Frank Ocean - Blonde review: 'screams self-assurance’

It says a lot about Frank Ocean that he calls on Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar for his second studio album — and sort of throws them away on backing vocals.

For everything about Blonde, the R&B wunderkind’s follow-up to the masterly Channel Orange (2012) screams self-assurance: the slow-burn social media campaign, the accompanying visual album Endless, the Apple Music exclusive, the sprawling length, the Blond/Blonde title confusion (mirroring his own sexual ambivalence), the sureness with which he establishes intimacy.

“I’m not in love, but I’ll make love to you,” he croons (through heavy vocoder) on the lead single Nikes. Ocean’s soundscapes are easy to drown in: tempos rarely rise above 90BPM, rhythm tracks rarely intrude (the gorgeous Brian Wilson-esque melody of Ivy is just backed by lo-fi guitar), and the mood is introspective to the point of solipsistic.

And yet his ruminations on loves lost, childhood anguish and his own bisexuality ultimately provide comfort, partly because he’s so absorbing a lyricist (“Dreaming a thought that could dream about a thought that could think of the dreamer in the thought”?!), partly because his music is always looking outwards.