innuendo

2mo

Good to see you around Mayday!

Hope you drop in for this retrospective + share whatever

Also: Frank in winged-tipped eyeliner in-front of these: INSTANTLY ICONIC

mayday

2mo

Thank you! I’ll share when I can for sure :)

Separate from the music itself, the interregnum between Channel Orange and Blonde remains one of the most fascinating dead-air stretches in modern music. I’m often reminded of the cryptic breadcrumbs, and lore that much of the newer fanbase will never fully inherit. You can comb through archived articles or disappear into Reddit threads, but so much of that era survives only in half-remembered anecdotes and forum mythology, preserved by a handful of us who refreshed Tumblr dashboards, Twitter and KTT daily.

There are countless stories from that era that exist largely outside the searchable internet. Much of what defined that period lives in the collective memory of the people who followed it in real time: how his Pemberton performance was obsessed over because of that line on “Hero,” his dinner with Chassol in Paris, the now-lost Arena Homme+ cover story, or the hashtag change on the original Boys Don’t Cry announcement.

There’s dozens more of these little stories and trivia that I could conjure up but I just wanted to thank any of the OGs that are still around here for keeping the thread alive and continuing to be apart of a very small % of a much bigger community.

On another note, they’re editing the reshoots that took place last year and if you look at any past album release, he’s always wanted to “win” before he dropped ☺️.

innuendo

2mo

Let's get into mannnn

Where to even begin. Absolutely an epoch and a cornerstone of music in the 21st century, one of the "must-listens" for anyone venturing in what music has been about the last 2 and half decades. Following up a debut as strong as Channel Orange seemed almost impossible and the wait between that and his re-emergence mounted on the pressure and most importantly expectation of Blonde (and Endless). Expectation is so key here because even hovering around the OF crew + CO + a few tours there were still so many blanks left to be filled by fans.

"We'll let you guys prophesize, we gone see the future first..."

2 albums, 2+ hours of incredible music and a magazine that details fragments of the laborious effort that was/still is Endless / Blonde / BDC .

Blonde is incredibly interior, circumscribed but not insular. One of the most clarifying a***ogies I've tried using to describe Blonde's universality is that it is almost like the musical equivalent of staring into a mirror from the point of view of another mirror. You, the listener, the observer, the first mirror, can construct an image through the second mirror, the album, which reflects back an endless set of realities with layers of meaning and significance. From your POV you can pluck perspectives and intentions at one glance and from a shift in your perspective see the entire thing in a different way. I've found this personally true as I've lived and grown with this album over the last 10 years; this thing has morphed a lot for me since. Between the first track and the last track Blonde can appeal to the common listener, definitely at least one line or verse of absolute truth for everyone. The writing on here is unreal man. Not prescriptive whatsoever, free flowing nonconformist. I'm always reminded of one of his more memorable quote from an interview with the BBC at the time of NU where he says melody is easy, lyrics are not or something like that. Its tempting to describe this as autofiction; for sure is autobiographical no doubt about that. But some songs remove rather than add detail in typical autofiction fashion. Generalization, addition in some parts, subtraction (unintentional ambiguity) in other parts but the whole thing is still entirely Frank. More of a focus on emotions over fact. Anyways point is the writing is so simple but on second inspection it's actually incredibly complex which is hallmark of any high order writing achievement especially for something where he is trying to tell us about himself + how he felt at a point in time. The Gay Times interview where he got asked about Good Guy and the actual bar he was talking about in the song is a really good example of going from macro to micro. But also explicit moments like back half of Nights were it could only have been lived by Frank and the conversely again on White Ferrari w the generalization of a trip on an unnamed road to a general destination with tensions on highwire. IMO Seigfried is one of the absolute highest highs of this album writing wise and also the example of what I'm trying to get at; moves btwn biographical material -> social biography and back again throughout, very impressive track. It took me probably the longest of all the tracks to "get". Also think it's interesting writing something as memoiristic as this in your 20s, very young lol.

"In the dark...!"

Jazmine Sullivan (!!!), Amber Coffman, Kohh, Jon Brion (!), Alex G, Yung Lean, Buddy Ross, Chassol, Vegyn, Beyonce, Arca, so many others. The samples and influences for this album is its own separate discussion imo. Interpolations of lines with great weight + depth they feel like full standalone covers.

This is not my life
It's just a fond farewell to a friend
It's just a fond farewell to a friend....

Been alluded to by so many of above collaborators + more through accounts of his time in the studio but Frank Ocean is an artist in the purest sense. Through his music there is a relentless obsessive determination to transcribe feeling which is evident from what he delivered with Endless / Blonde. Everything executed on the album has been mapped out billions of times over (split of the 17 tracks exactly down the middle of Blonde with the "crash" halfway through Nights is the most quantifiable evidence of this besides the time btwn releases. If I had to guess I feel like the writing comes quick for him its the reflecting that erodes the time in studio sessions and time in-between releases. NYTs profile for the release where he said he had 50 versions of White Ferrari and found no peace in any of them at the time (crine) for example. Appreciate his self awareness of his process as well.

"I was in all them hours in it 10K, tokin' mid strokes..."

Showered this with so many superlatives loool but this is one of the best ever imo imo imo

"You could change this track now, could've changed this b**** a long time ago"

Also: think the Tillmans portrait for the cover is like one of the portrait of the last 10 years in pop culture can't think of many other stronger image

mayday

2mo

Thank you! I’ll share when I can for sure :)

Separate from the music itself, the interregnum between Channel Orange and Blonde remains one of the most fascinating dead-air stretches in modern music. I’m often reminded of the cryptic breadcrumbs, and lore that much of the newer fanbase will never fully inherit. You can comb through archived articles or disappear into Reddit threads, but so much of that era survives only in half-remembered anecdotes and forum mythology, preserved by a handful of us who refreshed Tumblr dashboards, Twitter and KTT daily.

There are countless stories from that era that exist largely outside the searchable internet. Much of what defined that period lives in the collective memory of the people who followed it in real time: how his Pemberton performance was obsessed over because of that line on “Hero,” his dinner with Chassol in Paris, the now-lost Arena Homme+ cover story, or the hashtag change on the original Boys Don’t Cry announcement.

There’s dozens more of these little stories and trivia that I could conjure up but I just wanted to thank any of the OGs that are still around here for keeping the thread alive and continuing to be apart of a very small % of a much bigger community.

On another note, they’re editing the reshoots that took place last year and if you look at any past album release, he’s always wanted to “win” before he dropped ☺️.

mayday

2mo

Thank you! I’ll share when I can for sure :)

Separate from the music itself, the interregnum between Channel Orange and Blonde remains one of the most fascinating dead-air stretches in modern music. I’m often reminded of the cryptic breadcrumbs, and lore that much of the newer fanbase will never fully inherit. You can comb through archived articles or disappear into Reddit threads, but so much of that era survives only in half-remembered anecdotes and forum mythology, preserved by a handful of us who refreshed Tumblr dashboards, Twitter and KTT daily.

There are countless stories from that era that exist largely outside the searchable internet. Much of what defined that period lives in the collective memory of the people who followed it in real time: how his Pemberton performance was obsessed over because of that line on “Hero,” his dinner with Chassol in Paris, the now-lost Arena Homme+ cover story, or the hashtag change on the original Boys Don’t Cry announcement.

There’s dozens more of these little stories and trivia that I could conjure up but I just wanted to thank any of the OGs that are still around here for keeping the thread alive and continuing to be apart of a very small % of a much bigger community.

On another note, they’re editing the reshoots that took place last year and if you look at any past album release, he’s always wanted to “win” before he dropped ☺️.

x3c

2mo

atrak white ferrari tweet

mayday

2mo

Thank you! I’ll share when I can for sure :)

Separate from the music itself, the interregnum between Channel Orange and Blonde remains one of the most fascinating dead-air stretches in modern music. I’m often reminded of the cryptic breadcrumbs, and lore that much of the newer fanbase will never fully inherit. You can comb through archived articles or disappear into Reddit threads, but so much of that era survives only in half-remembered anecdotes and forum mythology, preserved by a handful of us who refreshed Tumblr dashboards, Twitter and KTT daily.

There are countless stories from that era that exist largely outside the searchable internet. Much of what defined that period lives in the collective memory of the people who followed it in real time: how his Pemberton performance was obsessed over because of that line on “Hero,” his dinner with Chassol in Paris, the now-lost Arena Homme+ cover story, or the hashtag change on the original Boys Don’t Cry announcement.

There’s dozens more of these little stories and trivia that I could conjure up but I just wanted to thank any of the OGs that are still around here for keeping the thread alive and continuing to be apart of a very small % of a much bigger community.

On another note, they’re editing the reshoots that took place last year and if you look at any past album release, he’s always wanted to “win” before he dropped ☺️.

JollofRaids

2mo

would love some new frank

vingu

2mo

yo what was the best quality this was ever released in? that vimeo 1080p link right?

innuendo

2mo

Think 1080p. I know if you subscribe to Vimeo you get access to higher quality but I think the max quality for that video there is 1080p.Think AM is the same.

There's a 3rd version of Nikes that was found a few years ago posted by the video's editor (https://adambiskupski.com/NIKES-Frank-Ocean). Seems like a late late iteration of the song that he accidentally posted and cut the music video to.

The outro on that was different, think certain cuts in the music video were different too.

It's now gone wonder if anyone out there downloaded it

I got three versions....

mayday

2mo

Thank you! I’ll share when I can for sure :)

Separate from the music itself, the interregnum between Channel Orange and Blonde remains one of the most fascinating dead-air stretches in modern music. I’m often reminded of the cryptic breadcrumbs, and lore that much of the newer fanbase will never fully inherit. You can comb through archived articles or disappear into Reddit threads, but so much of that era survives only in half-remembered anecdotes and forum mythology, preserved by a handful of us who refreshed Tumblr dashboards, Twitter and KTT daily.

There are countless stories from that era that exist largely outside the searchable internet. Much of what defined that period lives in the collective memory of the people who followed it in real time: how his Pemberton performance was obsessed over because of that line on “Hero,” his dinner with Chassol in Paris, the now-lost Arena Homme+ cover story, or the hashtag change on the original Boys Don’t Cry announcement.

There’s dozens more of these little stories and trivia that I could conjure up but I just wanted to thank any of the OGs that are still around here for keeping the thread alive and continuing to be apart of a very small % of a much bigger community.

On another note, they’re editing the reshoots that took place last year and if you look at any past album release, he’s always wanted to “win” before he dropped ☺️.

Perfume_idiot_

2mo

I know this is intentionally vague but I’m very curious who he has to “win” against and what winning looks like. While the movie industry definitely has its flaws, this seems like a mostly independently funded venture by a superstar. You’d think he’d be the one setting the terms for the most part

innuendo

2mo

sorry misremembering, that found version was posted by the cinematographer Andre Chemetoff

and it's still up : https://www.andrechemetoff.tv/films/category/music-videos#franks-ocean

innuendo

2mo

sorry misremembering, that found version was posted by the cinematographer Andre Chemetoff

and it's still up : https://www.andrechemetoff.tv/films/category/music-videos#franks-ocean

mayday

2mo

Thank you! I’ll share when I can for sure :)

Separate from the music itself, the interregnum between Channel Orange and Blonde remains one of the most fascinating dead-air stretches in modern music. I’m often reminded of the cryptic breadcrumbs, and lore that much of the newer fanbase will never fully inherit. You can comb through archived articles or disappear into Reddit threads, but so much of that era survives only in half-remembered anecdotes and forum mythology, preserved by a handful of us who refreshed Tumblr dashboards, Twitter and KTT daily.

There are countless stories from that era that exist largely outside the searchable internet. Much of what defined that period lives in the collective memory of the people who followed it in real time: how his Pemberton performance was obsessed over because of that line on “Hero,” his dinner with Chassol in Paris, the now-lost Arena Homme+ cover story, or the hashtag change on the original Boys Don’t Cry announcement.

There’s dozens more of these little stories and trivia that I could conjure up but I just wanted to thank any of the OGs that are still around here for keeping the thread alive and continuing to be apart of a very small % of a much bigger community.

On another note, they’re editing the reshoots that took place last year and if you look at any past album release, he’s always wanted to “win” before he dropped ☺️.

x3c

2mo

atrak white ferrari tweet