It’s been four years since the release of Frank Ocean’s debut album, channel ORANGE, and  three years since he announced working on his second studio album. Now, after years of waiting, after several false release dates, after an absence of Frank Ocean, fans received not one, but two projects. Both Endless and Blonde were released as Apple exclusives, Endless being a visual album, Blonde being his long-awaited sophomore album.

At a glance we see what we believe to be a mistake. Why is the album titled Blonde yet the cover shows the title as Blond? It’s no secret that Ocean is bisexual, a theme more present in Blonde than in channel ORANGE. Blond refers to males while blonde refers to females. In the Boys Don’t Cry magazine given in the various pop up shops on the album’s release, Ocean attributes his understanding of his sexuality to Prince. He also credits Prince’s work to him discovering his voice, regardless of the attempts of his mother, “ I discovered Prince at my mom’s friend Jheri’s house, I mean she used to have him on like every day and I honestly didn’t pay attention at first but I vividly remember the first time I heard ‘Beautiful Ones’ and this grown man singing for his life. Immediately I remember it clicking like ‘Oh, it’s okay to holler and scream and everything. Like express yourself kid… go off! So yeah, Prince basically made it all okay.” His comfortability to express himself is more evident and present in this album.

Blonde can be seen as a more mature and serious point in Ocean’s life, and his fans shouldn’t go in expecting the upbeat instrumentals and light hearted vocals from his previous work. The album begins with “Nikes”, a song addressing topics such as materialism, drug use, and sex, which are recurring themes throughout the album. Surprisingly, the song starts with a distorted, auto-tuned voice of Ocean, continuing until the last verse with Ocean’s undisturbed vocals. The use of auto-tune is present in, “Nikes,” “Self-Control,” Pretty Sweet,” and the outro “ Futura Free.” The unusual beginning to the album alludes to the overall difference between his previous work and Blonde.  

Blonde is definitely  a change of pace for Ocean. On most of the songs on the album, his blue vocals over soft instrumentals create the heartbroken atmosphere his lyrics mirror, with songs such as “Ivy,” “Close to You,” and even “Facebook Story.” This can be a hit or miss for returning fans expecting another channel ORANGE-esque album.

The theme, however, fits his vocals incredibly and creates for some very notable songs. In the 17 song tracklist, there are some honorable mentions such as “Ivy”, the second song on the album. “Ivy” is the story of Frank’s breakup sung with low soothing vocals followed by bits of Frank singing in higher octaves all accompanied by beautiful instrumentals. Another honorable mention and what could possibly be the best song on the album is the ninth track,“Nights.” “Nights” begins with some steady rapping for about a third of the song, which then proceeds to sole instrumental and perfect transition into the second part of the song. It’s moments like these that make Blonde the pleasant experience it is.

However, nothing is perfect and the album does have its flaws. The use of autotune scattered about the album is prevalent and can cause some listeners to stray away. There’s also some questionable pieces to the album, such as the odd “Be Yourself” or the very out of place “Facebook Story,” though one can argue it continues the theme of break up and conveys a message true to our generation. When viewing the credits there are great names that contributed, especially the production of the album, however there is little overall features in the album. Yes, there is a short one minute track of just Andre 3000, there is vocal features from Young Lean and Austin Feinstein, but besides that there is really no other artist present to provide a verse. Kendrick Lamar and Beyoncé are both listed on the tracklist only to reveal they provide background vocals for Frank rather than an individual verse. For listeners that decide to view the credits before listening to the album, the lack of features itself can discourage some.

Frank Ocean’s album has been long overdue accumulating tons of hype along the way. Although skeptical from my first listen, the album really seemed to grow on me after a couple of times I listened to it. It really is a great album with unique vocals and instrumentals to match. I feel, however, the album is not a masterpiece it was anticipated to be, a lot more could have been done in the span of time between albums. Returning Frank Ocean fans should have no problem adjusting to the album, especially after a couple of listens they will enjoy the new material. New listeners should consider listening to channel ORANGE first seeing as the two are quite different. With Blonde available on Apple Music and Spotify, listeners using these platforms should wait no longer to listen if they haven’t already.