If I had to choose a song to go alongside Self Control as the most nostalgic on the album conceptually, it would have to be White Ferrari. It’s almost as though the nostalgia (the chlorine from the pool in this case) has stained him and stuck with him, and he turns to music with this album as a catharsis.įor example, there’s the song Self Control which starts with the lyrics: Poolside convo about your summer last night – and ends with the anthemic repetition of the lines: I, I, I, know you gotta leave, leave, leave, take down some summer time. There are correlations to make here: swimming during summer, summer being a nostalgic time period for Frank, and Frank staring too long at the past knowing he can’t get it back. Frank has green hair, despite the fact the album is called Blonde, and looks to be trying to hide tears amongst shower water, camouflaging his emotions (which makes sense since the project was initially believed to be titled Boys Don’t Cry ).Ī key point to note is that when people dye their hair blonde and go swimming in a pool, the chlorine often turns it green. Let’s also take a look at the album art in relation to its title. The Blonde/Blond confusion could also lend itself to Frank’s bisexuality, having previously written songs about relationships with both women and men ( Chanel, which dropped in 2017, further adding to the narrative, in which he sings: My guy pretty like a girl ).
As I mentioned earlier, femininity/masculinity plays a huge role in this project, reflecting Frank’s own personality (having been known to toy with makeup and more feminine clothing) whilst working within an industry that he may feel forces him to be masculine.
Back up on initial release, there was mass confusion about whether the ‘e’ was supposed to be there or not, since it didn’t appear on the album cover, but showed up on iTunes and Apple Music as Blonde. Pink + White is a deeply introspective look at love in youth (often with reference to Hurricane Katrina, which is mentioned at multiple points on Blonde ), all upon the most glamorous and sparkly production the album sees.īesides all of the haunting, skeletal, nostalgic, summery and avant-garde instrumentals that are scattered throughout the album, there are many other features that make this a deeply philosophical masterpiece- something more than just an audio experience. There are many themes that run throughout the album, but the main one has to be nostalgia and all the things that come with growing up. Then there’s Ivy, a song that sounds youthful and innocent in both the instrumental and Frank’s child-like, almost shy vocals. The production on this song is stunning and emotional, contrasting said lyrics- with the most crisp drum-set track brought to the forefront that you’ll hear until later on in Nights, a song iconic for its orgasmic beat switch. Lyrically, it’s a take on modern day materialism in relationships and emotionless connections with the people Frank surrounds himself with, etc. The record opens up with the song Nikes, and the first of the vocals we hear are pitched and warped, almost feminine (something that is important to Blonde and I’ll delve deeper into). Instantly, you would know this album would be worth listening to. He gathered the most high-brow people in the respective genres to help him out with production and vocals (uncredited on the track list, because you know, Frank can do that) such as Beyoncé, Tyler, the Creator, Andre 3000 and Jamie XX. There were undertones of rebellion with this release, something maybe of spite against Def Jam’s wishes for Frank to release a solely visual album. He had established himself as an R&B/Soul necessity, drawing in listeners of 90s-2000s inspired hip-hop and mainstream pop alike.įlash forward to 2016, he drops his visual album Endless which determines his end with record label Def Jam, and to all of our shared surprise, drops his covertly produced album Blonde the very next day. Frank’s fans had been waiting for something… anything… to come from him for long after Channel Orange’ s release in 2012.
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