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You Should Listen to Blonde by Frank Ocean
61 Plays1 year ago
On this inaugural episode of You Should Listen to This: Tanner makes Bat listen to Blonde by Frank Ocean for the first time.
Tanner will guide her through the album as they discuss what makes this 2016 LP so special to so many people. And we'll also find out if Bat even likes it.
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Note: Mixing will improve as episodes go on. Thank you so much for listening. We hope you stick with us.
Intro and outro music by Jacob Dotson
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Motivation
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to the podcast. Welcome. I'm Tanner. And I'm back. And you're listening too. You should listen to this. You should listen to this. Oh no. So we've got Tanner.
00:00:30
Speaker
That's me. And there's back, which is me. That's you. That's me. Um, and we are best friends and exes talking about Frank Ocean's blonde, at least in the first episode. So the way that this, this man, yeah. So the way that this podcast started was we both have albums that we want each other to listen to.
00:00:57
Speaker
And in order to motivate each other to actually listen to these albums, we've got to put a podcast in place in order to get us to do it.
00:01:07
Speaker
if we if we give ourselves a reason a reason to listen to these albums because it's not enough to tell your best friend hey this is really good you should listen to this so that's why we created this podcast um and you always wanted me to listen to frank oceans blonde because you're a big frank ocean head and this is your breakup album for to you it's the breakup album what better album to start with then
00:01:35
Speaker
this album and and of course because it is just it's one of your favorite albums blank period i'm sure yeah not even just breakup just full stop right going forward or that's that's the album that we've started with but going forward i'm going to introduce well we'll introduce the albums to each other um it won't be live but it'll be live to us on the podcast
00:02:01
Speaker
Bat, I wanna set the scene for you for a little bit, okay?
Frank Ocean's Disappearance and Return
00:02:07
Speaker
Now, Frank Ocean, he has been missing for four years. No one knows where he's been or what he's been up to since he dropped Channel Orange in 2012, right? We're going back to 2016, I forgot to mention that. Act like you're in 2016. He won his first Grammy in the brand new category called Urban Contemporary.
00:02:31
Speaker
which they recently changed the title of that category. And he won for Channel Orange. And he was collaborating with Jay-Z and Kanye West. He's been collaborating with Jay-Z and Kanye West. And he was already writing songs for people like Beyonce for years.
00:02:53
Speaker
Um, and his trajectory after he won that Grammy was, it was, he was headed for superstardom, right? It was, there was nothing, nothing else but up. By the time 2016 came around, there had not been a lot heard from him or seen from him in those four years.
00:03:13
Speaker
There were some rumors here and there and some little tiny features. I was so desperate for Frank Ocean content back in the day that I went to see this movie in 2015 called Southpaw. Have you seen this one with Jake Gyllenhaal and Rachel McAdams?
00:03:31
Speaker
I think I've seen it. Not a very memorable movie. I think I think Pitchfork posted that Frank Ocean song was going to be in that movie. So, of course, I went to go see it in theaters and the song was there. It played. It was like the first new Frank Ocean song that I had heard in a long time. But it turns out that was just an unreleased track of his that he uploaded to his Tumblr a long time
The Surprise of 'Blonde' Following 'Endless'
00:03:59
Speaker
ago.
00:03:59
Speaker
what song was that i don't remember the name of it now i think it was wise man something like that um anyway the point is right everyone was itching for some frank ocean and then he started promoting something but no one was exactly sure
00:04:17
Speaker
what he was promoting based on this livestream, this slow moving and sometimes completely idle livestream that was exclusively on Apple Music. Just black and white seemed like some sort of warehouse. Eventually, the livestream culminated in a visual album that we now know as Endless.
00:04:42
Speaker
yeah well you know it i'm i'm well i don't know it you've heard of endless right i yeah from you well before okay before we before
Impact and Experimentation of 'Blonde'
00:04:53
Speaker
i was trying to make you listen to to blonde and frank ocean in general had you heard of endless i don't think so
00:05:02
Speaker
Well, yeah, I mean, he never released it as an album just as the visual album. But, you know, in this visual album, there is a lot of synth and there is a big focus on like samples and dissonant sounds. And the whole thing almost felt like one cohesive, consistent song.
00:05:23
Speaker
But when you look at the the track listing for endless it's almost like little tiny sporadic songs here and there almost like a collage of music and You know people weren't really vibing with that That's not what they were expecting from Frank Ocean at that time right the guy that made Channel Orange made this a
00:05:45
Speaker
Weird experimental electronic album people weren't expecting it and so that was it Frank Ocean released his new album, right? Mm-hmm. So the next day he released a music video but for a song that wasn't on endless
00:06:01
Speaker
It was a song called Nike's and this music video was seemingly from a completely different album that we originally suspected to be called boys don't cry. But soon after Nike's was released the whole second album in 12 hours or something.
00:06:20
Speaker
Blonde came out. Now, I wasn't expecting this. I wasn't expecting Blonde to release after Endless or anything to come after Endless. I had I had fallen off the the Frank tracking bandwagon because I thought I thought it was over. But like he was down with music. Well, I thought he was I thought Endless was his album. We heard from Frank. That's the music he's releasing. You thought Endless was the end.
00:06:48
Speaker
I thought endless was the end. Yeah. Okay. But you know, but it wasn't. Okay. But I heard about blonde that it came out as I was leaving an office depot and I first attempted to listen to blonde in my old Camry with a car full of people.
00:07:04
Speaker
I quickly became obsessed with it. It was unlike anything I had ever heard at that point. And, you know, most people felt a similar way. The sentiments online were reflecting that. You know, people were calling this album deeply experimental and a risk for Frank Ocean.
00:07:22
Speaker
Really? Well people heard pitched up vocals and distorted instruments and meme-able interludes and didn't know what to think of the album. Something that becomes increasingly evident with Frank is that he doesn't really care about what people think of him or his music and you could tell that Blonde was his most personal music that he had ever released and you could feel the emotion in every single track.
00:07:48
Speaker
I mean, despite calling this album a risky venture, many people in the hip hop world soon tried to emulate what Frank did on this album. The first example of this that I can think of that pops up in my mind is testing by ASAP Rocky. Have you heard? Probably not.
00:08:05
Speaker
Definitely not. Okay. Yeah. Well the blonde influence on that album was like so Insanely clear that it it literally just felt like like there was there was no hiding that it was inspired by blonde Frank Ocean actually appeared on that album and I think he ended up doing some production for it and maybe either way people wanted to emulate what he was doing and just make music that means something and sounds different and
00:08:33
Speaker
And that happened to varying degrees of success. But this album is one of, if not the greatest breakup album of all time. This is an album that I have told you about for years. And I'm sure I'm not the only one. We're gonna go through this album track by track from two different perspectives. Me, someone who has been a huge Frank Ocean stan, if you will, for years.
Diverse Perspectives on 'Blonde'
00:09:02
Speaker
And you, someone who has always been aware of Frank Ocean and knows some songs, but has never like sat down and listened to his music extensively. Right. I know the singles. I know the hits. Yeah. But, um, man, you've definitely listened to Frank Ocean now, you know? Yeah. You, uh, you dove right into blonde and you listened to it multiple times.
00:09:30
Speaker
Yes, I tried to listen to it as many times as possible in order to prepare for the podcast. I really want this to be a full dive into the album. I listen to the album to get to know it in a way that you know it.
00:09:53
Speaker
Was that your goal? Was that your goal to be as, you know, know the album on an intimate level like that?
00:10:02
Speaker
That is my goal for all of the albums going forward that you have to, that you provide for me. And that's my goal for you, for the albums that I provide for you. Um, because the point is to know the album, not just to listen to it, but to sit with it, have it really penetrate deep into the soul. Did you mean to say penetrate? Was that something that you meant to say? Yes.
00:10:31
Speaker
OK, just wondering, you even took some notes, I believe, and wrote some things down. So this is the inaugural episode of You Should Listen to This. It is. So I got to ask you an opening question. How have you avoided blonde and even Frank Ocean in general for so long? That's a funny question.
00:11:01
Speaker
Why is that funny? Well, I ran into Frank at a party once and he dissed me and so I vowed never to listen to his music. What? What? Is this a Chris Brown joke? What do you mean? Did you take his parking spot? Is that a thing? Yeah, you know that Chris Brown and Frank Ocean beef? No, I think everyone should have beef with Chris Brown though. Oh man, well, we can't get into that beef on... On the podcast. On this podcast.
00:11:31
Speaker
well i have not avoided frank on purpose of course i have listened to the hits you know i like chanel a lot i know slide and i know you know a potato flew around my room i know the greatest hits those are the main ones so going into it
00:11:55
Speaker
you know i knew enough of frank to know that i like him and i respect him but i'm not sure that his sound is something that is really for me but of course i'm going i've gone into the album i went into the album fully
00:12:11
Speaker
open-minded ready to listen I already knew one of the songs or I had already heard one of the songs a few times because you've played it but other than that I really went into it not exactly knowing what to expect
00:12:30
Speaker
okay well let's go track by track then let's um let's start with the one that that you know i said earlier frank ocean released a music video for i think it's the only music video that was released for this album really which uh you know i didn't i didn't realize at first until i started looking into it but i don't remember any other music video
00:12:53
Speaker
What a way to open an album.
Exploring 'Nikes' and Setting the Album's Tone
00:12:56
Speaker
You know, like I said, this goes back to what people were expecting of Frank. People loved his voice and he opened his newest album with his pitched up vocals and talking about, these bitches want Nikes, they looking for a check. No one knew what he was talking about.
00:13:15
Speaker
I don't know what he's talking about. I started to listen to this and that's the thing with Frank Ocean and Phoebe Bridgers. They're similar in that their lyrics seem to just kind of go somewhere and I don't know what's happening. You say that they're great storytellers with their lyricism, but I never know. I never know what is happening. I can't follow the plot.
00:13:44
Speaker
Okay. You know, it's interesting because I mean, yeah, Frank Ocean and Phoebe Bridgers are both fantastic storytellers in the world of music, but I think their lyrics differ in quite a few ways. I feel like Frank Ocean is a lot more poetic, you know, plays a lot more with imagery. Phoebe Bridgers, I feel like is much more candid and to the point with her storytelling. You know what I mean?
00:14:10
Speaker
Okay, sure. I'm just saying that they're both similar in the way that they're not my favorite. And I don't understand this, this quote unquote storytelling. Okay. Well, I would say think of this first track as kind of like, um, the opening credits for a movie, right? Yeah, it does. It does feel like that. The intro is very cinematic, emotional,
00:14:38
Speaker
Well, especially as, you know, his real voice comes in when he says, we'll let you guys prophesy. Right. And that's the first time we hear his actual voice. And it's like this swelling. It's like it sounds like an angelic moment where his voice finally comes into this song. And that almost feels like the starting point of the album. OK, so there's like a prologue.
00:15:06
Speaker
A prologue or like a vibe check. I found that a lot of albums have vibe checks and I think this album has a few vibe checks. I like that idea. In this track, did anything stand out to you? What are your thoughts? What are your notes? What are some quotes that you're picking up on? Some musical moments that you like?
00:15:30
Speaker
right so i enjoyed the production of this song going back to it now like i said the intro does feel cinematic it feels good it feels like an opening an introduction and i like that um i wrote down
00:15:49
Speaker
You know, I didn't know what the meaning was of the chipmunked vocals. I was wondering, what does this mean? What is this trying to say? And I noted that there was the switch to his more natural, raw vocals. And I liked that.
00:16:07
Speaker
As soon as we get to his actual voice, we start getting a lot of themes that come up later in the album. This is where we start to get to introduce to a lot of things like the future. He says we're going to see the future first. Oh, one of my favorite moments is we breathe in pheromones, Amber Rose sipping pink gold lemonades.
00:16:36
Speaker
Oh, why is that? I like the, the previous line of my balls sticking to my jeans. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's a, that's a great one too. But I feel like Amber Rose doesn't get enough name drops. I feel like, um, we gotta, um, put more respect on her name. You know what I'm saying? It's interesting that he says we only human and it's human in these ball mains. Yeah. So what does that mean?
00:17:05
Speaker
Well, it's just interesting that he says ball mains when I'm sure he knows it's ball maw. I'm sure, yeah. I'm sure. I'm sure that, um, yeah. It's humid and that's why his balls are sticking to his jeans. It's, it's sweaty in there and his ball mains and his ball mole.
00:17:27
Speaker
Maybe it is bombing. Well, either way, at the end, we get to the bridge. He says, I may be younger, but I'll look after you.
00:17:37
Speaker
We're not in love, but I'll make love to you. When you're not here, I'll save some for you. I'm not him, but I'll mean something to you. Right. Oh my god. I definitely wrote those, I wrote that down. I may be younger, but I'll look after you. We're not in love, but I'll make love to you. I'm not him, but I'll mean something to you.
00:17:59
Speaker
there's a lot of like hard-hitting lyrics on this album but like man you start the heartbreak on the first track it's uh it's intense it tells you that the whole album is gonna be intense right just for me the the weird thing or i guess not weird but the thing that i don't understand is there is all this um i suppose imagery see when i listen to frank i don't get the imagery when i i listen
00:18:28
Speaker
you know certain words stick out but in certain lines like these stick out but the rest of it it doesn't seem to connect for me um maybe like once i dig deeper i read the lyrics some some pieces of the puzzle start to come together but other than that i'm
00:18:49
Speaker
looking at the songs like what what does this mean what is he saying um a lot of it doesn't immediately connect or stick out to me so i just you know i see this these lines that have so much emotion and they just kind of come out of nowhere for me i don't really understand like where it's coming from is it just like is he at a party you know
00:19:15
Speaker
where is he like he's talking about something a setting all of a sudden and then there's this emotion but before that the the words seem to have no setting there's not a scene there's not a scene and then all of a sudden there's a scene so what what's up with that
00:19:34
Speaker
so i wouldn't say that there is this isn't an album where there is like one linear story you can argue for channel orange or nostalgia ultra that might be there but i think with um blonde you know he jumps around a lot in timelines in characters but it's it seems to be that he's always singing about
00:20:00
Speaker
the same person. No matter what? Yeah. In every song on Blonde, it seems to be about the same person. I could be wrong with my seven-year experience with this album. That's how I feel. It's all about the same guy. We start to get those really
00:20:21
Speaker
Really intense love feelings in Ivy track to a more acoustic track a more sweet Summary more boring, you know All right, I'll let you talk all these I I think it's a sweet track, but I think it's definitely a 2016 Track I think it lives in the year 2016 much better than now I
00:20:50
Speaker
I've noted that it's a pretty straightforward stream of consciousness type song is how I interpreted it.
Themes of Nostalgia in 'Ivy'
00:20:58
Speaker
And these are my initial notes too, just so you know. I do like the line, the start of nothing. That sounds like something that I've written, sounds like something I would write.
00:21:11
Speaker
So I really appreciate that. Yeah, this is like a summary kind of track. It feels like warm, even though there's so much pain.
00:21:23
Speaker
Well, yeah, you know, he says, you know, he's saying the feeling deep down is good still. Like he's saying, I love you. And, you know, he says we didn't give a fuck back then. I ain't a kid no more. Even if these two people have grown out of each other's lives, it's like right. He's reminiscing. He's talking about
00:21:49
Speaker
good times. He's not bitter about it. He's remembering how great the times were and that just happens to be heartbreaking.
00:21:57
Speaker
yeah when i'm listening to it now i feel i feel it it like hits more and i think that's the thing with frank's songs is that when i first hear it i'm caught up on the songs sonically and then as i listen to them more things stick out to me the emotion catches me more um but i think it's really easy to listen and have everything
00:22:24
Speaker
be glossed over like i listen and i just kind of hear the whole song as a whole and not really the details of it so that's why i tried to to listen to this album as many times as i could stomach listening to it um stomach you make it sound like it's torture in a way it is i mean when you're going through
00:22:47
Speaker
When you're going through a breakup and you're brokenhearted and you're listening to a breakup album, I mean, that's definitely a form of torture, I think.
00:22:58
Speaker
I see. I thought you meant because you didn't like it. It's Frank Ocean. Horrible. No, I do like the music. I do think that overall, this album production wise does sound a little bit dated as I'm listening to it in the year 2023, but definitely not permanently dated just as of now. But
00:23:20
Speaker
You know, I think that's why, you know, a lot of an album's power, I think, comes from the time that it's released. Yes, I completely agree.
00:23:31
Speaker
you know, for when this album came out and the type of music that was coming out at this time, there was nothing like this. Right. This was so ahead of anything else out there. Yeah. The honesty and vulnerability in the lyrics weren't seen, you know, that wasn't seen from artists like Frank Ocean. It reminds me of Lorde in a way, which is like a similar time period.
00:24:01
Speaker
yeah interesting okay do you have any other thoughts on uh on uh ivy the sweet little guitar tune oh this sweet little song that punches you in the gut
00:24:14
Speaker
Well, and I think it punches Frank in the gut too, because at the end of the song you hear, you know, this guitar getting smashed up. Yeah, that's something that I love about this track. I noted that down, that I like the end and the tension of the song. You know, I said that it feels like the rest of the song, he's holding back. And then at the end,
00:24:41
Speaker
It comes out in a small but poignant burst. Small but poignant. Yes. Okay. That's what I wrote. Yeah. And that's a positive review, and that's my initial thoughts.
Classic Feel of 'Pink and White'
00:24:55
Speaker
I said other than that it's not much for me, which in a way is still true. I think it lives within Blonde Well, but as like a standalone track,
00:25:06
Speaker
I don't know, I feel like the album works so well, the songs together. But it's hard for me to just think of this song, like, oh, Ivy by Frank Ocean, that's a great standalone track. I think of it more as it fits into the whole story of the album, if that makes sense. That's very interesting. I think it's one of the more standalone tracks of the album, personally, I think.
00:25:33
Speaker
Like, it feels a lot more normal in its structure. The story in the song feels like it's beginning middle-end, easy to follow throughout. You know, it feels like a song that, you know, could be played on a very sad radio station.
00:25:50
Speaker
Yeah, and you're driving along and the sun is setting and you're sad and you get into a small but poignant car crash. Do you have anything else to say about our favorite track, Ivy? No, I'm a little, I'm a little, uh, teed off right now. Oh, wow. Why is that?
00:26:13
Speaker
about your opinions on this album. You haven't told me your opinions yet and now I'm hearing them for the first time and I might explode. Just make sure it's small and poignant. But let's get into Pink and White, which is actually Frank Ocean's most streamed solo song. Oh really? Well, the first thing I wrote is this one is a classic. That was my first note. Do you know this one then?
00:26:43
Speaker
Um, like did you know this one before, before you had played it or before I had listened to it in the album? Before I had played it.
00:26:51
Speaker
no definitely not before you had played it so i have heard it in passing um and then i think i just said this is a classic because just that piano line is so recognizable and i know that i've heard it in other places not just from you so i have heard it in passing i had never sat down and listened to it though and i hadn't listened to it all the way through
00:27:13
Speaker
But immediately, I recognized that it's just such a classic from that intro, from the way that his vocals cut in. And yeah, on the first listen, I didn't get much from the lyrics. And I, again, with his lyrics, I'm just like, what is happening? What are you saying, Frank? I don't understand. Produced by Pharrell, backing vocals by Beyonce, right? It's produced by Pharrell. The intro, there's no four count.
00:27:43
Speaker
if you if you listen no way there is a four account it's hidden it's hidden in i i feel like okay i'm gonna say something about this track this has never been one of my favorites really this album i'm not saying it's a bad track every single track on this album is amazing but of course
00:28:03
Speaker
and this and this and this track almost has a billion streams billion with a b on spotify it's it's insane how popular this song is like this is the song that has lived on beyond the album right it says 850 million streams on spotify yeah almost a billion that's 150 million away
00:28:25
Speaker
Oh, okay. I misheard. I agree with you. I think some of the lyrics, Frank is very poetic on this song. You know, after Ivy, which felt very flowery and flowy, this one feels like the same thing. This one feels like, you know, you can almost see the pink and white sky. I think of the
00:28:48
Speaker
the turnstile album cover right he's just pink and white sky uh-huh yeah i never really understood what he was saying from a huge frank ocean stand we have i don't know what the hell he's saying
00:29:05
Speaker
Well, there's a lot of times when his imagery becomes so esoteric that it's a chore to analyze. But there are some moments in this song that provide some clarity. It's kind of like a secret language, I feel like. Like if you were the person...
00:29:24
Speaker
that was close to him or has been close to him, it would stand out to you. But for all of us, it's just kind of we feel the emotion, we feel it, but we don't get the details.
00:29:39
Speaker
Well, and I think that's the important thing is, you know, if you can feel the emotion without understanding the whole track, I think that's pretty huge. Of course. We do get something here that, again, talks about, you know, he's reminiscing again, talking about being a kid with this person, what their life was like back when things were simple.
00:30:02
Speaker
And he talks about what it was like after Hurricane Katrina. He says, in the wake of a hurricane, dark skin of a summer shade, nose dive into flood lines, tall tower of milk crates, cannonball off the porch side. Like he's telling the story and he talks about Hurricane Katrina later in this album, too. He talks about Hurricane Katrina a lot because, you know, he lived in New Orleans during that time.
00:30:26
Speaker
Oh, I didn't realize that. Yeah. So we get a lot of these vignettes of Frank's life as a child, supposedly with this love interest. And now I don't know if the love interest was literally there or if he's comparing his, his experiences as a child to what new love felt like. But what do you, what do you think we're getting? You're still not getting anything in terms of story on this thing.
00:30:56
Speaker
Well, you're providing me with some clarity into the track, some insight into the track. You know, I really appreciate that. I liked the imagery. You know, initially I didn't get much from the lyrics on the first listen, but I really like knowing the backstory of the track and that's that's what you're here to provide. So thank you.
00:31:16
Speaker
Well, and I want to make sure that you know and any of the millions of people that might be listening to this, neither of us know everything. I don't know everything. You don't know everything. You know, we don't know everything about.
00:31:31
Speaker
Any of the albums we're going to talk about, that would be impossible to know everything. Even if we did know everything, it's going to be impossible to touch on everything. Right. And there's a lot that I wish I could talk about, but we're not doing a podcast series about Frank Ocean. We are doing a podcast episode. Yeah, you'll have to fit in everything that you want to say about Frank Ocean into this one episode of the pod.
00:31:54
Speaker
I want to get right into the first interlude on this album, Be Yourself. Running Around by Buddy Ross in the background, which plays on all the interludes. And we hear a woman talking about what marijuana does to you.
00:32:14
Speaker
Yes, I really love the instrumental on this track. Of course, it's a recurring little instrumental. It reminds me of like Palo Alto, like Dev Hines. So it has like a cinematic type of feeling. Very nostalgia in an instrumental.
00:32:36
Speaker
That's what I wrote. That's what I feel as I'm listening to it, but that's also what I wrote down. I totally didn't even realize that I wrote that down. I said lovely instrumental that feels so nostalgic like Dev High.
00:32:47
Speaker
Yeah, no, it feels like it feels like a melon, melancholy, bittersweet, lonely, bittersweet, nostalgic, instrumental. I mean, Frank Ocean plays with nostalgia a lot on this album and on all of his music. He's always talking about nostalgia. I mean, he has a mix tape called Nostalgia Ultra.
00:33:09
Speaker
nostalgia always comes up in his music you know we get more of that and that feeling of nostalgia from like a a voicemail of a mom or an aunt or a grandma you know right telling you to not be a bad kid
00:33:27
Speaker
Right. I love the, I said, I love the loving message. It's funny and it's familiar. I really like this little interlude. Um, but I was wondering the story behind it. I was wondering, who is this? Is this real? Is this acted out as an interlude, like a little skit? So what is the story behind Be Yourself?
00:33:50
Speaker
Um, so a lot of people thought it was Frank Ocean's mom, obviously. I mean, she says at the end, this is mom. Call me. Bye.
00:34:01
Speaker
But I believe she was the mom of one of Frank Ocean's childhood friends. And I don't think this was acted. I think this was just a genuine voicemail, which is... This interlude was memed a lot when it...
00:34:22
Speaker
really it's so sweet it's so endearing i really love it if i had if i had a voicemail like this from my mom or or someone like that i i would really cherish it i think it's so sweet on um uh i don't know what number of listens i noted that it sounds like me talking about drugs yeah a lot of kids have gone to college what does she say don't go to college kids
00:34:51
Speaker
she said she doesn't say don't go to college she says don't go to college no she does not okay so solo produced by james blake he is just saying things in this song what is he going on about this is another one where you know he kind of gets lost in the imagery in the um he gets lost in the sauce we're getting very like nothing's literal
00:35:19
Speaker
in this track i feel like it's a lot of um almost like braggadocio type of stuff right he's basically rapping at the beginning of this and it doesn't sound like he's saying much and it took me a while to figure out if he was saying um anything
00:35:34
Speaker
You know, after a while, you notice that in the second verse, we get a really, really good story of a pro-choice story. Story about abortion. Really? And I don't I don't know if it's directly if he was the baby daddy or what he says. And that means cheap because ain't shit free and I know it. Even love ain't because this nut cost that clinic killed my soul.
00:36:03
Speaker
but you gotta hit the pussy raw though now your baby mama ain't so vicious all she want is her picket fence and you protest and you picket sign but them courts won't side with you so okay he's talking about someone else now that I'm reading it over he's basically talking to someone about his baby mama
00:36:22
Speaker
going to get an abortion.
Pro-Choice Themes in 'Solo'
00:36:25
Speaker
Right. There's protesters there, picket signs. This person's baby mom is going through all this. And this guy is just like, but you got to hit the pussy raw. You know, like, who cares that she's got to go through this emotional, intensely traumatic situation in her life, you know? Yeah. As long as it as long as it feels good. You know what I'm saying?
00:36:45
Speaker
right i didn't have much to say for this track as a whole initially i said i liked the instrumental i think it's like a an organ it sounds like an organ uh through the track the way he sings the chorus is beautiful his vocals are yeah i like the it's
00:37:10
Speaker
I don't know if the lyrics are right on this Spotify because I thought it's in hell that's heaven but maybe it's not that anyways I really like that chorus melody and I like the strength of his voice in in that chorus and I think it's really strong
00:37:31
Speaker
and i do like the rest of it it's just not something that i would like find myself listening to or wanting to listen to um that's why i'm i think i'm more of like a frank ocean appreciator you know like a true fan i guess i am a fan but you know it's just i'm listening to it and i'm like oh this is really good but i don't know what the occasion is that i would be listening to it all the time
00:37:59
Speaker
every night. I'll stream it while I sleep. Well, solo used to be the song that I would have on repeat. Really? Pretty often. Just because of that chorus. Yeah. I thought that chorus was amazing. Yeah, it definitely is. It catches you and it's just like sharp inhale, like wow.
00:38:18
Speaker
And then it transitions into Skyline 2, which I have to say is in my opinion another vibe check for the album. This album is fully a vibe check. It's kind of frank, just kind of talking. I feel like it works as a perfect transition from solo into self-control, which is the song that's up next. It kind of prepares you for that transition.
00:38:44
Speaker
It's another thing like what is he talks about hitting a deer with his car He talks about you know things that come up in every song on this album summer pools nighttime classic blonde by Frank Ocean things but yeah, he he's kind of just going off and people originally thought for this track that Kendrick Lamar was on it that he was the guy that was going smoke and
00:39:13
Speaker
But that was confirmed to not be Kendrick Lamar. Who is it? I think it's just Frank. It sounds like Frank. It doesn't sound like Kendrick. Listen, people before we got official credits and liner notes for this album, people were like, I'm sure they're going crazy with the theories.
00:39:31
Speaker
You hear this little tiny audio snippet? That's Young Lean. Yeah. This song also has production from Tyler the Creator, which is pretty cool. And I think you can hear a little bit of that. Who's that? Very funny. Wait.
00:39:48
Speaker
You are hilarious. I'm having like, okay. I'm having like a really strange moment right now because when you said that I was thinking like, wait, who is that? That sounds familiar. It sounds like Tyler, the creator. But then when you said that, I was like, I have to look that up because I don't know who that is in my mind. Like he has a different name, but I don't know what the name is. But when you said it, it sounded wrong. Um, so I'm just having a weird moment, right? It's just Tyler, the creator. That's all it is.
00:40:16
Speaker
Yeah, I have my own Mandela effect just now.
00:40:20
Speaker
I don't know if that counts as a Mandela effect. You know what I mean? No, no, I know it's not a real Mandela effect. You know what I mean? Anyways, anyways. Anyways, what did you think of Skyline 2? I love the little alien noises in the background towards the back half of this track. I wrote down, I don't think I really connect with Frank's lyrics. Maybe they just go over my head.
00:40:47
Speaker
I think the instrumental on this is beautiful and I feel the emotion, but I'm not sure what the emotion is. It does feel like a shift in the album. And then going forward, of course, we have that shift. Yeah, it becomes it becomes pretty clear. For the most part, the theming becomes more obvious as we move on. Right. I feel like I like it. OK, OK, good. I like the track.
00:41:10
Speaker
Okay, good. I'm glad, um, I'm glad you like it. You know, speaking of young lean, let's talk about self-control. Is young lean on self-control? Oh, you know it. I did not know that. He's, he's, he's my guy. Okay. Self-control, um, is probably. Yeah.
00:41:38
Speaker
as beautiful. I appreciate that so much more now when I listen to it like I think it hits for me more now.
00:41:51
Speaker
this is um a top three song of all time for me really no joke you you know that i like at the very least the back half of this track yeah i don't know i feel like you have to talk about this track in its like separate parts
00:42:09
Speaker
in a way because it almost to me it feels like a little ep in one track if that makes sense just because of the way that it's like segmented on my first listen which of course was not my first my very first listen um but on my first intentional listen i said i definitely like this one i respect it i love the sentiment the last part of the song is of course my favorite the way it comes in is just chills
00:42:39
Speaker
I initially wrote, I don't know what the lyrics mean, but I feel it. But I crossed that out when I listened to it more because I guess I felt like I knew then. And then I wrote, keep the place for me. I'll sleep between you. Big ouch. Because it's so painful.
00:43:00
Speaker
I feel like I can't talk about the end of the track yet I need to talk about the rest of the track because there's more to be said and felt about you know the the second half or I guess the last third I don't know exactly the correct fraction
00:43:18
Speaker
yeah um you know just talking about this this track just um reading about this track hearing this track too obviously it always always brings emotion to me you know yeah it reminds me a lot of you when i listen to it
00:43:37
Speaker
it's it's it's one of my favorite songs of all time and one of the most difficult songs to listen to yeah i really like i want to know if it's hard now i guess to talk about like the pitched up vocals because that's such a that's such a mainstay in music now you know pitching up or pitching down vocals but the pitched up vocals when it comes in you know keep a place for me and the delivery of that
00:44:06
Speaker
i want to refer to them as small vocals because the way that they're not compressed but they feel like they're compressed in a way like that delivery of that it feels it feels kind of a little like juvenile in that it feels like a small person
00:44:22
Speaker
You know, which I kind of, I kind of like that, you know, it's like, keep a place for me, like, I'm just, I'm small, I'm just a, I'm just a little, you know, you can keep me here, I'm just a small little guy. It's okay, like, don't let go of me, like a small plead, and you're just like a little small guy. That is such a non-elegant way to say what I'm trying to say, but, do you know what I mean?
00:44:47
Speaker
I get exactly what you mean. I mean, the parts that are, keep a place for me. I guess, I guess that's a chorus. The second time that comes up, that's when Young Lean, he's, he's, he's singing part of that chorus. Oh, okay. Let me go to that. It's a small little tiny. I don't know if I hear that. No, it's very difficult to tell. I mean, it doesn't sound like Frank in the second. No, it's not Frank. I see. It's Austin Feinstein and Young Lean.
00:45:16
Speaker
But you still have the chipmunked kind of vocals of Frank, so it's them together. You have the very textural, is it like a vocal, almost like a vocal guitar solo?
00:45:31
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, that's one of my favorite parts. Oh, yeah, I really love that. I appreciate that so much and I do love it. It feels so heavy hitting. Yeah, it's so like delicate. It's not big. It's not over the top.
Emotional Depth of 'Self-Control'
00:45:49
Speaker
It's just it's just there and you just feel it.
00:45:53
Speaker
The part that that always gets me is wish I was there, wish we'd grown up on the same advice and our time was right. Oh, yeah. That feels like such a charged line, like racially charged. Like this is this is like he he's poor and it feels like it's a classist issue. The person lives a blonded life.
00:46:20
Speaker
You know, they're privileged and Frank is not. That's like a recurring theme that I've picked up on listening to the album. I don't know if that's real or if that's just how I'm interpreting things. I can see that. No, I mean, I think anything's correct.
00:46:40
Speaker
Yeah, except the hordes of Frank Ocean fans that are going to be saying, no, that's not right. Like, it's actually like this. And this is the, you know, we start to get more of the classic Frank Ocean isms kind of thing, you know, talking about how he loves this person always will and knows that they're moving upward and onward.
00:47:10
Speaker
is basically always saying you know like I know you're gonna keep on going right you're gonna keep doing this but please just like keep a place in your heart for me yeah you know I'll sleep between you you know like uh
00:47:27
Speaker
yeah it's painful even if it's just a little space um yeah it gets me every single time yeah that's how i feel about like relationships like that's such a great imagery for relationships you know you you go on to the next thing and the idea of someone else being there while you're sleeping next to someone it's like we all have that we all take people with us you know
00:47:57
Speaker
I just think that's such a good imagery. It's such a good way to say that. And there's so much that can be said. There's so much that goes into that line. And I really, really like it.
00:48:10
Speaker
Yeah. Well, I might start, uh, uh, tearing up soon. So let's talk about a good guy. All right. I wrote nothing on the first listen. And then after that, upon my, you know, later comment, I said, Daniel Johnston vibes. What did, and I wanted to know what's the recording at the end.
00:48:31
Speaker
Oh, okay. So we'll talk about that. Okay. But yeah, this is giving me big Daniel Johnson vibes. That's so funny. Well, okay. So he's basically talking about, you know, him participating in meaningless hookups, right? You know, I, one of my favorites is he texts nothing like you look. That's one of my favorite lines on this entire album.
00:48:56
Speaker
It's uh, I think that says a whole lot and it's really just you know, this short little interlude that's like Talking about a meaningless hookup and what it does and then the recording at the end We hear a few people talking and then this guy says and this is the part worth pointing out so he says uh, yeah, I ain't got bitches no more, but now I don't care about bitches like that
00:49:20
Speaker
that shit and then he gets cut off right by the next guy that says jasmine fucking wrecked my heart right and i feel like this guy you know he's talking about you know maybe questioning his sexuality trying to tell his friends yeah like i don't like girls like that oh i don't even know how here's what i'm gonna say i don't even know how to even feel about bitches maybe is what he's saying
00:49:45
Speaker
Yeah, and then his friend interrupts him and is like, Jasmine fucking wrecked my heart and just starts talking about something else while this guy was trying to open up, right? It's just a little, you know, something to think about. There's a lot of sexual confusion in a lot of Frank Ocean's music. Right. The bi confusion. Just pick one, man. You just got to pick one.
00:50:14
Speaker
exactly after good guy we move into nights which is um blonde came out this was probably the song that everyone was playing this was the song that everyone was uh playing in their cars loudly if you wanted to get a friend to like frank ocean you showed them nights i see that was this song and i think it still is
00:50:39
Speaker
It's also the climax of the album. It's the track that splits the album directly in half. It is there's there's a lot. This is a very, very dense track and we won't get to all of it. But I want to know your thoughts. We're not going to get to all of the track. I mean, I mean, we won't get to all of the density of it. Oh, I literally wrote like two notes. I said working class type beat. This one isn't my favorite sonically.
00:51:09
Speaker
Well, anything else? Did you write anything else about it? I didn't write anything else. I like... Well, okay. Tell me what's in your head then. I like, um... Did you call me from a saiyan? Yeah. I have to listen to this again. I gotta play this track. I mean, it's already playing, but... Oh, this is the one that's like... It's the... You know? No, I don't know.
00:51:39
Speaker
It's the one that's like. Oh yeah. Yeah. Dropping. Yeah. That's why I said working class type beat, you know, fuck with me after my shift. What did you feel about the beat change? Where's the beat change? Oh my God.
00:52:02
Speaker
When this song came out, the beat change was like news. Everyone went crazy over the beat change on this song. Everyone was like, and still for me, you know, like, no, the beat change, not the breakdown. Oh, I was trying to talk about what, you know, how, what Kendrick does, how he like changes the song. It's called something though. Oh, I just call it a beat change. Now it's something.
00:52:29
Speaker
Well, this beat change dethroned the Drake song running through the six with my woes. Remember that song? Really? That song had the best beat change in it that everyone lost their shit for. They went crazy for that beat change. This song came out and everyone went crazy for this beat change.
00:52:51
Speaker
And that beat change is very significant to the album because as soon as that beat change happens, the album is divided in half. That happens at the exact halfway point of the album.
00:53:07
Speaker
we all of a sudden get two different halves of an album, which this album plays a lot into, you know, dichotomy and like two forces and like duality and all this kind of stuff. So it makes sense for this album to exist in two halves.
00:53:25
Speaker
right that's fun i like that i think it's fun to do things like that you know at the exact middle of the album it changes and that makes sense because it there is a shift that happens going into the the second half of the record
00:53:43
Speaker
Yeah, we get he in the second part of nights, we're getting more of the classic Frank Ocean reminiscing, talking about the good times. And, you know, he says, 1998, my family family had that Acura. One of my one of my favorite lines is no white lighters till I fuck my 28th up. Yeah. What is that about? Because the 27 Club. Right. This thing with white lighters in the 27 Club.
00:54:11
Speaker
I don't, I don't really know about the white lighters thing. I know about the 27 club, the, the, uh, conspiracy theory, or I don't know what you call it. People are like, Oh, everyone in the 27 club had a white lighter. They used a white lighter. Yeah. You know? So Frank Ocean is saying, I'm not having a white lighter until I turned 28. Right. That makes sense. Okay.
00:54:36
Speaker
So, okay, yeah, this is where he starts talking about Katrina again. He says, after Trina hit, I had to transfer campus. Your apartment out in Houston's where I waited. Staying with you when I didn't have an address. Fucking on you when I didn't own a mattress. Katrina hits. He doesn't know where to go. Goes to Houston, Texas and stays with this person. That furthers this idea of this closeness that Frank had to this person. And working class type B.
00:55:06
Speaker
working glass type beat. Any other thoughts on the legendary song, Nights? Every night fucks every day up. Every day patches the night up. Which I think is actually, I love that sentiment. I think that's a great, a great series of words. Yeah, it's poetry.
00:55:28
Speaker
right of course yeah i like that i think positively about the track it does feel like 2016 to me a bit definitely better than running through the six with my woes is that the track you were saying that song fucking rules yeah whoo big fan of drake who knows maybe we'll talk about drake on this podcast oh we better not be who knows
00:55:57
Speaker
Oh, I think I know. Cancel the pod. I'm not listening to a Drake album. Can't make me. Well, I will cancel the pod unless you tell me something about solo reprise. I... Why did I write fast? Because Andre 3000 raps fast. Oh, it's Andre 3000. So it's not great. You didn't know who it was? I thought it was B.O.B.
00:56:27
Speaker
Why would you think it was B-O-B? What? At first I was like, is this B-O-B? And I knew that it wasn't. But I just like... Why would you ever think that was B-O-B?
00:56:39
Speaker
How did you not know that's Andre 3000? It literally is like, it sounds like Andre 3000 immediately. There are so many rappers out there, you know, and sometimes they sound similar to one another. Okay. I'm sorry to Andre 3000 fan of the pod. I did not mean to confuse you with BOB. It won't happen again. Andre 3000 actually disses Drake in this verse.
00:57:05
Speaker
Really? Okay. We're fans of Andre 3000.
00:57:10
Speaker
Okay, yeah, so he says, after 20 years in, I'm so naive, I was under the impression that everyone wrote their own verses. It's coming back different and yeah, that shit hurts me. He's talking about, this was back when the whole Drake thing with the ghost writers was like the huge story, right? When it was leaked that Drake used ghost writers and everyone freaked out.
00:57:37
Speaker
Andre 3000 is here like, hey, I thought we write wrote our own music and I guess not. And so he's he's just frustrated with the young ones. I think that a lot of people have ghost writers on their on their absolutely. And I'm sure everybody else who use ghost writers on their verses, they were just glad that it wasn't them. Well, I think, you know, that's that's one of the things that really shows it's 2016 this
00:58:07
Speaker
that we're talking about writing our own verses. Well, I mean, yeah, I feel like these days, you look at a Travis Scott album, there's 50 writers for every single track. It's like, yeah, but that's, that's what it was like then too. No, people, people were expecting rappers specifically to write all of their own verses. Right. And nothing else. Yeah. And nothing else.
00:58:35
Speaker
like no no no writing help or if you do then you have to credit them yeah but now it's credited it is credited well the drake one wasn't all right all right all right anyway but on drake 3000 leads us into what i think is actually the strangest
00:58:56
Speaker
song on this album pretty sweet it's an unsettling song it feels weird it feels frantic it feels barbaric um it's it's a very strange song and it's always felt out of place on this album to me
00:59:10
Speaker
Oh, really? I said that it sounds like chaos to me, which I think is... I think that's fitting. I mean, it might be sonically out of place a bit, but it is thematically in place, I think. I said I'd like to know the meaning of the song. I like the collage of it. It reminds me of just feeling a lot. And it sounds beautiful, but it is painful.
00:59:36
Speaker
It's, it's, I mean, I don't think the lyrics on this one make any sense. I don't think they're supposed to make sense. And I think that contributes to the chaos of this track. You know, the fact that these lyrics are just all over the place and mixed with the strings and the synthesizers and these kids singing and it's, it's a scary track. It's like a, it's like a horror movie.
01:00:04
Speaker
yeah i mean you're gonna have that and your breakup album and your breakup feelings just just a mess a mess of yeah there's that moment when it feels like your brain is uh an abstract uh performance art piece yeah and then that like beat comes in and it's like you're running and screaming
01:00:28
Speaker
If you want, if you want me to think more favorably about your track, put in like a little chorus of kids. Okay. Yeah. I always hate chorus, a chorus of kids on any, any song. Not on any song. You like it in that Caroline Polacek song. Yeah, but I think it's weird. You like weird. Like it, but it's, yeah, I do like weird. I like music that makes me uncomfortable.
01:00:54
Speaker
What makes me uncomfortable is when your girl wants to break up with you because you won't add her on Facebook. Okay. Okay. Talk about a meme-able interlude. Definitely. Because this one is one that I think could be taken off the album. No, it's a timeless classic.
01:01:18
Speaker
i love it i love it except me on facebook i love it yeah who is this like french guy you know it's funny people thought it was a young lien at first um it's not young lien but i think it's just some guy it's like just some guy that i mean why didn't he just accept her on facebook like that is what i that is what i
01:01:42
Speaker
was saying what did I what is okay so in my notes I said who is this just accept her on Facebook like I get it because like I do get it why is she tripping about him accepting her on Facebook but also at the same time like why why isn't he accepting her on Facebook it goes both ways but ultimately you know very 2016
01:02:05
Speaker
I think even in 2016, Facebook was like pretty dead. So I think it's just kind of funny, but I do like it. It's like a fossil, a little fossil track. Time capsule. That's what I'm trying to say. It's like a little time capsule.
01:02:19
Speaker
It shows more of Frank's indecision because we're like, what are we supposed to feel? Are we supposed to side with this guy that's telling us the story or the girl that's mad about it? But, you know, they are both being unreasonable, I guess.
01:02:42
Speaker
like a bit yeah why is she mad about it but also why isn't he just accepting her like it's like hey it's just facebook get over it but also it's like hey it's just facebook just add her as a friend right which i think just shows that these two people are meant to be together
01:02:59
Speaker
Maybe. Yeah. I mean, I mean, it is over. He said. Yeah, because that's a means like jealousy. Yeah. Jealousy for nothing. I'm in front of you every day here in your house. That's a great impression.
01:03:16
Speaker
I've been listening to this interlude for a long time. But then we get into an almost musical interlude with Close To You. It's like a little break, but it's one of my favorites off of this album because I just think it's such a good listen. I said that I don't have much to say about it and it's a type of track I don't really think twice about. So tell me about your, tell me what this track means to you.
01:03:45
Speaker
The lines that he opens it up with destroys me. He says, I'll be honest, I wasn't devastated, but you could have held my hand through this baby. Yeah. That sounds like such a you type of line. What? You don't think that's a good one? I think that's, it's good. I just, it reminds me so much of you and I can hear so much of you saying that to me. You know what I mean?
01:04:14
Speaker
Well, that's that's why it's weird to I feel very weird taking you through this album because I feel like I'm showing you my diary, you know, right? And it's very weird. I'm just trying to get all of your thoughts out of you. I'd like to keep my thoughts in me. Thank you very much.
01:04:35
Speaker
Well, this is an interpolation of a Stevie Wonder track, a live performance by Stevie Wonder using, what are those things called? Like a talk box or whatever, you know, where you put the tube in your mouth and then you play the piano. Uh-huh. I don't know what those are called.
01:04:53
Speaker
It was Stevie Wonder performing on one of those things. And this track, it samples all the music from that Stevie Wonder performance to create an instrumental for Frank to sing over. It just sounds cool. It just sounds really, really cool to me.
01:05:11
Speaker
It does. I definitely like how it sounds. I like how the track sounds. And I do like that introductory statement, the intro lyrics. I do like that and I do appreciate it. It's hard because there's so many little bits and pieces in this album that a song will pass by and I'll be like, wait, what was that song? What even was that?
01:05:34
Speaker
No, that's that's fair. And I've been listening to this album for seven years, done all the reading.
Enduring Care in 'White Ferrari'
01:05:41
Speaker
I've listened to the podcasts. I've watched the video essays, you know, I've I've been experiencing this album for a long, long time. So the little tiny things that I notice and want to point out might just be little tiny things, you know.
01:05:58
Speaker
Well, that's, that's what you're here for. And that's what I want to, I want to get out of it. All there is too, because I've, I've missed out for so long. Let's talk about what I think is the most heartbreaking song on this album. White Ferrari. Uh, a classic. Yeah. What, what, what did you think about white Ferrari?
01:06:22
Speaker
Uh, white Ferrari for sure. I have to, I don't have anything to say to listen to. I'm listening to it. Um, I wrote such a good breakup song. Very powerful. Okay. I wrote, okay. So the, the lyric, the standout lyric was I care for you still. And I will forever. That was my part of the deal. That's yeah. Yeah.
01:06:52
Speaker
Yeah, that one gets me that one. You know what? I really don't want to talk about this. You don't want to talk about this song?
01:07:00
Speaker
I mean, no, we can talk about it. It's just like, uh, it's, it's, it's a very intense, very heartbreaking song. And talk about reading my diary, man. This song is just, yeah. It's just that the way that he's like, the way that it's like spending each day of the year, whatever the melody is like that little melody is just, which is an interpolation of a here, there, and everywhere by the Beatles.
01:07:30
Speaker
Oh, that makes sense. Cool. So fun. I love talking about this. It hurts. It's like bringing up stuff that I don't want to feel right now. So that's why I'm having a hard time with this track.
01:07:49
Speaker
I hear you. Yeah. I, yeah. I said, I also send the lyric delivery at the end is so lovely. Like bony bear and it's beautiful. Like it's beautiful. Like a coddle. It's a way. What? It's beautiful. Like a coddle. It's beautiful. Like a coddle. Yeah. You know, like you're being coddled. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Um,
01:08:16
Speaker
I do like the Bon Iver style delivery, but it's I think people thought it was Bon Iver at first. I remember that because I remember thinking it was Bon Iver too.
01:08:28
Speaker
yeah i do think i think i'm just saying that like it it coddle like it suffocates you like it's coddling you it's it it just kills me i think it's just that that that that delivery is so rooted in heartbreak for me just like the the the way that it's delivered the staccato-ness of it it's like stunted
01:08:55
Speaker
you know, stifled a bit. There's like so much feeling. There's so much emotion in it. Yeah. Well, let's get into some more emotion. Siegfried. Do you like Siegfried? Well, I did not know. And when I heard it for the first time, I was like, oh, I didn't know that Frank sampled Elliot Smith.
01:09:18
Speaker
Oh yeah, yeah. Fawn Farewell for a friend. Fawn Farewell to a friend. Yeah. Yeah. It's pretty cool. Yeah, I really like that. But heartbreaking.
01:09:30
Speaker
It's funny. Well, not
Introspection in 'Siegfried'
01:09:33
Speaker
funny. I think it's so fitting for him to to sample Elliot Smith, you know, the king of sadness and an heartbreak on a breakup album. Like, I think it's just so like serendipitous. Well, it's interesting because that Elliot Smith song, isn't it about a friend that's dying of a sickness or died of a sickness?
01:10:00
Speaker
You know, that is something that I should know, but I'm not the type of Elliot Smith fan to know exactly what each song is about. I just like feel it. I remember reading somewhere that that song isn't specifically about heartbreak. So it's interesting that Frankie used it. Oh, I think it is. I think almost feelings of heartbreak. Well, I think almost everything that Elliot Smith did was just like tinged in heartbreak. Like life is heartbreak. And I think that's the point. You know what I mean?
01:10:30
Speaker
In this song, we get the first and maybe only clue that led people to theorize who the person that Frank is singing about is. The very first line, he says, the markings on your surface, your speckled face. Talking about freckles.
01:10:49
Speaker
which refers to a male model that Frank had been seen hanging out with, was seen hanging out with before this time, around this time. And we had freckles all over his face. So people theorize that it was this person. He talks about swimming pools again. He says he's not brave. He talks about a lot of things in this track. He talks about
01:11:15
Speaker
settling down. He says, um, maybe I'm a fool to settle for a place with some nice views. Maybe I should move, settle down to kids in a swimming pool. You know, he's basically just like, he, he wants what, I mean, what I think everyone wants to be happy and comfortable.
01:11:35
Speaker
He's talking about how bad he wants this. He basically said if he can't have this, he'd rather go to jail. And he's tried hell before. He's in pain and he's tired of it. He wants to settle down and be happy.
01:11:56
Speaker
I read him saying that he's not brave like I'm like interpreting it in a way that I feel it which is like like being afraid of love or like getting hurt it's like I'm not I'm not brave enough to handle that like I want to just settle down like you want the love that feels comfortable rather than the love that feels painful
01:12:20
Speaker
In the outro of the track, he says, I'd do anything for you in the dark. Yeah. And, you know, it's that's basically him going, this is our secret love kind of thing. Like people won't accept us for, you know, who we are and who we want to be to each other. Frank Ocean is a public figure.
01:12:43
Speaker
he's being a little selfish in this moment, I feel like, or there's another interpretation where the other person is telling Frank. That's how I read it. Okay. Yeah. So yeah, the other person is telling Frank, you know, that this kind of has to stay on the, on the down low. And so, but Frank is still like, I'd do anything for you. And just to add on there in the dark, of course. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's, it's heartbreaking.
01:13:13
Speaker
It is, especially with the way it just kind of repeats and fades in the outro. Yeah. It just leaves you with that, you know, intimate and going, yeah.
01:13:27
Speaker
It leads into Godspeed.
Love and Freedom in 'Godspeed'
01:13:31
Speaker
You know, I feel like the the last four tracks of this album, right, we get White Ferrari, Siegfried, Godspeed and then Future of Free. That's like an insane four song lineup, like just a gut punch after gut punch after gut punch after gut punch. It's an insane lineup. It's got to leave you crying on the kitchen floor.
01:13:54
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. I will always love you. Yeah, the penultimate track. One of the most gorgeous songs I've ever heard. I think the most gorgeous song on this album. I just think it just sounds just so sweet, heavenly, lovely.
01:14:12
Speaker
I love the organ. A big fan of organs. Yeah. You know, and this one feels almost like, um, it feels pure, I guess, in a way, like, um, like he's declaring his love, right? You know, despite him saying things like, um, I let go of my claim on you. He's almost saying it as like, uh, like he achieved something, like he's declaring it. Like I let go of my claim on you, but I still love you.
01:14:40
Speaker
and i will always love you and that's freeing you know it feels like frank ocean is freeing himself and he's accepting the love accepting the feelings that he has um i see and you know letting go but being happy with the feelings you know what i mean
01:14:55
Speaker
yeah i feel that i feel all of that for sure you know i wrote ouch song but take me to church it's just how can you not feel it with the his singing the way that he sings um and then the organ and everything that just sonically the delivery of the track is so i feel like i am in in
01:15:21
Speaker
church and it's just a track that feels bigger than you know most things it feels bigger than this is you know it's not just an album here it is like here here is my soul in a way yeah exactly and then my later comment was something i do not want to listen to um it was it was hard for me to to listen to this one
01:15:44
Speaker
Yeah, James Blake has a great cover of that song. And yeah, it's beautiful on that one, too. But it kind of sets up perfectly closing track. Future of Free, a nine minute beast.
01:16:01
Speaker
yeah my comment was this is so much what um and i can't even really remember i'm gonna be playing this as we talk i think because i don't remember it much and oh i okay to me this album is a little bit of a beast of an album it feels like such an ordeal to listen to such a like endeavor and then to end it with a nine minute and 24 second track frank you're killing me
01:16:31
Speaker
Well, and, you know, the last part of the track is just hard to hear interview clips. Really? Why don't I remember that? I know I listened to this all the way through. Yeah. How do you not remember? Did you listen to it? Like, well, I might have listened to it. I might have. You know, this feels this outro really feels like an outro.
Abstract Conclusion with 'Future Free'
01:16:55
Speaker
It's a. Yeah, I really. Consciousness.
01:16:59
Speaker
I do love you know him talking about I'm not making minimum wage you know I'm making this much money you know to play these songs they're paying me and I should be paying them and like I love that part when he says I should be paying them yeah I totally feel that it's like I would pay so much money to just like be able to do it what he does you know sometimes I feel like I'm a god but I'm not a god
01:17:25
Speaker
I'm just a guy. I'm not a God. Yeah. He's always, he's always talking about his balls. Yeah. I mean, who, I mean, yeah. Talking about your balls is cool. No, it is not. Yeah. I'm going to let my nuts hang. I love that part. Um, what does that even mean? Like, what else are you supposed to do? Not do that. There's this a few moments in this last verse. Oh, this is a good part when he says, I don't cuff bitches no more, but you're a bitch. My exception.
01:17:53
Speaker
That's fun. I like that. That one. He named drops Tyler the Creator here. Says Tyler slept on my sofa.
01:18:01
Speaker
Oh, oh, is did they? I doubt it. I doubt it. And then when the beat drops, you know, when we start getting the kicks and the snares and and he who goes this, the last song. So I'm going to wipe that off the whole outro, the whole last part of that before the interview, I think is so cool. What part is that? Oh, it's the last. It's the last verse. What is he wiping off?
01:18:31
Speaker
What do you mean, what is he wiping off? He says it's the last song, so I'm finna wipe that off. What is he wiping off? His... I don't know. Oh.
01:18:44
Speaker
Wait, so you, so you really liked that line and you don't know what he's talking about? That's where the beat changes, right? That's where the, the beat comes in. Yeah. Minaj on my birthday, tap out on the first stroke. It says Jay hit me on the email said I ought to act my net worth man.
01:19:02
Speaker
i love that that's great and then at one point he says um you can change this track now could have changed this bitch a long time ago you know he's basically telling the listener like hey you've reached the end of the album you're gonna listen to like the credits right now basically
01:19:20
Speaker
And then it fades out and we get quite a bit of silence. Then we get this loud and somewhat obnoxious interview portion. You know, we hear from the likes of, you know, his late brother, Ryan. Members of past and present members of Odd Future. Well, I guess there's no present members of Odd Future, but members of Odd Future. And it's just them talking about different themes on the album.
01:19:44
Speaker
questions are repeated it's hard to understand things answers aren't clear it's it's the meaning behind this outro here has been talked about a lot it's a definitely abstract especially in the way that it's just hard to understand what's going on but um one of the questions that's asked here is how far is a light year
01:20:06
Speaker
So this song is 9.4 minutes long, 9 minutes and 24 seconds. A light year is 9.4 times 10 to the 12th power. That's the distance that light travels in a year. That's pretty cool. So what does that mean in the grand scheme of things? Well, I mean, like I said, there's a lot that we could get into. I mean, space exploration comes up a lot in this. But why aren't you giving me the real details?
01:20:35
Speaker
So give me your final thoughts on this album, on Future Free and on the album as a whole.
01:20:42
Speaker
I really like that it kind of finishes with that interlude song. I am not a big fan of the ending track, but the album as a whole, I really respect. I really appreciate it. I see it as the start of a, you know, different sort of maybe not era of music, but era of music. It kind of changed the game.
01:21:11
Speaker
right and i really appreciate that of course but you don't think you would uh it's just come back to this album in your free time no i don't think i i would it's just not the style of music that i would listen to but i do appreciate it and i do like it there's a lot of you know tracks and elements that i like i think it's more so that i like the elements i like the details and the story
01:21:37
Speaker
Do you judge my assessment of this album being one of the greatest albums of all time? How do you feel about that assessment? I don't think it reaches that for me. I think that's a perfectly reasonable assessment of it or opinion to have. I don't think anyone's gonna fight you about it for sure. It's just for me, it doesn't get there because it doesn't push me into a place of intense passion. I relate to it and I get a lot of feeling from it.
01:22:07
Speaker
and it makes me feel things and that's what great art does. I think that that says a lot that this kind of classic album that everybody loves while it's not something that I would listen to, I feel it. I respond to it for sure. And that's how I know that it's great and that's how I know that I appreciate it and everything. I don't need to listen to it in my spare time to be a fan. I'm a fan of the record for sure.
01:22:34
Speaker
I do like it and I'm glad that I have finally listened to it. Well? Thank you for forcing me to listen to Frank Ocean's Blonde. You're welcome. And so now that I've gone, I've listened to Frank Ocean's Blonde, it's your turn. I get to torture you with my music. I'm excited. I feel a little bit bad. Why? Because of the album that I'm giving you. Why would you feel bad?
01:23:03
Speaker
Okay. The album. Oh man. I'm worried that you've listened to it. Like really listen to it. I doubt it. I doubt it. Okay. The album that I have for you is, where's my drum roll? I don't hear anything. You should listen to depression cherry by beach house. Okay.
01:23:32
Speaker
I'm in. I was just listening to Space Song earlier. But that's the song that everyone knows. That's the song that everybody knows. And that's about all I know. That's about all that I know from the album and what you've shown me. So yeah, I'm excited. I'm really excited. I'll be here for you if you need a shoulder to cry on.
01:24:01
Speaker
A huge thank you to Jacob Dotson for the music in this episode, and another huge thank you to anyone out there that might be listening. See you next week.