Frank Ocean's "BLOND" Review

Frank Ocean’s self-released album, “Blond”, may be just one month young, but it has already dug deep into the raw emotions of its listeners. Listening to Ocean’s personal vendetta told through simple, yet effective melodies and tear-provoking lyrics, I couldn’t help but notice a dramatic change in how Ocean wrote. It felt as though previously, Ocean was playing the narrator, expressing stories and problems through his music,  but now he has become the muse behind his own work. Songs like “Close to You” and “Ivy” seem to begin with an anecdote involving a character, yet both transform into Ocean’s canvas for his personal experiences.An intimate essence links each song, giving the listener time to think about their personal emotional roller coasters. Electronic interludes and voice alterations give the album a modern twist, and almost every song relates to feelings of love in turmoil.  Self Control, a favorite of many so far, tells of the tribulations of a loss in self-constraint within a relationship.Although many are disappointed by Ocean’s lack of worldly insight and strong opinion behind the motif of his songs, I found it refreshing to listen to an album you didn’t have to pick apart and contemplate controversy on. Ocean has expressed his beliefs on the recent global tragedies during his time off, and I believe it was smart to give the audience an easy- listen during a time where many songs are used to advertise an artist’s frustration with the world. Ocean’s marketing techniques have been stealthy. Many artists in the past two years, such as Adele and even Beyonce, have utilized time to work in their favor. On multiple occasions, Ocean has delayed a new album, tantalizing fans with faux predictions. The singer had hinted the release of his second studio album, allegedly to be called Boys Don’t Cry, in July of 2015, yet failed to live up to these implications. It has been four years since the 2012 release of Ocean’s last album, Channel Orange, and it seems as though people were eager to get the 17 songs on their playlists before they were even available on iTunes, myself included.Blond is accompanied by a magazine titled “Boys Don’t Cry,”. In it can be found a shorter CD version of the album, which includes two songs not on Blond: “Mitsubishi Sony” and “Easy,” yet, it does not include “Nikes”, “Be Yourself”, “Self Control”, “Good Guy” and “Close to You.” The magazine is comprised of expressive poems and song lyrics/ raps from artists like WolfGang Tillmans, Tyrone Lebon and Kanye West- who has a featured poem about McDonalds. The paper also contains interviews with Ocean and his mother, along with visuals that demonstrate Ocean’s love for cars.  In spite of Ocean’s modesty, he has given his audience material that provides space to sit back and reflect on their own life. Blond has proved that these past four years Frank Ocean-less were worth the wait.