Neo soul has been on the rise for a few years now; names like The Weeknd have taken the genre to the forefront of popular music and more and more artists are experimenting with the genre. However, as a champion of this genre, the artist’s name on everyone’s lips is Frank Ocean - a man who clearly refuses to be defined or confined by genre.
The hype is real. ‘Blond / Blonde’ or ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ as it was formerly known has been teasing the public for months now. Hopeful Facebook shares of potential release dates (with accompanying praying hand emojis) have been growing on newsfeeds across the western world. But the big question is, does Ocean deliver?
The opening track ‘Nikes’ is above all a testament to Frank’s hype power. After a rather prolonged and slightly grating pitched vocal and a hazy instrumental intro, the beat breaks, the ethereal strings start and Frank’s voice comes in. And in that moment on that first listen, it feels special, it feels like our prayers have been answered and the prince has returned. It even sent a small shiver down my spine. Whether this was simply a result of the huge anticipation or something exceptional I’m not sure. Regardless it is not a feeling I have experienced since that first listen. ‘Nikes’ is a decent enough introduction to the album, the beat has that Drake cloud rap feel with its liquid, intoxicating quality and it sets the tone of the album appropriately.
Things warm up on the second track ‘Ivy’. The song is built on a guitar and bass duet, panned to left and right respectively, and the two instruments dance nicely together. They flow throughout the mix as the track progresses and compliment each other well. Frank’s velvety voice is at its best and the song is really strong. It’s simplicity done right, it feels like Frank has nailed the sound that he was aiming for on the project. Similarly ‘Solo’ succeeds in being interesting in its simplicity. For the majority of the track Frank is only accompanied by an organ and an occasional backing vocal. But the power and range of his voice carries the song to a serene level of prettiness. Frank talks romance, weed, convoluted dates and events, and he conveys the feeling of the track well. It really is a lovely song. However, my positive first impressions of the album were short lived because after ‘Solo’ the album sags. It really sags.
‘Skyline Two’ sounds like Frank is just thinking out loud whilst his mate practices guitar in the background. It’s sonically unimpressive, Frank sounds bored and the lyrics sound like he wrote them on the back of a napkin. He gives the instrumental so much space that you might almost be tricked into thinking it’s interesting or subtle, but it’s just boring. ‘Self Control’ isn’t much better, it’s dry and indulgent, and by this point the dragging pace of the album is really taking its toll. The song wants to be a trimmed down, unplugged ‘Ivy’ but it doesn’t come close.
‘Nights’ is brief moment of reprieve from the trawling pace of the project. It’s by no means one of Frank’s best tracks but in the context of the later half of this album it sounds fantastic. It has some momentum and Frank takes a break from singing to deliver something more akin to rapping. The weighty synth gives it a nice sense of rhythm and the second verse has a good feature by an artist I can’t identify. However, my relief proved to be fleeting as the biggest disappointment of the album revealed itself: the poet Andre 3000 delivering some half decent lines on top of an equally average instrumental. ‘Pink Matter’ is one of my favourite songs of all time, and when I heard that even Andre sounded average on this project, all my hopes for redemption were severed.
I would consider myself quite a patient person when it comes to music. I’ve come to love many albums that I wasn’t particularly fond of at first. Some albums need time to be absorbed, to grow and maturate. But I would be extremely surprised if Blonde was one of those albums. I could go on and complain about each track individually and tell you why I think it’s dull and uninspired but I’ll save you the time. The large majority of the songs on this project commit the same sins over and over again. Their slow pace is unjustified, they are repetitive and after a few listens they are simply boring. This is by far Frank’s most subdued project, and in its moments the aesthetic is arresting and genuinely touching - but for the most part the album is criminally forgettable. The tracks aren’t terrible, but no one will be going back to them again and again in a month’s time. The album is sluggish and repetitive and perhaps this is weak criticism but what the album is really missing is what made ‘Channel Orange’ so great. ‘Channel Orange’ balanced Frank’s slower, dreamy sound with funky contemporary R&B, and it did it perfectly. And yes I agree, you can’t just make the same album twice and it’s good that he is changing his sound but to put it frankly (i couldn’t resist) ‘Blonde’ is one dimensional at best and plain lazy at worst. More than half the tracks on the album sound like filler; like they’ve been put together to reach some length quota. Perhaps I would be more forgiving of ‘Blonde’ if it had come out 6 months after ‘Channel Orange’, I would have at least appreciated what Frank was trying to do and that he wanted to keep up his momentum. But it’s been four years. This album does not sound like four years work. It sounds like one moment of inspiration stretched so thinly that it’s tearing at the seams.
I really want to believe that Frank Ocean is special. I want him to continue pushing the boundaries of popular music forward with a vigour that develops his own identity and style. But this album has put a dent in my faith. Whether the success of ‘Channel Orange’ gave Frank a bit too much artistic confidence or the countless delays of ‘Blonde’ were something more fatal than a marketing technique, I don’t know. ‘Blonde’ isn’t a bad album, and if you have loved everything Frank has put out you’ll enjoy it. His unique voice is still undeniably gorgeous and he still paints an interesting portrayal of millennial suburban life. But his trademarks fail to support the project. It falls under the weight of its repetition and monotony and falls further because of the absence of any interesting ideas or sounds to catch it. ‘Blonde’ was going to have to be something extremely special to live up to its hype and its predecessors so maybe it was bound to fall flat. But If Frank Ocean is half as talented as we all think he is, he hardly even tried.
To make your own decisions about Frank’s latest project: you can check out the visuals for ‘Nikes’ here / and you can check out the complete album here.