365 – New Music Daily

A follow-up to Channel Orange on my blog and in real life – or maybe not my blog. I have no idea how you all read this shit. If you are reading this on an email, come on over and comment that you read this on an email. Or just text me that you read this on an email. Or comment that you read it on the blog. Or don’t do any of that if you don’t want me to know.

Anyways, a follow-up to Channel Orange, Blonde is a much more layered, sophisticated effort from Frank that takes more ambitious steps within the music, and also adds very strange interludes about why you shouldn’t use Facebook.

POTENTIAL HOT TAKE – I hate Nikes. At least the first pitched up part. I kind of hate pitched up vocals categorically – but starting your album with pitched up stinks. Also that song would be so much better without it. You didn’t need to do that.

This album has songs that are much moreso lauded as Frank’s best than the aforementioned songs on Channel Orange – those being songs like Nights (great), Self Control (Yung Lean on here still makes no sense, never has, never will), White Ferrari (you WILL ascend to the second half of that), Pink and White (skipping through a field or doing the hand wave out the window music). It also has the second Andre 3000 feature in a row – so Frank, if you ever come out with another album, pry Andre and his flute from Japan and get him to lay one more down. Or he can just lay down a great flute solo.

As I mentioned before, I think there may be an objective case to this being the better album – with the musical ambition, lyricism, song structuring, etc. However, Channel Orange has a certain effect (one that is also rooted in memory/nostalgia) that renders it holding a special place in many people’s hearts. And, like I said before, Channel Orange does not have these weird fucking interludes about like not doing drugs and Facebook. I get the vision, but I also don’t at all. Regardless, one of the best modern R&B albums, and one that stands the test of time (and will continue to do so for decades).

Favorite songs: Ivy, Pink and White, Solo, Self Control, Nights, Solo (reprise), Pretty Sweet, White Ferrari, Seigfried, Godspeed, Future Free