It’s been over two and half years since the release of Frank Ocean’s highly acclaimed album, Blonde, and the album has been given time to settle into our discographies, but where does it rank up today? Let’s take a look at what made Blonde what a potential classic album.
Lets first look at the length of the album. The album is 15 songs long, excluding two interludes, one with Frank’s mother on “Be Yourself”, and the skit “Facebook Story”. Therefore, this album gives us enough songs to get lost in, but not enough to make the album feel repetitive or too long. There also doesn’t feel like there’s any filler songs in the album, or songs that don’t have the same quality as any of the other songs on the album.
Now onto the songs themselves. One thing that struck me over the 2 and a half years of listening is that my favourite song on the album has changed all through out the years. First it was “Solo”, then it became “Nights”, then with more relistening of the album it became “Godspeed”, and even “White Ferrari” . Even now I’m undecided of what my true favourite song is, as all the songs strike a different chord with me. I think that’s the sign of a classic album, when you can’t even decide on your favourite song. Also if I was to discuss my feelings on each individual song on Blonde, this would have to be an hour long read.
Even today I still seem to learn more and more about this album. Only a couple months ago I had found out that the beat switch in the song “Nights” is exactly at the half way point of the hour long album. When I initially heard that, it blew my mind. I had always wondered why the guitar solo on “Nights” felt so long or didn’t seem to follow a certain beat tempo. Small details such as that really do make you wonder, what else is there about Blonde that we still haven’t discovered after more than 2 and a half years? That also may be another sign of a classic album.
Since the release in August of 2016, I still regularly listen to this album, almost, if not, daily. All the songs were so well made to last, and it shows as the songs still continue to shine to this day. It’s honestly surprised me that none of the songs have actually lost any glimmer for me personally. I also think that is another factor of a classic album. Sometimes other albums may lose their “replayness” per se, whereas “Blonde” has continued to sound amazing both musically and lyrically to this day.
Two and half years may be a short time to claim an album as a classic, however I do think that Blonde is definitely projecting into becoming a classic album if the songs continue to keep their ability to be replayed, and if Blonde has already lasted more than two and a half years, I have no doubt that it will reach that classic album feat.
For anyone who has not listened to Blonde yet, please give it a listen, from start to finish, and if you have, maybe leave a comment on what you think about Blonde as a whole, and if you think it will become a classic album
Thanks for reading.
-Adin
Adin's New Music Review 