where to listen to frank ocean blonde album

The lyric “it started from nothing” has been much debated, as it sounds like “the start of nothing” is a better syllabic fit. We’re not telling the stories to ourselves, we know the story, we’re just seeing it in flashes overlaid. That was my version of collage or bricolage, how we experience memory sometimes, it’s not linear. In an interview with The New York Times, Ocean explained why this song-like many others on the album-features various voices with different perspectives on the same story: In the context of the song, it may be a reflection of their unhealthy relationship. The title may be a reference to how ivy strangles adjacent trees and isn’t good for their health. Ocean does, however, affirm the idea that the relationship was worthwhile and a memory to keep. In hindsight, the relationship was “the start of nothing” because they eventually separated. He was overwhelmed when his partner told him that they loved him. The song was first teased by Chance the Rapper, who was rumored to collaborate on the album, in a July 2015 tweet:įrank Ocean reflects on his mistakes and explores a failed relationship on “Ivy.” Ocean and his partner seem to have grown apart. In the second verse, the tone shifts back to “reality,” as do the lyrics. The pitch may be higher in the first verse because it’s meant to sound synthetic, which calls back to the song’s theme of materialism. At the beginning of the song, Frank says he has “two versions.” This could mean that there are two versions to the story, each told by a voice in a different pitch. They all wore the same outfit and Nike Decades sneakers Frank recreates their uniform in the video.įrank sings in two distinct voices: one with a higher-pitch and one with a lower-pitch. This song and video are inspired by Heaven’s Gate-a cult in the 1990s which took an oath to commit suicide together.

Frank released three different versions of this song-the original, the Apple Music version without the third verse featuring Japanese rapper KOHH, and a video version with Frank ad-libs. The video version of this song features two competing voices while the album version doesn’t, which adds a sense of tension and conflict to the otherwise dreamy song. “Nikes” is a critique of the trappings of materialistic hedonism, with frequent reference to Nike sneakers, shiny gold/glitter, and fantasies of pleasure. In an effort to summarize the entire album, Genius compiled every song biography written by its community to provide a road map of knowledge for listeners. These themes intertwine to create a nuanced album that is Ocean’s most vulnerable and personal project yet. Overall, the album’s concept explores falling in and out of love, with themes of self-love and hate, failed relationships, family, drugs, and depression. Then there’s always a part of me that remembers that this record lives past my being angry, and so do I really want to be angry about that? Is that feeling going to have longevity? Sometimes I want to talk on a song and be angry, because I am angry. Even though the pace of the album’s not frenetic, the pace of ideas being thrown out is…my point of view from one emotional state to another is a different point of view. Sometimes I felt like you weren’t hearing enough versions of me within a song, ’cause there was a lot of hyperactive thinking. In an interview with The New York Times, Ocean explained why he used different voices throughout the album:

Her “clear and calm” eyes echo the album’s theme of youthful carelessness. In a Tumblr post, Frank wrote that he drew inspiration from a picture of a blonde-haired child in the back of a car. The second interpretation is the symbolism of blonde hair blondes are stereotypically thoughtless and carefree. Frank Ocean claimed he drew inspiration for the album from this picture.

Where to listen to frank ocean blonde album