I had never listened to an album in the way that I listened to Frank Ocean’s Blonde. As someone who knows nothing about music, albums seemed nothing more than a collection of songs prior to Blonde. When I heard Blonde, and I mean really heard it, I found it was more than just an album. Blonde is a story. An ethereal experience. A masterpiece, and it not only changed my perspective on music, but it changed the way I perceive love, youth, and heartbreak.
Blonde is a gem for a multitude of reasons, and what can be observed from the surface provides a window into its beauty. Though I am a firm believer that each song in Blonde is perfect, there are a couple of songs that stick out which are enjoyed by many. These songs include (but are not limited to) “Ivy,” “Pink + White,” “Self Control,” “Nights,” and “White Ferrari.” Each of these songs can be enjoyed by listeners for their sweet melodies and poetic lyrics, with a range of soft and simple sounds to something a little louder and complex. Tracks like “Ivy” and “Pink + White” reflect on the beauty of young love with vivid imagery. While “Self Control” and “White Ferrari” depict the bittersweetness of a love that no longer manifests in a relationship. Ocean illustrates the unconditional nature of his love and how his relationships altered through time, conveyed through his bargaining and dismay with his previous partner(s). In “Self Control,” Ocean’s lyrics depict his attempt to get his partner to stay and his willingness to accept untraditional terms of a monogamous relationship:
Keep a place for me, for me
I’ll sleep between y’all, it’s nothing
It’s nothing, it’s nothing
I, I, I know you gotta leave, leave, leave
Take down some summertime
Give up, just tonight, ‘night, ‘night
Frank Ocean’s “White Ferrari” reflects on his unending love for a previous partner, claiming that though their relationship did not last, under differing circumstances it may have had the potential to do so. Ocean conveys the unconditional nature of his love both explicitly and with a bittersweet last message:
I care for you still and I will forever
That was my part of the deal, honest
I’m sure we’re taller in another dimension
You say we’re small and not worth the mention
Blonde isn’t just a beautiful album because of the way it sounds, but also because of the hidden creative bits Ocean included, demonstrating the extensive amount of time and effort Frank poured into this album. For starters, Blonde is a sixty-minute album perfectly split in two by a beat switch in the song “Nights.” During the beat switch in “Nights,” the tempo of the song quickly picks up, accompanied by an electric guitar that deviates to a quiet, soft beat. In addition to the two halves of Blonde, the album cover is spelled as “blond” while the official album name is “Blonde.” The feminine and masculine spellings of blonde serve to convey the varying gender ideologies within the album. These constructs are heavily explored throughout the album due to Ocean’s gender or sexual orientation, illustrating the duality he wishes to convey.
Additionally, the last song of Blonde, “Futura Free” is also split perfectly in half, with the first half as a “normal” song while the second half contains sound bits of interviews. The last interview question asks, “how far is a light year?” And to answer the question, a light year is 9.46 x 10^12 kilometers. The song “Futura Free” is 9 minutes and 24 seconds, which converts to 9.46 minutes, meaning that it is also the length of a light year. These not so obvious bits within Blonde make the album so special and demonstrate the creative genius of Frank.
Though these bits of Blonde are magnificent, my favorite part about Blonde and why I think everyone should really give it a listen is the message behind it. Its themes of love, lust, heartbreak, naivety, coming of age, and invincibility are what make it so special. At the time that I first listened to Blonde, I was navigating the middle of my teenage years, exploring who I was as a person and the relationships in my life. Prior to listening, I had always been so pessimistic towards romantic relationships due to the way they were portrayed by those close to me and what I saw. However, after giving this album a listen and going through similar experiences illustrated in Blonde, I began to formulate a different perspective on love and relationships, in which it does not serve to inevitably end in doom and heartbreak, but rather provides the privilege of experiencing something infinitely beautiful. Blonde showed me how true love is unconditional and in hindsight, relationships should be perceived as time spent, not wasted. Blonde showed me that a form of loss indicates the presence of love, and that its benefits make the potential costs worth it.
Blonde provides a beautiful depiction of youth, painting it with optimism despite the many negative parts that accompany adolescence. Blonde is not just an album, but an experience worth sharing. When I reflect on being young and in love and relishing in the bittersweetness of adolescence, I often think of Blonde. So if you haven’t given it a listen, what are you waiting for?