''Blonde'' (alternatively titled ''blond'') is the second studio album by American singer
Frank Ocean
Christopher Francis "Frank" Ocean (born Christopher Edwin Breaux; October 28, 1987), is an American singer, songwriter, and rapper. His works are noted by music critics for featuring avant-garde styles and introspective, elliptical lyrics. Ocean ...
. It was released on August 20, 2016, as a timed exclusive on the
iTunes Store
The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,00 ...
and
Apple Music
Apple Music is a music, audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users select music to stream to their device on-demand, or they can listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the Internet radio stations Apple M ...
, and followed the August 19 release of Ocean's
video album
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...
''
Endless
Endless or The Endless may refer to:
Business
* Endless (private equity), a British firm
* Endless.com, an e-commerce website selling shoes and accessories
* Endless Computers, an American operating system company
Film
* ''The Endless'' (film ...
''. The album features guest vocals from
André 3000
André Lauren Benjamin (born May 27, 1975), better known as André 3000, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. He is best known for being a part of southern hip hop duo Outkast alongside fellow rapper Big Boi.
...
,
Beyoncé, and
Kim Burrell
Kimberly Jean Burrell (born August 27, 1972) is an American, Grammy–nominated, gospel singer-songwriter, producer, and pastor from Houston, Texas, United States.
Biography Early life
Born Kimberly Jean Burrell on August 27, 1972 in Houston, Te ...
, among others. Production was handled by Ocean himself, alongside a variety of high-profile record producers, including
Malay
Malay may refer to:
Languages
* Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore
** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century
** Indonesi ...
and
Om'Mas Keith
Om'Mas Keith (born December 20, 1976), also known simply as Om'Mas, is a Grammy Award-winning record producer, musician, composer, engineer, and songwriter from Queens, New York. He has worked with Frank Ocean, Erykah Badu, John Legend, Jay-Z, K ...
, who collaborated with Ocean on ''
Channel Orange
''Channel Orange'' (stylized as ''channel ORANGE'') is the debut studio album by American R&B singer-songwriter Frank Ocean. It was released on July 10, 2012, by Def Jam Recordings. After releasing his mixtape '' Nostalgia, Ultra'' the previous ...
'', as well as
James Blake,
Jon Brion
Jon Brion is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, and composer. He performed with the Excerpts, the Bats, 'Til Tuesday and the Grays before becoming an established producer and film score composer.
Brion has ...
,
Buddy Ross,
Pharrell Williams, and
Rostam Batmanglij, among others.
In 2013, Ocean confirmed that his follow up to ''Channel Orange'' would be another
concept album. Initially known as ''Boys Don't Cry'' and teased for a July 2015 release, the album suffered several delays and was the subject of widespread media anticipation leading up to its release. Beginning in 2013 and ending in 2016, recording for the album took place at New York's
Electric Lady Studios
Electric Lady Studios is a recording studio in Greenwich Village, New York City. It was commissioned by rock musician Jimi Hendrix in 1968 and designed by architect John Storyk and audio engineer Eddie Kramer by 1970. Hendrix spent only ten we ...
and, after a period of
writer's block
Writer's block is a condition, primarily associated with writing, in which an author is either unable to produce new work or experiences a creative slowdown. Mike Rose found that this creative stall is not a result of commitment problems or th ...
, in London at
Abbey Road Studios and in Los Angeles'
Henson Recording Studios
The Jim Henson Company Lot, formerly A&M Studios, is a studio property located just south of the southeast corner of North La Brea Avenue and Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. Originally established by film star Charlie Chaplin, the property served ...
. Its physical release was accompanied by a magazine entitled ''Boys Don't Cry''.
''Blonde'' features an abstract and experimental sound in comparison to Ocean's previous releases, encompassing styles such as
R&B,
pop,
soul
In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being".
Etymology
The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest atte ...
,
avant-garde
The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...
,
indie rock
Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produc ...
,
electronica,
psychedelia
Psychedelia refers to the psychedelic subculture of the 1960s and the psychedelic experience. This includes psychedelic art, psychedelic music and style of dress during that era. This was primarily generated by people who used psychedelic ...
, and
hip hop. Ocean also notably makes use of
pitch shift
Pitch shifting is a sound recording technique in which the original pitch of a sound is raised or lowered. Effects units that raise or lower pitch by a pre-designated musical interval ( transposition) are called pitch shifters.
Pitch and tim ...
ed vocals.
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Distinguished by the ...
' ''de facto'' leader
Brian Wilson is recognized as a strong influence on the album's lush arrangements and layered vocal harmonies, while the guitar and keyboard rhythms on the album are considered as languid and
minimal. The album's themes surrounds Ocean dealing with his
masculinity and emotions, inspired by sexual experiences, heartbreak, loss and trauma.
''Blonde'' received widespread acclaim, with critics praising Ocean's introspective lyrics and the album's unconventional and progressive sounds. Critics also complimented the album for challenging the conventions of R&B and
pop music. Supported by its lead single "
Nikes", the album debuted at number one in several countries, including the United States. It earned first week sales of 275,000 with
album-equivalent unit
The album-equivalent unit, or album equivalent, is a measurement unit in music industry to define the consumption of music that equals the purchase of one album copy. This consumption includes streaming and song downloads in addition to traditio ...
s in the US, with 232,000 being pure sales, and was certified
platinum
Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver".
Pla ...
by the
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Among other publications, ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...
'' named it the best album of 2016.
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
named it one of the most critically acclaimed albums of the year by music publications. In 2020, ''
Pitchfork
A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves.
The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...
'' named it the best album of the 2010s and ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'' ranked it at number 79 on their updated list of the
500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Background
On February 21, 2013, Ocean confirmed that he had started work on his next studio album, which he confirmed would be another concept album. He revealed that he was working with
Tyler, the Creator
Tyler Gregory Okonma (born March 6, 1991), known professionally as Tyler, the Creator, is an American rapper and record producer. He is one of the founding members of the music collective Odd Future.
Okonma self-released his debut mixtape ' ...
,
Pharrell Williams, and
Danger Mouse on the record. He later stated that he was influenced by
the Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Distinguished by the ...
and
the Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developmen ...
. He also stated that he was interested in collaborating with
Tame Impala
Tame Impala is the psychedelic music project of Australian multi-instrumentalist Kevin Parker. In the recording studio, Parker writes, records, performs, and produces all of the project's music. As a touring act, Tame Impala consists of Parke ...
and
King Krule
Archy Ivan Marshall (born 24 August 1994), also known by his stage name King Krule, among other names, is an English singer, songwriter, musician, rapper and record producer.
He began recording music in 2010 under the moniker Zoo Kid. The fol ...
and wanted to record the album in
Bora Bora
Bora Bora (French: ''Bora-Bora''; Tahitian: ''Pora Pora'') is an island group in the Leeward Islands. The Leeward Islands comprise the western part of the Society Islands of French Polynesia, which is an overseas collectivity of the French R ...
. Ocean ultimately began recording at New York's
Electric Lady Studios
Electric Lady Studios is a recording studio in Greenwich Village, New York City. It was commissioned by rock musician Jimi Hendrix in 1968 and designed by architect John Storyk and audio engineer Eddie Kramer by 1970. Hendrix spent only ten we ...
and, after a period of
writer's block
Writer's block is a condition, primarily associated with writing, in which an author is either unable to produce new work or experiences a creative slowdown. Mike Rose found that this creative stall is not a result of commitment problems or th ...
, recorded in London at
Abbey Road Studios in addition to various other studios.
In April 2014, Ocean stated that his second album was nearly finished. In June 2014, ''
Billboard'' reported that the singer was working with a string of artists such as Happy Perez (whom he worked with on ''
Nostalgia, Ultra
''Nostalgia, Ultra'' (stylized as ''nostalgia,ULTRA.'' and occasionally ''nostalgia/ultra'') is the debut mixtape by American singer-songwriter Frank Ocean. It was released on February 16, 2011. Ocean was inspired to make the mixtape after Hurri ...
''), Charlie Gambetta and
Kevin Ristro, while producers
Hit-Boy
Chauncey Alexander Hollis Jr. (born May 21, 1987), better known by his stage name Hit-Boy, is an American record producer, rapper, singer, and songwriter. In May 2011, he had signed a two-year deal with Kanye West's GOOD Music production branch. ...
,
Rodney Jerkins and Danger Mouse were also said to be on board. On November 29, 2014, Ocean released a snippet of a new song supposedly from his upcoming follow-up to ''
Channel Orange
''Channel Orange'' (stylized as ''channel ORANGE'') is the debut studio album by American R&B singer-songwriter Frank Ocean. It was released on July 10, 2012, by Def Jam Recordings. After releasing his mixtape '' Nostalgia, Ultra'' the previous ...
'' called "Memrise" on his official
Tumblr
Tumblr (stylized as tumblr; pronounced "tumbler") is an American microblogging and social networking website founded by David Karp in 2007 and currently owned by Automattic. The service allows users to post multimedia and other content to a sho ...
page. ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' described the song as: "a song which affirms that despite reportedly changing labels and management, he has maintained both his experimentation and sense of melancholy in the intervening years".
In a personal letter which prefaced the ''Boys Don't Cry'' magazine, Ocean stated that he had been inspired by a photograph taken by the photography duo The Collaborationist of a young blonde girl in the back seat of a car.
According to Jessica Haye of The Collaborationist, "It was more ambiguous in terms of gender and (Ocean) kind of placed his own experience onto the picture, so he brought a whole other story very personal to him in it".
This photograph would be used in promotional material for the album.
In his only interview of the album's release cycle, Ocean told
Jon Caramanica
Jon Caramanica (born 1975) is an American journalist and pop music critic who writes for ''The New York Times''. He is also known for writing about hip hop music.
Biography
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Caramanica received his bachelor's degree ...
that a conversation with a childhood friend from
helped him overcome his writer's block and convinced him to touch on his experiences growing up: "How we experience memory sometimes, it's not linear. We're not telling the stories to ourselves, we know the story, we're just seeing it in flashes overlaid".
Music and composition
![BrianWilson1960s](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/BrianWilson1960s.jpg)
''Blonde'' features an abstract, atmospheric sound in comparison to Ocean's previous work, and utilizes a variety of unconventional musical elements.
[ Besides the Beatles and the Beach Boys, the album draws influences from Stevie Wonder. Additionally, the Beach Boys' ''de facto'' leader Brian Wilson is recognized as a strong influence on the album's lush arrangements and layered vocal harmonies. Featuring a use of guitar and keyboard loops, writers noted that the rhythms on the album are languid and minimal. The album's themes surround Ocean dealing with his masculinity and emotions, inspired by personal heartbreak, loss and trauma.]
The album has been categorized as avant-garde soul. ''The Quietus
''The Quietus'' is a British online music and pop culture magazine founded by John Doran and Luke Turner. The site is an editorially independent publication led by Doran with a group of freelance journalists and critics.
Content
''The Quietu ...
'' wrote that its form "isn't that of a typical pop or R&B album – it tends to meander into his surreal dreamscapes, cut with jarring samples of conversation, odd effects, drifting guitars and beatless melodies that go on longer than expected." ''The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was f ...
'' described its sound as "a mellifluous concoction of shimmering melodic haze and ambient mood, almost entirely absent of anything resembling a singalong chorus or club groove." ''The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...
''s Kate Mossman characterized the album as "cerebral, non-macho, boundary-free R&B." ''The Guardian'' tentatively likened ''Blonde'' to a collection of loose sketches and compared its "lush and atmospheric" tracks to experimental and texture-driven albums such as Radiohead's ''Kid A
''Kid A'' is the fourth studio album by the English rock band Radiohead, released on 2 October 2000 by Parlophone. It was recorded with their producer, Nigel Godrich, in Paris, Copenhagen, Gloucestershire and their hometown of Oxford.
After th ...
'' (2000) and Big Star
Big Star was an American rock band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1971 by Alex Chilton (vocals, guiar), Chris Bell (vocals, guitar), Jody Stephens (drums), and Andy Hummel (bass). The group broke up in early 1975, and reorganized with a ne ...
's ''Third
Third or 3rd may refer to:
Numbers
* 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3
* , a fraction of one third
* Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute''
Places
* 3rd Street (d ...
'' (1974), writing that "the tone is muted and introspective, full of spectral guitar and lacking not just hefty beats but any kind of percussion at all."
Discussing its musical eclecticism, ''Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'' wrote that "this is an R&B album in only the most elastic and expansive sense of the term" and noted that "minimalist rock guitar and simple electric keyboard work drive numerous songs; twitchy rhythms and bizarre vocal effects creep in from the edges. Songs change shape subtly as they go, rarely ending in the same place they began." Ann Powers
Ann K. Powers (born February 4, 1964) is an American writer and pop music critic. She is a music critic for NPR and a contributor at the ''Los Angeles Times'', where she was previously chief pop critic. She has also served as pop critic at ''The ...
described the album as "equal parts psychedelic indie rock
Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produc ...
, post- IDM electronica, post- U2 / Coldplay
Coldplay are a British rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer Will Champion and creative director Phil Harvey. They met at University ...
-esque Eno-pop, post-Drake
Drake may refer to:
Animals
* A male duck
People and fictional characters
* Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family name
* Drake (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name
* ...
hip hop, and post- Maxwell drifty soul / R&B," and wrote that "experimental, druggy sonics abound." Nina Corcoran from ''Consequence
Consequence may refer to:
* Logical consequence, also known as a ''consequence relation'', or ''entailment''
* In operant conditioning, a result of some behavior
* Consequentialism, a theory in philosophy in which the morality of an act is determi ...
'' described ''Blonde'' as featuring an avant-garde minimalist style similar to the work of Brian Eno, and noted that Ocean often utilizes "acoustic and electric guitars over traditional synth and bass-heavy R&B." ''The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...
'' wrote that "one track bleeds languidly into another, as if we're listening to a long, stoned stream-of-consciousness," and described the album's sound as a "glitchy, miasmic brand of R&B."[
''The Daily Telegraph'' noted Ocean's use of ]varispeed
A variable speed pitch control (or vari-speed) is a control on an audio device such as a turntable, tape recorder, or CD player that allows the operator to deviate from a standard speed (such as 33, 45 or even 78 rpm on a turntable), resulting i ...
and Auto-Tune
Auto-Tune (or autotune) is an audio processor introduced in 1996 by American company Antares Audio Technologies. Auto-Tune uses a proprietary device to measure and alter pitch in vocal and instrumental music recording and performances.
Auto-Tu ...
effects on his voice, while Greg Kot
Greg Kot (born March 3, 1957) is an American music journalist and author. From 1990 until 2020, Kot was the rock music critic at the ''Chicago Tribune'', where he covered popular music and reported on music-related social, political and busines ...
stated that he utilizes these audio processing devices to employ "two distinct voices, like characters in a play, a recurring theme throughout the album". '' Spin'' magazine's Dan Weiss compared his vocal treatments to those of Prince
A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. T ...
's aborted '' Camille'' album.[ ''The Daily Telegraph'' also suggested that Ocean's voice and melodies obscured the experimental nature of his compositions.] The album has elements of spoken word
Spoken word refers to an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a late 20th century continuation of an ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetics of ...
. The track "Seigfried" interpolates a spoken word part by Elliott Smith and "White Ferrari" borrows musical elements from the Beatles' song "Here, There and Everywhere
"Here, There and Everywhere" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1966 album '' Revolver''. A love ballad, it was written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. McCartney includes it among his personal favo ...
", while "Close to You" incorporates a Stevie Wonder sample.[ Guest vocalist ]André 3000
André Lauren Benjamin (born May 27, 1975), better known as André 3000, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. He is best known for being a part of southern hip hop duo Outkast alongside fellow rapper Big Boi.
...
contributes a rapid rap verse on "Solo (Reprise)" which has been described as the album's only overt guest feature. In a 2022 interview, André revealed the song was recorded in Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...
years before the album's release and originally featured a hip hop instrumental, before being replaced with a piano arrangement from James Blake. "Pretty Sweet" features gospel choir
Gospel music is a traditional genre of Christian music, and a cornerstone of Christian media. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of gospel music varies according to culture and social context. Gospel music is com ...
elements and dissonant noise. The album ends with an interview between Ocean and his brother Ryan, recorded when Ryan was 11 years old.[
]
Release and promotion
On April 6, 2015, Ocean announced that his follow-up to ''Channel Orange'' would be released in July, as well as a publication, although no further details were released. The album was ultimately not released in July, with no explanation given for its delay. The publication was rumored to be called ''Boys Don't Cry'', and was slated to feature the aforementioned "Memrise", although the track did not make the final track listing.
On July 2, 2016, Ocean hinted at a possible third album with an image on his website pointing to a July release date. The image shows a library card labeled ''Boys Don't Cry'' with numerous stamps, implying various due dates. The dates begin with July 2, 2015, and conclude with July 2016, and November 13, 2016. Ocean's brother, Ryan Breaux, further suggested this release with an Instagram caption of the same library card photo reading "BOYS DON'T CRY #JULY2016". On August 1, 2016, a live video hosted by Apple Music
Apple Music is a music, audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users select music to stream to their device on-demand, or they can listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the Internet radio stations Apple M ...
showing an empty hall was launched on the website boysdontcry.co. The website also featured a new design and the video marked the first update on the website since a "date due" post from July.
On August 1, 2016, a video appeared that showed Ocean woodworking and sporadically playing instrumentals on loop. That same day, many news outlets reported that August 5, 2016, could be the release date for ''Boys Don't Cry''. The video was revealed to be promotion for ''Endless
Endless or The Endless may refer to:
Business
* Endless (private equity), a British firm
* Endless.com, an e-commerce website selling shoes and accessories
* Endless Computers, an American operating system company
Film
* ''The Endless'' (film ...
'', a 45-minute-long visual album that began streaming on Apple Music on August 19, 2016. The day after the release of ''Endless'', Ocean posted a new picture on his website advertising four pop-up shops in Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago and London. These shops contained hundreds of magazines, with three different covers and the album on a CD included with each cover, the covers also appear in the magazine, the first cover—which is part of a collection of pictures called "I'm a Morning Person"—was taken in Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
, Germany, by Wolfgang Tillmans
Wolfgang Tillmans (born 16 August 1968) is a German photographer. His diverse body of work is distinguished by observation of his surroundings and an ongoing investigation of the photographic medium’s foundations.
Tillmans was the first photog ...
, whose song "Device Control" was sampled on the songs "Device Control" and "Higgs" on ''Endless'' and the alternate cover (which does not appear in the magazine, however, it is one of the alternate covers of the magazine) appears to have been shot by Viviane Sassen
Viviane Sassen (born 1972) is a Dutch artist living in Amsterdam. She is a photographer who works in both the fashion and fine art world. She is known for her use of geometric shapes, often abstractions of bodies. She has been widely published an ...
in Tokyo, Japan, and was taken as part of a collection of other photographs, which appears in the "Foxface" collection of pictures. The magazines were free and were available to one per person. Later in the day, the album was released exclusively on the iTunes Store
The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,00 ...
and Apple Music. However, the track list differed from the digital version of the album, with an extended version of " Nikes" featuring Japanese rapper KOHH
, better known by his stage name KOHH, is a Japanese hip hop recording artist from Oji, Kita, Tokyo.
Early life
Chiba was born in Oji, Kita, Tokyo. He was raised by a single mother along with his younger brother. His younger brother is also ...
. "Nikes" was officially released as the album's lead single on August 20, 2016.
Rather than going on a typical promotional tour playing radio festivals and appearing on television shows, Ocean spent a month after the release of ''Blonde'', traveling to countries such as China, Japan and France. He also chose not to submit ''Blonde'' for consideration at the Grammy Awards, stating "that institution certainly has nostalgic importance... It just doesn't seem to be representing very well for people who come from where I come from, and hold down what I hold down."
Critical reception
''Blonde'' was met with widespread critical acclaim. At Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional critics, the album received an average
In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7 ...
score of 87, based on 38 reviews. Aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave it 8.4 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus.
''Mojo
Mojo may refer to:
* Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in voodoo
Arts, entertainment and media Film and television
* MOJO HD, an American television network
* ''Mojo'' (play), by Jez Butterworth, made into a 1997 film
* ' ...
'' reviewer Andy Cowan called it "a beguiling, meandering sprawl that rewards total immersion", while Tara Joshi deemed ''Blonde'' a "fully conceptualised, curated personal vision" and "a sublime and largely impressive album" in her review for ''The Quietus
''The Quietus'' is a British online music and pop culture magazine founded by John Doran and Luke Turner. The site is an editorially independent publication led by Doran with a group of freelance journalists and critics.
Content
''The Quietu ...
''. In ''Rolling Stone'', Jonah Weiner described the album as "by turns oblique, smolderingly direct, forlorn, funny, dissonant and gorgeous: marvel of digital-age psychedelic pop." Writing for ''The Guardian'', Tim Jonze hailed ''Blonde'' as "one of the most intriguing and contrary records ever made". He said that "what originally appear to be ''Blonde''s flaws – its loose ends and ambiguities – end up as its strengths," concluding that "what gradually emerges is a record of enigmatic beauty, intoxicating depth and intense emotion." According to ''Pitchfork
A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves.
The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...
'' journalist Ryan Dombal, while ''Channel Orange'' had boasted a more eclectic range of styles, ''Blonde'' showed Ocean expressing his romantic, philosophical, and melancholic ideas and emotions over an especially spare musical backdrop, giving the record an intimacy that "attracts the ear, bubbles the brain, raises the flesh". In ''Vice
A vice is a practice, behaviour, or habit generally considered immoral, sinful, criminal, rude, taboo, depraved, degrading, deviant or perverted in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character t ...
'', Robert Christgau admired Ocean's reliance on his "expressive and capable but unathletic voice", the candid stories explored on "Good Guy" and "Facebook Story", and more aggressive songs such as "Nights". "As on ''Channel Orange'', however, his angst is a luxury of leisure", Christgau wrote, finding the details of Ocean's interpersonal lyrics occasionally relatable but more often "specific to his social status".
Neil McCormick
Neil McCormick (born 31 March 1961) is a British music journalist, author and broadcaster. He has been Chief Music Critic for ''The Daily Telegraph'' since 1996, and presented a music interview show for Vintage TV in the UK, Neil McCormick's Nee ...
was somewhat less enthusiastic. In ''The Daily Telegraph'', he wrote that ''Blonde'' "should be celebrated as part of a generational shift away from the obvious in pop", while finding the record to be "meandering, contemplative and introverted", suggesting that it would be a laborious experience for some listeners. AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...
's Andy Kellman deemed it "undiluted and progressive" but qualified his praise by stating that "over the course of an hour, all the sparsely ornamented ruminations can be a bit of a chore to absorb, no matter how much one hangs on each line".[ Andy Gill was more critical in ''The Independent'', deeming much of the music lethargic, aimless, and devoid of strong melodies.] ''HipHopDX
''HipHopDX'' is an online magazine of hip hop music criticism and news. The website's current president and publisher is Sharath Cherian and the Head Of Content is Jerry L. Barrow. ''HipHopDX'' is the flagship publication of Cheri Media Group.
...
'' reviewer William Ketchum III in a mixed review said that the singer "sometimes delivers only what's necessary to make his point, while other efforts come across as meandering and incomplete".
Rankings
At the end of 2016, ''Blonde'' appeared on a number of critics' lists ranking the year's best albums. According to Metacritic, it was the third most prominently ranked album of 2016.
Commercial performance
In the first week of release, ''Blonde'' debuted at number one on the US ''Billboard'' 200 and recorded 276,000 album-equivalent unit
The album-equivalent unit, or album equivalent, is a measurement unit in music industry to define the consumption of music that equals the purchase of one album copy. This consumption includes streaming and song downloads in addition to traditio ...
s, including 232,000 copies of the album sold. The songs on the album were collectively streamed more than 65.4 million times, second behind only the streams for ''Views
A view is a sight or prospect or the ability to see or be seen from a particular place.
View, views or Views may also refer to:
Common meanings
* View (Buddhism), a charged interpretation of experience which intensely shapes and affects thou ...
'' by Drake during that week. ''Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...
'' estimated that ''Blonde'' earned Ocean nearly one million in profits after one week of availability, attributing this to him releasing the album independently and as a limited exclusive release on iTunes and Apple Music. ''Blonde'' has generated 404 million on-demand audio streams for its songs in the US through February 9, 2017, according to Nielsen Music. The album has earned 620,000 album-equivalent units, 348,000 of which were copies sold.
On July 9, 2018, ''Blonde'' was certified platinum
Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver".
Pla ...
by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Track listing
Notes
* "Nikes" features uncredited vocals by KOHH
, better known by his stage name KOHH, is a Japanese hip hop recording artist from Oji, Kita, Tokyo.
Early life
Chiba was born in Oji, Kita, Tokyo. He was raised by a single mother along with his younger brother. His younger brother is also ...
on the original magazine edition
* "Be Yourself" features uncredited vocals by Rosie Watson
* "Self Control" features uncredited vocals by Austin Feinstein
* "Nights" is stylized as "Night.s" in physical releases
* "Solo (Reprise)" features uncredited vocals by André 3000
André Lauren Benjamin (born May 27, 1975), better known as André 3000, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. He is best known for being a part of southern hip hop duo Outkast alongside fellow rapper Big Boi.
...
* "Facebook Story" features uncredited vocals by Sebastian
* "Interviews" features interviews with Ryan Moore, Ibrahim Hariri, Na-Kel Smith
Na-Kel Allah Smith (born July 22, 1994) is an American skateboarder, rapper, songwriter and actor. Originally a skateboarder from the Los Angeles area, he was known for his association with the hip hop collective Odd Future, appearing in mus ...
, Sage Elsesser
Sage Gabriel Carlos Atreyu Elsesser (born January 31, 1997), also known as Navy Blue, is an American regular-footed skateboarder, rapper, record producer, visual artist, and model.
Elsesser has been sponsored by several skater fashion brands inc ...
, Evan Clark, Nabil Hariri, and Frank Ocean, conducted by Mikey Alfred
Sample credits
* "Be Yourself", "Facebook Story", and "Interviews" contain a sample of "Running Around" by Buddy Ross.
* "Close to You" contains a sample of " They Long to Be Close to You", written by Bacharach and David, as performed by Stevie Wonder live on ''The David Frost Show''.
* "White Ferrari" contains an interpolation of "Here, There and Everywhere
"Here, There and Everywhere" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1966 album '' Revolver''. A love ballad, it was written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. McCartney includes it among his personal favo ...
" by the Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developmen ...
.
* "Seigfried" contains a quote from "A Fond Farewell" by Elliott Smith; and a sample from "Untitled" by Rostam Batmanglij.
* "Futura Free" contains a sample of "Anthrax", written by Allen, Burnham, Gill, and King, as performed by Gang of Four.
Personnel
Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.
Production and arrangement
* Frank Ocean
Christopher Francis "Frank" Ocean (born Christopher Edwin Breaux; October 28, 1987), is an American singer, songwriter, and rapper. His works are noted by music critics for featuring avant-garde styles and introspective, elliptical lyrics. Ocean ...
– production (tracks 1–3, 5–17), arrangement (tracks 1, 5, 6, 9, 13, 14, 16), executive production
* Malay Ho – production (tracks 1, 6, 7, 11, 15–17), arrangement (tracks 1, 6, 11)
* Om'Mas Keith
Om'Mas Keith (born December 20, 1976), also known simply as Om'Mas, is a Grammy Award-winning record producer, musician, composer, engineer, and songwriter from Queens, New York. He has worked with Frank Ocean, Erykah Badu, John Legend, Jay-Z, K ...
– production (tracks 1, 2, 6, 11, 14, 16, 17), arrangement (tracks 1, 11, 17)
* James Blake – production (tracks 5, 10, 16), arrangement (tracks 5, 10, 16)
* Jon Brion
Jon Brion is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, and composer. He performed with the Excerpts, the Bats, 'Til Tuesday and the Grays before becoming an established producer and film score composer.
Brion has ...
– production (tracks 7, 10, 14), arrangement (tracks 7, 9–11, 14), string arrangement (tracks 3, 7, 11)
* Buddy Ross – production (tracks 9, 13), arrangement (tracks 9, 13, 14)
* Rostam Batmanglij – production (track 2), arrangement (track 2)
* Pharrell Williams – production (track 3)
* Joe Thornalley – production (track 9), arrangement (track 9)
* Michael Uzowuru
Michael Uzowuru (born November 10, 1991) is an American record producer. He has produced and written for SZA, Frank Ocean, Beyoncé, Donald Glover, Vince Staples, Earl Sweatshirt, and Rosalía (singer), Rosalía, among others.
Life and career
M ...
– production (track 9)
* Francis Starlite
Francis and the Lights is an American pop project led by Francis Farewell Starlite. The term "and the Lights" refers both to the lights on a stage and pixels on a computer screen.
Starlite often uses the Francis and the Lights name when credit ...
– production (track 13), arrangement (track 13)
* Alex Giannascoli – arrangement (tracks 7, 14)
* Christophe Chassol – arrangement (track 6)
* Austin Feinstein – arrangement (track 7)
* Sebastian Akchoté – arrangement (track 16), string arrangement (track 16)
* Benjamin Wright
Benjamin Wright (October 10, 1770 – August 24, 1842) was an American civil engineer who was chief engineer of the Erie Canal and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. In 1969, the American Society of Civil Engineers declared him the "Father of America ...
– string arrangement (track 3)
* Jonny Greenwood – string arrangement (track 15)
Musicians
* Frank Ocean – lead vocals, keyboards (tracks 8, 17), programming (track 7), sample programming (track 14), drum programming (track 17), additional programming (tracks 1, 5, 16), guitars (track 9), choir (track 16)
* Kim Burrell
Kimberly Jean Burrell (born August 27, 1972) is an American, Grammy–nominated, gospel singer-songwriter, producer, and pastor from Houston, Texas, United States.
Biography Early life
Born Kimberly Jean Burrell on August 27, 1972 in Houston, Te ...
– featured vocals (track 16)
* Yung Lean Yung may refer to:
* Yung (surname), Chinese surname
* Yung Joc, (born Jasiel Robinson in 1983), an American rapper
* Yung Wun, (born James Carlton Anderson in 1982), an American rapper
* Yung Berg, (born Christian Ward in 1985), an American rappe ...
– featured vocals (track 16)
* Amber Coffman
Amber Dawn Coffman (born June 15, 1982) is an American musician, singer and songwriter based in Los Angeles, California, formerly based in Brooklyn, New York. A former member of Sleeping People, Coffman is best known as a former guitarist and vo ...
– additional vocals (track 1)
* Jazmine Sullivan
Jazmine Marie Sullivan (born April 9, 1987) is an American R&B and soul singer. Born and raised in Philadelphia, her debut album, ''Fearless'' was released in 2008. The record topped ''Billboards Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and was certifie ...
– additional vocals (track 5)
* Beyoncé Knowles-Carter
Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Beyoncé's boundary-pushing artistry and vocals have made her the most influential female musician of the 21st century, according to ...
– additional vocals (track 3)
* Malay Ho – keyboards (tracks 14–17), guitars (tracks 6, 7, 11, 15), drum programming (tracks 1, 11), mellotron (track 1), bass (track 15)
* Buddy Ross – keyboards (tracks 9, 13, 14, 17), bass (track 11), additional programming (track 13)
* Jon Brion – keyboards (tracks 7, 9, 10, 14), drum programming (track 10)
* Pharrell Williams – keyboards (track 3), drum programming (track 3), bass (track 3)
* Joe Thornalley – keyboards (track 9), drum programming (tracks 9, 13)
* James Blake – keyboards (tracks 5, 6, 10, 16)
* Mars 1500 – keyboards (tracks 5, 16)
* Christophe Chassol – keyboards (track 6), Moog solo (track 6)
* Rostam Batmanglij – keyboards (track 15)
* Om'Mas Keith – drum programming (tracks 1, 11, 17), bass (track 17)
* Sebastian Akchoté – drum programming (track 14), sample programming (track 14), strings (track 16)
* Tyler Okonma – drum programming (track 6)
* Michael Uzowuru – drum programming (track 9)
* Francis Starlite – vocoder (track 13)
* Alex Giannascoli – guitars (tracks 7, 14)
* Fish
Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...
– guitars (track 2)
* Austin Feinstein – guitars (track 7)
* Spaceman – guitars (track 9)
* Eric Gorfain – violin concertmaster (tracks 3, 7, 11)
* Daphne Chen – violin (tracks 3, 7, 11)
* Marisa Kuney – violin (tracks 3, 7, 11)
* Charlie Bisharat – violin (tracks 3, 7, 11)
* Katie Sloan – violin (tracks 3, 7, 11)
* Songa Lee – violin (tracks 3, 7, 11)
* Gina Kronstadt – violin (tracks 3, 7, 11)
* Lisa Dondlinger – violin (tracks 3, 7, 11)
* Terry Glenny – violin (tracks 3, 7, 11)
* Chris Woods – violin (tracks 3, 7, 11)
* Neel Hammond – violin (tracks 3, 7, 11)
* Marcy Vaj – violin (tracks 3, 7, 11)
* Crystal Alforque – violin (tracks 3, 7, 11)
* Leah Katz – viola (tracks 3, 7, 11)
* Rodney Wirtz – viola (tracks 3, 7, 11)
* Stefan Smith – viola (tracks 3, 7, 11)
* Adriana Zoppo – viola (tracks 3, 7, 11)
* John Krovoza – cello (tracks 3, 7, 11)
* Simon Huber – cello (tracks 3, 7, 11)
* Ginger Murphy – cello (tracks 3, 7, 11)
* Alisha Bauer – cello (tracks 3, 7, 11)
* Stefanie Fife – cello (tracks 3, 7, 11)
* London Contemporary Orchestra – strings (track 15)
Technical personnel
* Caleb Laven – recording
* Jeff Ellis – recording
* Jason Lader
Jason Lader is an American record producer, audio engineer, and mixer from New York. He is also known for playing bass guitar, keyboards, piano, guitar, and as a programmer. He was a member of the band Furslide, and has since worked with Howard ...
– recording
* Matt Mysko – recording
* Sam Petts-Davies – recording
* Tom Elmhirst
Tom Elmhirst (born 8 June 1971) is a British mix engineer. He has worked with artists including Adele, Beck, David Bowie, Cage the Elephant, Lady Gaga, Residente, and Amy Winehouse, among many others. Elmhirst has received numerous accolades ...
– mixing
* Noah Goldstein
Noah Goldstein is an American record producer, composer, engineer, and mixer, and also works in A&R. He won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Album for his work on Kanye West's ''My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy'', and has been nominated for six others ...
– mixing
* David Wrench – mixing
* Mike Dean – mastering
* Greg Koller – strings recording (tracks 3, 7, 11)
* Eric Caudieux Eric Caudieux is a French sound engineer and producer. An accomplished player of the keyboards and rhythm guitar, he is best known for his work with Joe Satriani, appearing on many of his albums and as a member of his backing group when he is on to ...
– strings recording (tracks 3, 7, 11)
Design
* Frank Ocean – creative direction, photography
* Thomas Mastorakos – creative direction
* Viviane Sassen
Viviane Sassen (born 1972) is a Dutch artist living in Amsterdam. She is a photographer who works in both the fashion and fine art world. She is known for her use of geometric shapes, often abstractions of bodies. She has been widely published an ...
– photography
* Wolfgang Tillmans
Wolfgang Tillmans (born 16 August 1968) is a German photographer. His diverse body of work is distinguished by observation of his surroundings and an ongoing investigation of the photographic medium’s foundations.
Tillmans was the first photog ...
– photography
* Jessica Haye – photography
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
Release history
See also
* '' Blonded Radio''
Notes
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
2016 albums
Frank Ocean albums
ITunes-exclusive releases
Albums produced by Malay (record producer)
Albums produced by Mike Dean (record producer)
Albums produced by Pharrell Williams
Albums produced by James Blake (musician)
Self-released albums
Concept albums
Albums produced by Frank Ocean
Albums produced by Vegyn
Surprise albums
Albums produced by Michael Uzowuru