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After years of waiting, Frank Ocean releases new album ‘Blonde’
Kendrick Lamar, Beyoncé and Andre 3000 all appear on the new album, which has been released alongside the ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ magazine.
Frank Ocean has finally released his new album. It’s actually happened.
‘Blonde’ is streaming now on Apple Music. Its cover art has the title ‘Blond’, but Apple is promoting it under the name ‘Blonde’ (this might explain why). It’s a 17-track album that links up with “visual album” ‘Endless’ from earlier this week. Including yesterday’s new track ‘Nikes’, it also features Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar and Andre 3000. The likes of Kanye West, David Bowie, Jamie xx and Brian Eno are also listed in the album credits. On ‘Seigfried’, he sings lyrics from Elliott Smith, while ‘White Ferrari’ sees him quoting The Beatles’ ‘Here, There, and Everywhere’.
The album comes accompanied by a 360-page magazine, titled ‘Boys Don’t Cry’. Inside the magazine, it lists a different tracklist to the one on Apple Music. A select number of pop-up shops are opening worldwide to stock the magazine. See more details here and scroll below to check out what’s inside the mag, including a Kanye West poem about McDonald’s.
In a short note on his Tumblr, Frank told fans: “I had the time of my life making all of this. Thank you all. Especially those of you who never let me forget I had to finish. Which is basically every one of Ya’ll. Haha. Love you.”
‘Blonde’/’Blond’/whateveryouwanttocallit arrives after years of speculation. Initially dubbed for a July 2015 release, what followed was a year-long silence, interrupted on 1st August on Frank Ocean set up his livestream for ‘Endless’. The New York Times incorrectly reported a full-length would arrive on 5th August. Two weeks passed before ‘Endless’ came out, and then the goldmine opened - ‘Nikes’ arrived yesterday, shortly followed by the studio album.
Stream ‘Blonde’ in full, and below the player check out Frank’s lengthy explanation about the record’s background.
How ‘Blonde’ was created, in the words of Frank Ocean:
“Two years ago I found an image of a kid with her hands covering her face. A seatbelt reached across her torso, riding up her neck and a mop of blonde hair stayed swept, for the moment, behind her ears. Her eyes seemed clear and calm but not blank, the road behind her seemed the same. I put myself in her seat then I played it all out in my head. The claustrophobia hits as the seatbelt tightens, preventing me from even leaning forward in my seat. the pressing on internal organs. I lean back and forward to release it. Then backwards and forward again. There it is—I got free. How much of my life has happened inside of a car? I wonder if the odds are that I’ll die in one. Knock on wood-grain. Shouldn’t speak like that. We live in cars in some cities, commuting across space either for our livelihood, or devouring fossil fuels for joy. It’s close to as much time as we spend in our beds, more for some. The first time I did shrooms, my manager had to come rescue me from Caltech’s ‘Trip Day.’ As I got into her car, I swear to God the aluminum center console in her Porsche truck looked like it was breathing, like the throat of something. On the freeway, leaving Pasadena, we spoke and I looked away, outside, at the wheels and tires of cars doing that optical illusion thing they do where it looks like they’re spinning backwards, which, according to Google, happens because our brains are assuming something completely wrong and showing it to us. Staring, I was transfixed by all the indicator lights oscillating and throbbing against the wind. We drove thru downtown LA headed west, flying on the same freeways I used to run outta gas on. Welcomed in by the perennial creatures, imperial palm trees and climbing vines living their lives out just off the shoulder. The feeling familiar enhanced, on the 10. I used to ride around in my sinewy crossover SUV, smoke and listen to rough mixes of my old shit before it came out, or whatever someone wanted to play when they hooked up their iPhone to the aux cord. A few years and few daily-drivers later I’m not driving much anymore. It’s been a year since I moved to London, at the time of writing this, and there’s no practical reason to drive in this city. I ordered a GT3 RS and it’ll keep low miles out here but I guess it’s good to have in case of emergency :) Raf Simons once told me it was cliché, my whole car obsession. Maybe it links to a deep subconscious straight boy fantasy. Consciously though, I don’t want straight—a little bent is good. I found it romantic, sometimes, editing this project. The whole time I felt as though I was in the presence of a $16m McLaren F1 armed with a disposable camera. My memories are in these pages, places closeby and long ass-numbing flights away. Cruising the suburbs of Tokyo in RWB Porches. Throwing parties around England and mobbing freeways in four project M3S that I built with some friends. Going to Mississippi and playing in the mud with amphibious quads. Street-casting models at a random kung fu dojo out in Senegal. Commissioning life-size toy boxes for the fuck of it. Shooting a music video for fun with Tyrone Lebon, the genius giant. Taking a break/reconnaissance mission to Tulum, Mexico, enjoying some star visibility for a change. Recording in Tokyo, NYC, Miami, LA, London, Paris. Stopping in Berlin to witness Berghain for myself. Trading jewels and soaking in parables with the many-headed Brandon aka BasedGod in conversation. I wrote a story in the middle—It’s called “Godspeed.” It’s basically a reimagined part of my boyhood. Boys do cry, but I don’t think I shed a tear for a good chunk of my teenage years. It’s surprisingly my favorite part of life so far. Surprising, to me, because the current phase is what I was asking the cosmos for when I was a kid. Maybe that part had its rough stretches too, but in my rearview mirror it’s getting small enough to convince myself it was all good. And really though… It’s still all good. This is Boys Don’t Cry and ‘Blonde’. First times. Worldwide.”
Tracklist:
1 ‘Nikes’
2 ‘Ivy’
3 ‘Pink + White’ (featuring Beyoncé)
4 ‘Be Yourself’
5 ‘Solo’
6 ‘Skyline To’ (featuring Kendrick Lamar)
7 ‘Self Control’
8 ‘Good Guy’
9 ‘Nights’
10 ‘Solo (Reprise)’ (featuring André 3000)
11 ‘Pretty Sweet’
12 ‘Facebook Story’ (featuring SebastiAn)
13 ‘Close to You’
14 ‘White Ferrari’
15 ‘Siegfried’
16 ‘Godspeed’ (featuring Kim Burrell)
17 ‘Futura Free’
Inside ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ magazine
Free copies of Frank Ocean’s ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ magazine have been snapped up in pop-up locations, including the newsagent at 66 Charlotte Street, London.
Copies of the magazine are being sold for profit on eBay, with some listed at over £500.
Journalist Steven J. Hororitz says the magazine comes with a different version of Frank Ocean’s ‘Blonde’ album. ‘Nikes’, for instance, has a verse from Japanese rapper Kohh. There’s lyrics for two other songs, ‘Mitsubishi Sony’ and ‘Easy’ - the former has the same lyrics as ‘Higgs’, from Frank’s ‘Endless’ album.
Hororitz has also posted images of what’s inside the mag - see below.
The magazine contains 360 pages, including a poem by Frank Ocean titled ‘Boyfriend’ and one from Kanye West, all about McDonald’s. It’s just about what you’d expect - see below:
McDonald’s man
McDonald’s man
The French fries had a plan
The French fries had a plan
The salad bar and the ketchup made a band
Cus the French Fries had a plan
The French fries had a plan
McDonald’s man
McDonald’s
I know them French fries have a plan
I know them French fries have a plan
The cheeseburger and the shakes formed a band
To overthrow the French fries plan
I always knew them French fries was evil man
Smelling all good and shit
I don’t trust no food that smells that good man
I don’t trust it
I just can’t
McDonald’s man
McDonald’s man
McDonald’s, man
Them French fries look good tho
I knew the Diet Coke was jealous of the fries
I knew the McNuggets was jealous of the fries
Even the McRib was jealous of the fries
I could see it through his artificial meat eyes
And he only be there some of the time
Everybody was jealous of them French fries
Except for that one special guy
That smooth apple pie
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