Now, in a race to get more subscribers for their streaming services, the biggest company in the world and one run by an artist have positioned themselves as a friendly alternative for musicians. The relationship between an artist and a music label has been a notoriously fraught one, but until recently, there was nowhere an artist could run to when they tired of their label besides the next label down the street. After satisfying his Def Jam deal with the release of Endless, Ocean released Blonde independently in a move that marks the first shot in an inevitable fight between music labels and streaming services. 1.The release of Blonde marked much more than Frank Ocean’s musical return after four years away.
Meanwhile, subtle vocal flourishes, like the way Frank’s voice cracks during the chorus, and the way he drags out the pronunciation of his words on the bridge, serve to make the song so catchy that it takes up rent-free real estate in your brain for days on end whenever you hear it. Lyrics like “ I rubber-band a bunch of thousand-dollar Delta gift cards” and “ Revenge in the air make my lungs sick” display an unexpected bravado that is impossible not to affect. Listening to this song, it’s abundantly clear that Frank is far less interested in being a revolutionary figure than he is in flexing, which, to his credit, he does really well here. Yet, to anoint Frank as some sort of activist for simply singing about his life would be to miss the point a little. It’s not particularly groundbreaking to write about how this song is an anthem of sexual fluidity, but there is something undeniably inspiring about attending a Frank Ocean concert, as I did a year ago, and looking out over a crowd of thousands of people triumphantly shouting the lyrics “ My guy pretty like a girl“ regardless of their sexual identities. Even the lyrics, which are difficult to decode on first listen, slowly unravel themselves after a few listens, offering lines like “This thing won’t last unless we’re both lying” as incredible reminders of how effectively Frank is able to convey his emotions in so few words. Similarly, the percussion, which seems erroneously sparse on first listen, is gradually added to the song one layer at a time, creating a gratifying payoff when the first snare finally arrives at the 2:33-mark. As soon as the track reaches its first chorus, Frank’s vocals are finally allowed to emerge from under the weight of this suffocation, giving way to a satisfying catharsis. Take, for example, the exorbitant reverb that envelops Frank’s voice at the beginning of the song. Rather than a passive listen, “Lens” is a song that sucks you into its orbit, rewarding those who pay attention with gems.
Perhaps the least immediately accessible of Frank’s 2017 releases, it took me a few listens to truly appreciate the subtleties that make this song so great. Additionally, N.E.R.D’s song “Don’t Don’t Do It!” was excluded from this list, even though Frank wrote its intro, as it seemed unfair to rank this leaked reference track alongside other officially sanctioned releases.