Frank Ocean released his second studio album Blond on August 20, 2016, after a 4-year plan to get out of his record deal with Def Jam Records. I wouldn’t fully listen to them until early 2021; ever since then, my life has changed.
Frank Ocean, otherwise known as Christopher Edwin Breaux was born on October 28, 1987, in Long Beach, California. Frank signed to Def Jam Records in 2009 and would begin being a ghostwriter for many artists like Beyonce, Justin Beiber, John Legend, etc. but Frank wouldn’t get a solid footing until he met Tyler, The Creator and joined the collective Odd Future. After joining Odd Future, Frank was inspired by members of Odd Future like Tyler, Earl Sweatshirt, and Hodgy to release a mixtape for free online. He would release Nostalgia, Ultra on February 16, 2011. The mixtape would be an underground classic and Def Jam saw what they had with Frank and decided to get him a two-album deal as a recording artist. It would take him a year but he would release Channel Orange, a Critically Acclaimed debut studio album which would go on to be nominated for two Grammys and Frank would win one. After the success of Channel Orange, Frank would go underground for four years. But in the four years, He would find a way to get out of his deal with Def Jam. He would give them a 45-minute-long visual album which is exclusive to Apple Music. Get out of his dead and a day later would release his real second studio album Blond. The album wouldn’t get to my ears until 2021
Before I listened to Blond, I was in a dark place mentally, the COVID lockdown was still in full throttle, and I was a 16-year-old boy who thought I knew everything. I remember the first song I heard from Blond was Nights, the most popular song off of Blond at the time. I brushed over it after 2 minutes of it since it wasn’t rap music. But it took me a year to realize how great the album was, and it also took me another year to realize that the album really saved my life and drove me away from going down a deep dark path.
I now know the importance of Blond and Frank Ocean have impacted my life in the best way possible. I truly believe that there are no bad songs on this album. My favourite song on this album changes every month, but now it’s Seigfried. The vocal range, the violin, and the 4th verse where Frank is talking to my soul about how he is going to have a good cry about me makes me wanna levitate and cry and be happy at the same time, but that’s how I feel with every song on this album.
Please listen to this album on any music streaming service where it is available the link to the album from Spotify is https://open.spotify.com/album/3mH6qwIy9crq0I9YQbOuDf. This album saved my life. This album is on my wall. This album will hang on my neck until I die. Thank you, Frank.
