The Master piece of Blond

With this being my first post I wanted to start off with one of my favorite artist, Frank Ocean. But we aren’t here to just discuss him by ourselves, we’re here to talk about this classic album “Blonde”. If we really wanna look at this from a deeper perspective then we have to look at all sides and layers of the album. First I believe that there is a story that he is trying to tell us through the album. It all starts in the very beginning with “Nikes” giving us a feeling of Euphoria and this is really the beginning of his newfound relationship. He talks about his love for them and how they make him feel in “Ivy” and showing him new experiences in “Pink + White”. Signs of change seem to come with “Skyline To” giving a happier peaceful melody that we all like. But that’s not the main big change I noticed. With “Self Control” being the first that gave off a more reminiscent atmosphere followed by “Good Guy”. It’s almost like the puppy love phase is over and signs are pointing to things ending very soon. “Nights” is one of my favorites off the album and really makes you think of how things could’ve been or should’ve been. Frank begins to talk in past tense as if what we expected came true, that the relationship is over and everything is over. “Pretty Sweet” has a kind of distorted sound to it where everything after that is for being alone where there is no significant other and it’s just you and your thoughts. The finale part would be “Godspeed” where I believe he has now made peace with the aftermath. The song is melodic and amazing while the lyrics really nodded to him making peace by saying ” I let go of my claim on you” and “You’ll always have this place to call home”. Beautiful, just perfect and to top it all off we have the memorable ending of “Future Free”. I hope you enjoy the rest.

The Struggle with Identity

Now when I say the “struggle with Identity” I don’t mean a power struggle, no I mean a more of a mental struggle with his masculine side, his feminine side, a struggle with being a queer black man in America, and a struggle with who he is as a person. We tend to put people in a box especially African Americans and have the world tell us what we should dress like or act like. Trust me I know since I am a young black man living in America and I here what I should be everyday of my life. So add on the fact that Frank is Queer so there is are so many boxes being put around him and he or should I say his mom expresses this in her infamous speech in “Be Yourself”. She tells him to not follow trends and do drugs but you can also look at it as if she is telling him or us the audience to embrace ourselves and well of course be ourselves. Whatever you do don’t put yourself in a box you are more than enough and perfect just the way you are. This is your life and nobody else’s so don’t change that for anybody. Anyway when Frank is expressing his masculine and feminine sides you can really tell how comfortable he is now since he has found himself and has found the perfect balance that fits him as a person. But towards the end there’s “Seigfreid”, and I wanna talk way more about that specific song. This really interested me because he starts to debate about his sexuality with saying “Maybe I should move and settle” while also saying “Maybe I’m a fool, To settle for a place with some nice views”. This internal conflict is dividing his mind, and is represented with how he could live a life where he has kids and really in the “American Dream” which is settling down, having kids, and a wife. The other side though is not so sure of this idea an wants to think about it more because once again he is a Queer Black Man in America and doesn’t have to live that life just because other people want him to. Frank says things like ‘I’m not brave” and “This is not my life” but mainly letting us know how he’s been “Living in an idea, an idea from another man’s mind”. That idea is people making him choose between going all feminine or being all masculine, he even asks us what we think he should do. But us as the audience can’t give him an answer because we’re not him. This is his battle and whatever is the perfect balance or the perfect lifestyle is the right answer. I know it’ll take a lot of work and a lot of dedication but we not just him have to find the perfect balance in order to have peace with ourselves, and we have to also accept that we are enough, we are our own identity, thank you for reading.