singer has only released 10 songs through singles since his last album and hasn’t dropped anything since 2020.
In the final analysis, this album is perfect and deserves to be talked about for decades to come. It has truly changed music for the better. Overall, this album deserves 5/5 stars and solidifies itself as one of the greatest albums ever dropped.