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Today, I’m thinking about frank ocean. If you haven’t heard of him or you have but you’re not the biggest fan, i think you’re still going to enjoy this article.

Prelude

It’s been almost 3 years since frank dropped music of any sorts, and more than 5 years since his last studio album was released, the critically acclaimed Blonde . Alot of the conversations we have as a fanbase centers on whether we’re getting a new album anytime soon and the rest us reminiscing on how beautiful what he’s released so far is, wanting to go back and listen to it for the first time again.

I wonder if he still has plans to make more bodies of work, and if anything he does next can top the sky-high standards he set on Blonde and Chanel Orange and other titles.

When it comes to frank ocean’s music, I always find myself having so much to say, plus with all the noise about a release of a new album co-inciding with him headlining the Coachella Music Festival this year (2023), ( seeing him perform again after all this while would be something ), I want to reflect on why the name frank ocean has stayed relevant to people over the years.

It’s 2016 again

Today’s August 20th 2016. Frank Ocean has just released his second studio album Blonde. Just one day after he released “endless” under his former recording label thus getting out of a deal with them and releasing Blonde under his own label “Boys don’t Cry”. He got a 20mil deal with apple music for Blonde. Deserving. what a legend, pulling out of a record deal and getting such a huge break afterwards. Goated stuff.

The Making of Blonde

Sources online tell a bit about the production of the album, which began after the 2013 Grammys. He (frank), flew in several highly rated sound-engineers, producers and instrumentalists to work on blonde. It’s no wonder that Blonde was truly a masterpiece of a musical body of work . Frank was really deliberate about delivering something special. It reportedly cost $2m to make and most of the production happened in London. If you are interested in more info on all of this, read this article. Let us carry on then..

Praise for Blonde

How did you feel the first time you heard blonde?, The first time you heard that screech at the end of ivy, the beautiful vocals on Pink + White, the beat switch on Nights!

Creating an elite body of work like Blonde was what some described an entire state of being for him, with every step meticulously crafted to fit with his vision.

I’m grateful for blonde.

For every emotion the songs made us feel, every experience he crafted for us so deliberately, to remember, to long for, to miss. For the ability to enjoy something as special as Blonde. As you’d expect Blonde sent people into a frenzy, earning impressive first-week sales … nah lmaoo, if that shit sold 20 dollars I do not care!

I think it’s impressive how i have never really seen talk about how much any of his albums sold, just of how great the music was .

High up there with the highest rated albums of all time, one of the most robust, genre-defining, unique albums, ever. An opportunity to experience the type of music that’s rich, raw, and lucid.

Making you feel something on every song, every verse, every chord.

That’s Blonde .

More morose and more present, dwell on my gifts for a second. - seigfried

Since 2016..

Let’s talk about Frank’s activity since 2016 in a non-chronological manner.

We’ve gotten a couple of interviews although not often mainstream, the launch of his luxury jewelry brand… I remember when he announced that he was launching a project via his Instagram story and everyone thought it was an album but oop! you were wrong, it was Homer (bummer) . I’d buy me some homer but it costs an arm and a leg lmao. You are welcome to gift one to me tho XD.

Maybe the disappointment that we do not get more of this type of music, comes from the fear that we may never get anything as profoundly impactful as his past work.

I mean we got some pretty great singles since then , Actually very high up on my list is his single cayendo that he dropped sometime in 2020 alongside “dear april”, but no doubt we were still in expectation of another earth-shattering album. But we never got it or at least not yet.

I think I speak for everyone when i say we’ve longed for an album so long, that we have just accepted that if we never hear from him again, maybe everything up till blonde is enough. But is it?, I think the people that love his music want to see what more this man can create, what more does he have under his cap, can he take us to a higher places than blonde did? . The only real answers we’ll ever get, he is the only one that has them. Drop the album dawg, please.

The Man or The Music…

A big component of the pull Frank Ocean has on us has little to do with music and much more with, Him. After all he is normal human being, I guess he meant it when he said

I’m just a guy I’m not a god

He really is just a guy. Staying away from the spotlight, the news, the glaring eyes of the media makes him a vague and mysterious person, and that’s why we talk about him so much. I like to focus on his music, not just because there’s nothing like it but also because that’s what he obviously wants, for his music to be widely acclaimed and sought after and for him to be free to live his life free of the pressure of the industry, which is different.

I put all of my friends on frank ocean and now we are all fans.

Take time to reflect on how good it feels to have the gift of music and where we would be without it. In my humble opinion learning to seperate the artists from their music is something every enjoyer of music should learn to do.

But with Frank, it’s so hard to do that, because we care about him so much. We feel like he’s sharing deep parts of his life and of his world with us through his music, and he is guiding us through the feelings he felt in past experiences and if we’ve been through similar experiences, the lyrics penetrate even deeper into our souls, because we feel he’s talking about us, talking to us. Singing about our stories with the most enthralling vocals and eargasmic instrumentals. There’s just something about music, words can only do so well at describing it.

You’ve felt it, I’ve felt it, It’s the best!. Let’s not stray too far from the subject matter…

Why?

Why am I writing this again.. Ah yes, to reflect. To reflect on the magic that is Frank Ocean, I’m thinking about the slowed versions of his songs on youtube that sound ethereal (try it!) here,

The people that take the time to make these edits are angels to me. I’m thinking about his SNL perfomance of “Thinking Bout You” . You can watch it here

I’m reflecting on the first time I heard Sweet Life on Chanel Orange and suddenly the sunsets were brighter, the world was more beautiful .

With Frank it’s hopefully not a case of Don’t be sad it ended, be happy it happened, but goddamn i’m so happy it happened. It’s not about new music coming, let’s let him be and allow frank ocean to do what he’s always done (whatever he wants), and be grateful for impact of his work in our lives, realising that the reason why he’s made the music that’s so precious to us, is because he had a process, a vison.

I saw an old clip of frank speaking about the fact that people enjoyed his music so much, he said that it made him feel good because everything he put out was coming from him, and that if they (us) fuck with the music, then they (us) fuck with him, I really think this is great because the way that he is, it’s a part of his music, so I wouldn’t ever ask him to change, and i think any true stan understands what i’m saying here. Blonde isn’t something you create every year or every other year. It just simply wouldn’t hit the same. So relax, the good times are close in sight. I don’t know what’s coming but I trust that frank will be frank and that’s great news.

Bye for now .

Iyi