album analysis

table of contents
Album information Page iii
Commercial and creative analysis Page v
Content analysis Page vi

covers

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 album information
The title of the album I have chosen is ‘blond’ or ‘blonde’. On the cover of the album it says ‘blond’, while sites
like Spotify and iTunes refer to the album as ‘blonde’. This ambiguity is intentional. The artist, Frank Ocean,
has used both names as well. It is not a mistake from his label or anything like that, the album actually has
two different names. In the music video for ‘Nikes’, the first song on the album, Frank Ocean says: ‘I have two
versions’. It is unclear if this is a reference to the name, Ocean
never made this clear to the public. It could also be a reference
to his sexuality, because Frank Ocean is bisexual. The different
names of the album could also refer to this (blond for masculinity,
blonde is femininity). The release date was August 20, 2016.

As said in the previous paragraph the artist is Frank Ocean,

born as Christopher Breaux. A magazine made by him contained
a contributors list, but this was in fact not the list with all the
contributors. Frank Ocean did the production for almost every
song, although several people helped him: Malay Ho, Om’Mas
Keith, Rostam Batmanglij, Pharrell Williams, James Blake, Jon
Brion, Buddy Ross, Joe Thornalley, Michael Uzowuru, and Francis
Starlite. Frank Ocean used many samples for ‘blond’ in fact, he
used songs by ‘the 1968’, Todd Rundgren, ‘the Beatles’, Elliot
Smith, Buddy Ross, and ‘Gang of Four’. Besides these people
Ocean used many songwriters as well, below is a list of the
songwriter credits per song.

‘blond’ was released by Ocean’s own label; ‘Boys Don’t Cry’. At first Frank Ocean was under contract at Def Jam,
but he decided to leave them and start his own label. The album was recorded in two studios, the Abbey Road
Studios in London and the Electric Lady Studios in New York City. It took three years to record the songs, but
the album was eventually released on August 20, 2016. A day before the release of ‘blond’ Ocean published a
different album called ‘Endless’. ‘Endless’ is a visual album of around 45 minutes, used by Frank Ocean to fulfill
his recording contract at Def Jam so he could release ‘blond’ under his own label. The art designers for ‘blonde’
are Thomas Mastorakos and Michael Egger. The picture on the cover is made by Wolfgang Tillmans.

Together with the release of the album Frank Ocean opened

four pop-up stores in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, and
London. In these shops his fans could get his magazine,
called Boys Don’t Cry. This magazine was free and contained
the album on CD, with three different covers for ‘blond’. The
physical and digital version of the album are a tad different,
because the physical version had an extended version of
‘Nikes’, the lead single. The extended version features the
Japanese rapper KOHH.

On ‘blonde’ many artists collaborated with Frank Ocean, so

I decided the pick the most famous musicians on the album:
Andre 3000, the Beatles, Beyoncé, David Bowie, James
Blake, Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar, Pharrell Williams, Tyler,
the Creator, and Yung Lean. To conclude, Frank Ocean was
helped by many fellow artists to produce ‘blond’. On the
next page you can find the full list of credited song writers,
divided per song.

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 1. Nikes 9. Nights
Frank Ocean Frank Ocean
Om’Mas Keith Om’Mas Keith
Carl Palmer Buddy Ross
Harry Palmer Michael Uzowuru
Jeff Palmer Vegyn

10. Solo (Reprise)

Andre 3000
2. Ivy 11. Pretty Sweet
Frank Ocean
Frank Ocean
Rostam Batmanglij
Om’Mas Keith
Om’Mas Keith
Jamie xx 12. Facebook Story
SebastiAn
Buddy Ross

3. Pink+White 13. Close to you

Frank Ocean No listed songwriters.
Om’Mas Keith
Tyler, the Creator
14. Pretty Sweet
Pharrell Williams Frank Ocean
Om’Mas Keith
4. Be Yourself James Blake
Frank Ocean John Lennon
Om’Mas Keith Paul McCartney

15. Seigfried
5. Solo Om’Mas Keith
Frank Ocean
Frank Ocean George Harrison
Jon King
Mikey Alfred Om’Mas Keith
88-Keys
Dave Allen John Lennon
Todd Rundgren
Hugo Burnham Paul McCartney
Rho Spearman
Sage Elsesser Elliott Smith
Ringo Starr

6. Skyline To 16. Godspeed

Frank Ocean Frank Ocean
Om’Mas Keith Kim Burrell
Tyler, the Creator Om’Mas Keith
Kendrick Lamar Elliott Smith

17. Futura Free

Frank Ocean
7. Self Control Mikey Alfred
No listed songwriters. Dave Allen
Hugo Burnham
8. Good Guy Sage Elsesser
No listed songwriters. Andy Gill
Om’Mas Keith
Jon King

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 commercial and
creative analysis
Buying ‘blond’ on Amazon Music will cost you $9.49 and $9.99 on iTunes, but it was also possible to buy the album on
vinyl or CD during Black Friday. You could have bought the vinyl for $35 and the CD for $15. The physical distribution
was done by XL Recordings. Because it was possible to buy the physical copies for only hour, they turned into grails for
some people. Vinyls sold online often go for over 300
dollar at this moment in time. It is clear that Ocean
barely sold his album. He did not distribute it on many
channels, at first even only on Apple Music and iTunes.

The hype for the new album was at the start very high.
Frank Ocean had not released an album in over 3 years,
so fans could not wait to get their hands on ‘blonde’.
Normally artists will promote their work on social
media, but Ocean barely does this. He uses Tumblr and
that is it. He likes to be different and try things fellow
musicians do not do. Therefore he started the pop-up
stores in the United States and the United Kingdom.
It was about promoting the album, but also about
giving back to his fans. Therefore he gave the album
to the visitors for free, together with the magazine.
On November 25, 2016, (Black Friday) Frank Ocean
sold the physical copies on his website. This was three
months after the release of ‘blond’. The hyped had died
down a bit, so this attracted that hype again. Ocean
does have a fanbase that will never leave him or his
music, they basically adore him. They all wanted to buy the vinyl and CD, so at Black Friday the hype fully returned.

In the very first week after the release ‘blonde’ debuted at number one of Billboard 200 and it recorded 276,000 album-
equivalent units. 232 thousand of that number were album purchases. It was streamed 65,4 million times, second behind
‘Views’ by Drake. Forbes estimated that Frank Ocean earned one million dollar in profits after one week. Nielsen Music
calculated that ‘blond’ was streamed 404 million times in the US until February 9, 2017. At that moment the album had
earned 620,000 album-equivalent units. I would say that the album was a success, but this also the fan in me speaking. I
love Frank Ocean and his music, especially ‘blond’, therefore I would always say that the album was successful.
The main reason for this success is the years-long wait of Ocean’s fans.
His last album, ‘channel ORANGE’, was released in 2012 and four years
without new music of him was long, very long. Whatever Frank Ocean
would have released, his fans would have bought it. They love him
and will never leave his side, Frank Ocean has even referred to them
in his song ‘Chanel’. He sang; “It’s a cult, not a clique”, referring to the
subreddit dedicated to Ocean himself.

It probably cost around $100.000 to record the album, maybe way

more or way less, but for the commercial feasibility I will use that
number. In the first week alone Ocean earned around one million
dollar, so you can instantly see why a recording company would want
to sign him. It is difficult to actually find out what the feasibility is,
because the required facts are often not published. I do not think Frank
Ocean will ever sign to a label, because of his struggles in the past with
Def Jam.

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 content analysis
The genre of ‘blonde’ is mainy R&B, although it also fits in other genres. The album has some influences of avant-
garde, soul, and psychedelic pop as well. R&B is known for its combination of hip hop, pop, jazz, soul, funk, dance, and
rhythm & blues. RnB songs are often backed by drums and occassionaly a saxophone as well. Avant-garde is known for
experimenting and innovating, musicians in this genre reject the
status quo. Soul music combines elements of gospel, rhythms &
blues, and jazz. It is originated in the United States and arose out
of the black experience. Psychedelic pop includes trippy effects
and is usually blended with pop.

To me ‘blond’ sounds like a story, the life story of Frank Ocean. It

is about love, about loss, about hurt, about pain, about troubles,
about happiness. It basically tells everything that can happen in a
life, you can relate to the lyrics. Every song sounds different and
makes you feel some way. Some songs are to cry to, others make
you think, and others make you smile. The album is also a bit
about discrimination, although it is quite nuanced. In Nikes Ocean
sings “RIP Trayvon, that n*gga looked just like me”, referring
to Trayvon Martin. Martin was shot dead by police in 2012, he
had some facial similarities to Frank Ocean which explains the
songwriting. Ocean opens the song Self Control with “I’ll be the
boyfriend in your wet dreams tonight”, referring to his sexuality.
On previous songs, like Bad Religion, his bisexuality showed way
more but this is not the case on ‘blonde’. I also think that ‘blonde’ is about the road to being an adult, especially the
difficulty of leaving your youth. This theme comes back on several songs, like on Ivy. Ocean sings “You ain’t a kid no
more, we’ll never be those kids again”. This is probably about someone loved by Frank Ocean while they were younger, no
that they are older they have grown apart.

What I really like about ‘blond’ is the simplicity of it. Most songs do not have a beat, just a piano, guitar, or anything
similar. It gives Frank Ocean room to sing and constantly change his volume, sound, and style. Another thing I like is the
collaborations of Ocean with other artists, although you can barely hear them. An example is Beyoncé. She is credited
for Pink + White, but if you did not know this you had no idea she sings on it.
She in fact sings the outro, but her voice is barely traceable. Yung Lean is another
great example. The vocals of the Swedish singer are used on Self Control, but it is
basically unnoticable.

The target group of ‘blonde’ is aged between 18 and 30 years old. The group
consists of both genders and all sexualities, although his fan base is mostly
bisexual or gay. This is typical for Frank Ocean. He himself just turned 30 years
old and is bisexual, so he fits into the target group as well. The album is made
between 2013 and 2016, but in my opinion it is timeless. The album is for many
people really important, because it helped them to be themselves and be open
to others about that. I am not just talking about sexuality, I am talking about
everything a person is and can be.

I love this album because of that. It helped me to be myself and not give a f*ck
about what someone else thinks of me. I am not gay or bisexual, I am straight, but
‘blond’ still helped me. For some reason it fits my life so good, but I cannot really
explain why. Of course there are some lyrics I relate to, but all the songs relate to
me and I do not know why. I like ‘blonde’ as well because of the emotions it gives
me. When I listen to Ivy I feel sad and heartbroken, but when I listen to Pink +
White I feel love. Most songs are focused on love, especially the pain of losing love.

Frank Ocean is a vague human being, just like ‘blonde’ is a vague album. Sometimes it almost seems like they could not
finish every song and it sounds a bit amateuristic, but it fits the album and artist perfectly. Frank Ocean has always
intrigued me and will always intrigue me.

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