‘By this point, it’s obvious Endless and Blonde are the swan song for Frank’s career. There will not be a next album.‘
-Alex Eubanks
Release date: August 19 + 20, 2016 | Def Jam / Independent | Facebook | Instagram
Hey y’all, David again. It’s been a long-standing meme for Frank Ocean fans to lament about the lack of a new album from him. It’s been ten years, I think it’s safe to say there’s a non-zero, but very, very low chance of it happening at this point. But this isn’t about what could have been, it’s about what was, and Frank Ocean was one of the best, most salient, and impressive names and voices in modern R&B. We’ve talked about channel ORANGE at length, now let’s jump into Endless/Blonde, the second half of his now incredibly elusive career (no disrespect to nostalgia, ULTRA, that’s a great one too).
Alex Eubanks
I’ve been racking my brain trying to come up with something in 2026 that could match the hype that accumulated for Frank Ocean’s second album, and I simply cannot come up with anything besides a possible fourth Frank Ocean album. Kendrick Lamar has the gravitas, but not the reach. The blonde woman has the reach, but half of it is hate listeners. The trio of Billie Eilish, Sabrina Carpenter, and Olivia Rodrigo are too normal. I’m just not sure if we have the capacity for this type of build up anymore. Celebrities come and go quickly, people have so much to pay attention to that things are often out of sight out of mind. Frank is one of the last artists to be able to elevate themselves to that level and it may be a while before anyone follows after him.
This is a hilarious thing to say now, but prior to the rollout Frank had been on a prolonged hiatus of… four years. It’s been five since his last (maybe both meanings) appearance on a track, and that was just him mumbling at the close of a song on Call Me If You Get Lost. Unlike the current drought, Frank had maintained his status as a major musician by regularly appearing on tracks with his fellow Odd Future members Tyler, the Creator and Earl Sweatshirt, big name artists like Jay-Z and Kanye West, and had been giving regular updates for his Channel Orange follow-up. They almost never went anywhere, but he at least tried. After a number of misses on a date, August 2016 rolled around, this time with a full marketing blitz behind it that made it clear that this would be the one – starting with a days long livestream of Frank woodworking.
Frank’s relationship with his label Def Jam had been rocky after a poor handling of his breakout mixtape, Nostalgia, Ultra (that they only retroactively acknowledged) and the long period between projects was in part because of long negotiations between the two over his masters and future deals. In comes Apple, who was willing to essentially act as a sponsor for the album (this was a thing they did in the early Apple Music days. They’d do it again with Chance the Rapper’s Coloring Book, and previously that one U2 album they got a lot of shit for putting on everyone’s phone.) to help pay to get him out of his deal, and in a way that fucked over Def Jam as much as possible. On August 19, Frank had finally dropped his second album Endless, and a day later his third album Blonde as an independent artist.
Endless has been dismissed by some for the gimmicky nature of it, which is partially fair, it was released to get out of a contract, most of the best material was saved for the big album, and it’s visual nature has never allowed it a full release, but that would require you to ignore how captivating the majority of Endless is.
It starts off with an excellent cover of “(At Your Best) You Are Love” that Frank had previously released as a tribute to Aaliyah, who had also done a cover of the track. “Slide on Me” is influenced by that blended emo trap era of the mid 2010s, so much so Frank would eventually release a remix with Young Thug a year later. Stylistically, it’s the most like a Blonde b-side, but that does not make “Wither” a bad track at all, Frank sounds incredible as he rides the simple strings.
Part of the free-flowing nature of Endless is established by the plethora of quick tracks that help keep the vibes going and the album flowing, which plays to one of Frank’s strengths as a writer – incredible melodies. “Comme des Garçons” is one of the best instances of this, just a quick, addicting verse over a smooth-ass beat, then you’re on to the next. The concept of “Alabama” is much more fully flushed out, and the story from his time as a child gives the track a good grounding, to pair with the excellent vocals from the combo of Frank, Sampha, and Jazmine Sullivan. Its following track “Mine” is equally gripping for the more jarring and abstract production from Arca.
The second best song (we’ll get to the best later) of the Endless/Blonde combo comes from Endless, which by itself makes this a vital listen considering the high mark that requires. You may not know the name, but you know exactly which song I’m talking about and its timestamp, don’t you?
‘Twin peaking, highs and lows
We shaded off and on
(Up on his feet)
Bygones, but we’re still here
Riding in my two wheels
I love the way you make me feel’
Go to that 27-minute mark like you’ve done countless times and let the waves take you away for three minutes. “Rushes” is one of the best tracks of the past decade, it’s the payoff and justification for the entire structure of Endless. The minimalist, and freeflowing harmony of the project that had pulled you in and kept you invested, are tossed away for one moment to ratchet the scale to the max. The chords sound divine, Frank’s voice is so enveloping, and it’s some of the best writing he’s ever done.
As a bit of a table-setter, Endless has some flaws that the main course of Blonde does not. If you look at the official track listing, there are seven tracks that last longer than 150 seconds out of 22, one of which is a seven minute Apple commercial. Those seven tracks are fucking incredible, and the rest is a smooth and delightful time (as long as you skip the commercial) and it’s far more rewarding than just any old throwaway.
However, Blonde is the prize for a reason. Some of the songs I’ve come back to the most out of the 2010s are from Blonde, and cumulatively it’s one of my favorite listening experiences I’ve ever heard.
As much as I love “Nikes”, it’s generally one of the most consistent sticking points for the few people that are low on Blonde, so getting the album rolling with the combo of “Ivy” and “Pink + White” was a great way to get people back by showing the varied style Frank could bring to the table. The more familiar “Pink + White” has some nice production from Pharrell Williams using some of his familiar drum style, a solid performance from Frank, a Beyoncé assist, and the result is the only real R&B track on the album. “Ivy” is a bit more of a new style for Frank, with a shift towards a bit more of an indie rock sound in the same vein as Vampire Weekend. Having Rostam’s excellent production work helps elevate the track, but Frank’s vocals are so much better than anything he’s worked with in the past. It’s a lost cause now but I’d have loved to hear more of this sort of style from Frank. You can tell as the track gets low on the bridge he’s got a good ear for this stuff.
There’s so many hits on Blonde. “Solo” is one of the most addictive tracks you’ll ever hear. The smoked-out, depressive emptiness is contrasted perfectly with the angelic style of Frank’s vocals on the track. It’s insane that “Nights” is only like the fourth or fifth best song on the album to me, it’s just such a deep crop of songs. I’m a bit partial to the first half of the track; the winding narrative of both a bad relationship and a terrible job makes for a great listen, and helps frame the second half’s bleaker subject matter of Frank’s life post-Katrina. Both are exceptional. ‘Did you call me from a séance?’
I think I’ll always be drawn to “Self Control” as my personal favorite, it’s certainly the one I’ve returned to the most. Like most of the best tracks on Blonde, it starts shockingly bare-bones with almost nothing besides Frank and some simple guitar playing, and the steady stacking of new elements is magnificent. Austin Feinstein’s version of the second hook is also divine, I love the choice to swap out Frank for that one brief second. It only helps add to the doomed longing that Frank carries with him throughout the track sticks with you long after the song ends – as does that incredible outro. I love this song so much. ‘Keep a place for me, I’ll sleep between y’all it’s nothing.’
There’s an army of big name contributors that helped add bits and pieces to Blonde, it’d take forever to name them all, so I’ll just run through some of my favorites. Naturally, André 3000’s verse on “Solo (Reprise)” is incredible, and one of the highlights of the album. It’s a little over a minute dedicated to letting André vent, and Jon Brion and James Blake killed the production. Each of them are vital to some of the album’s best tracks like “Solo”, “Self Control”, and “White Ferrari”.
Speaking of “White Ferrari”, here are some of the credited artists involved: Frank Ocean, Brion, Alex G, Kanye West, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, plus James Blake and Justin Vernon provide vocals. It’s insane, especially for the gorgeous simplicity of the track; the slow guitar playing throughout is magnificent. “White Ferrari” is the best moment for Frank as a performer on Blonde, it’s just all on him to captivate you. No hook, just three verses, and maybe the best bridge I’ve ever heard. God, verse three is incredible.
Similarly to Channel Orange and Endless, although Endless goes overboard on this, Frank is incredible at filling albums with incredibly freeflowing melodic interludes. “Close to You” is gorgeous, and combined with “Facebook Story” sets up the more sentimental back half of the album perfectly. It was nice to hear from Frank’s ‘aunt’ again on “Be Yourself”. ‘Sluggish, lazy, stupid, and unconcerned.’
Blonde comes to just as strong a close as it did a start. The trippy and incredibly introspective “Seigfried” is another testament to Frank’s skill as a writer. It’s some of his more open writing about his sexuality and he challenges both the traditional rightwing bigotry as well as his discomfort with the pedestal some have placed him on for being openly queer. “Godspeed” is so sentimental and heartfelt, it’s even able to make the small Yung Lean appearance feel worthwhile. I love the gospel aspects to the song as well, it really helps enhance the track.
Frank is even able to pull off some things that 99 times out of 100 I hate on Blonde. I hate that stupid chipmunk vocal effect. For some reason the first half of “Nikes” just works for me. I’m okay with the way Frank deploys it over the wavy beat, mellow drums, and his real voice as background vocals to help set the drugged-out club vibe. It helps that even if you weren’t, Frank absolutely destroys it when he comes in for real. ‘You got a roommate, he’ll hear what we do/It’s only awkward if you’re fuckin’ him too.’ It’s a less offensive chipmonking, but I love “Futura Free” as well. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard someone take this hard of a victory lap mid-album – normally people wait till a remix or something, but he knew what he had. Frank celebrates his growth from Tyler living on his couch as he and Odd Future grew, to punching the shit out of Chris Brown’s bodyguard, dealing with Jay-Z, and even some telling lines about how he wants to ‘escape’ from the limelight.
By this point, it’s obvious Endless and Blonde are the swan song for Frank’s career. There will not be a next album. I would pretty heavily bet against him even appearing on another song; unless it’s something where one of his friends like Tyler did almost all the work and Frank just had to come in and sing a couple lines. I can’t say for certain if he always planned for this to be it, him dropping “Lens”, “Biking”, and staying pretty active (including “Slide” with Migos andCalvin Harris, which made me think he was about to be the biggest artist in the world) through 2018 could have been him clearing out the vault or him staying sharp. After that there’s been almost nothing that wasn’t primarily done in the style I previously mentioned, whether with Tyler or A$AP Rocky.
It’s also easy to see why things would have changed. He got what he wanted. Frank is an icon, and he’s gotten the benefit some bands like Nirvana received where their short careers removed the stink of any potential washed era, and on top of that he gets to enjoy that without dying. Blonde is one of the most beloved and one of the biggest albums of the past 10 years, so much so it’s actually been moving *up* year end sales charts since 2019, and releasing it independently has almost certainly turned it into a goldmine for Frank. What’s left to do after you’ve already taken your victory lap?
