Blonde

Blonde is the second studio album by the enigmatic Frank Ocean. The album was released on August 20, 2016, only a day after the release of the visual album Endless and a four-year studio album hiatus after the release of channel ORANGE. The album was released both physically, in magazines given away in pop-up stores around the country, and digitally on music streaming platforms. The magazine, titled Boys Don’t Cry, is a companion piece to Blonde and featured various types of content, including poetry & interviews from Ocean & many others. The magazine also included an alternate version of Blonde.

On August 20, 2016, the lead single “Nikes,” was released with an accompanying music video exclusively on Apple Music.

Upon its release, the album was met with critical acclaim. Blonde debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200™ and sold 276,000 album-equivalent units on its first week. In a review by The Guardian, Tim Jonze called Blonde, “one of the most intriguing and contrary records ever made.” It is considered one of the greatest albums of all time; in 2020, Pitchfork ranked it #1 on their list of the “Best Albums of the 2010s,” the Genius Community ranked it #3 on their list of the “100 Best Albums of the 2010s,” and Rolling Stone ranked it #79 on their updated list of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time,” outranking channel ORANGE at #149.

On July 9, 2018, almost two years after the album’s release, Blonde achieved RIAA Platinum certification after surpassing 1,000,000 album-equivalent units sold.

One aspect of the album that has been subject to much discussion is the title. Specifically, the reason why the title is spelled differently on the album cover. Fans have speculated that the use of “blond” on the album cover and “blonde” on the album listing is a reference to Ocean’s bisexuality and the themes of duality between masculinity & femininity in his life; with “blond” being the masculine form and “blonde” the feminine.

The word “blonde” itself holds two interpretations. The first is that children normally have blonde hair that darkens to brown as they get older. Blonde can therefore be seen as a reflection of Ocean’s younger years, detailing his innocence & purity, and loss thereof, making the album play out as more autobiographical than any of his previous works. Songs such as “Pink + White” & “Ivy” recall Ocean’s coming-of-age through the use of vocal pitching. The second interpretation is the symbolism of blonde hair; blondes are considered to be thoughtless & carefree. In a Tumblr post on the album, Ocean stated that he drew inspiration from an image of a blonde child in the back seat of a car. Her “clear and calm” eyes echo the album’s themes of immortality & youthful carelessness. The closing track “Futura Free” is about the freedom of being able to move forward, a celebration of Ocean’s newfound independence.

The album’s concept explores falling in-and-out of love; themes of self-love & hate, failed relationships, family, drugs, and depression can be found throughout. These themes intertwine to create a complex & nuanced project, which stands as Ocean’s most vulnerable. In contrast to Ocean’s previous albums, Blonde takes on a more minimalist approach with influences such as Elliott Smith, Pharrell Williams, David Bowie, and James Blake to name a few. The album has an eclectic and atmospheric feel, with drifting guitars and beatless melodies accompanying dense & powerful lyricism. Kate Mossman in The Observer characterized the album as a “journey in cerebral, non-macho, boundary-free R&B.”