The Wait Is Over….

Finally, it’s here. The enigmatic artist Frank Ocean has finally released his follow-up project to his 2012 album, Channel Orange. Officially called Blonde, the album puts an end to years of anticipation and teasing from the artist himself. Following on from the frenzy caused by his live stream ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ which resulted in a visual EP called Endless, there are no more questions to be answered or are there?

frank-ocean-new-album-1

It appears that the album comes out in two parts. Last year, Frank hinted at “two versions” of his Boys Don’t Cry, also repeating the line in his song, “Nikes,” which dropped earlier today. Some visitors to the pop-up stores got their hands on a physical copy of the album, sharing the images via social media. The internet soon noticed that the track listing differed from the online to the physical copy.


Both lists are almost identical while “Mitsubishi Sony” and “Easy” are exclusive to the physical version. “Facebook Story,” as well as others are exclusive to the online. View both versions below.

Online Blond Tracklisting

1. Nikes
2. Ivy
3. Pink + White
4. Be Yourself
5. Solo
6. Skyline To
7. Self Control
8. Good Guy
9. Nights
10. Solo (Reprise)
11. Pretty Sweet
12. Facebook Story
13. Close to You
14. White Ferrari
15. Seigfried
16. Godspeed
17. Futura Free

Physical Blond Tracklisting

1. Pretty Sweet
2. Mitsubishi Sony
3. Ivy
4. Pink & White
5. Solo
6. Easy
7. Skyline To
8. Night.s
9. White Ferrari
10. Seigfried
11. Godspeed
12. Futura Free

The album is unexpectedly low-key, with many quiet tracks and ballads and not filled with radio friendly sing-a-long songs that characterised Channel Orange. What is also impressive about the album is the list of contributors on the album. The album credits David Bowie, Kanye West, Jamie xx, Kendrick Lamar, Beyoncé, the Beatles, Andre 3000, Brian Eno, Pharrell, Elliott Smith, as well as Endless contributors Jazmine Sullivan, Arca, James Blake, Michael Uzowuru, and Om’Mas Keith. It remains to be seen which artists contributed to which songs, and which artists’ work was sampled for the album. What is without a doubt one of the moments of the album is Andre 3000’s appearance on track 5 Solo (Reprise), it does nothing more than adding to the frustration he hasn’t released a solo project.

The album is available on Apple Music as well as exclusive visuals to the first track on the album Nikes
 

 

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