It sometimes feels like there’s a lot to say about Frank Ocean, but then at other times, it feels like there really isn't all that much. He’s one of those rare artists who often feels like a total mystery, which is impressive to do in any era, but especially so nowadays when it sometimes feels like too much is known about some celebrities. But to return to that contradictory-sounding point, what Frank Ocean has released is dense, easy to listen to again and again, and unique. What his discography is, at this point, is impactful and impressive, even though there are only so many songs that can actually be talked about. The difficulty when it comes to discussing Frank Ocean is the past few years, since his most recent singles came out way back in 2015, and his last album isn't far off a decade old, considering its 2016 release. As an artist, he’s missed, but music could drop at any time. Or it might never. And so to be a Frank Ocean fan is to be left in a constant state of flux.
At least the music that exists is really fluxing good. Everyone who considers themselves a fan has to reckon with the idea that Ocean has moved on to other things, or perhaps is resistant to releasing new music since his releases so far have been acclaimed as near-perfect or even flat-out perfect, but most of his discography really doesn’t get old. It hasn’t gotten old, in the last decade, at least, and some of his music just sounds better with age. His discography is made up of only two traditional studio albums, but if you count his mixtape and his rather experimental visual album as releases, then there are a total of four that can be ranked. This ranking doesn’t encompass any non-album singles of his, nor any releases where he appeared as a guest artist (there are many high-profile names he’s worked with over the years), and nothing but Odd Future, either. Just Frank Ocean’s solo releases, and just the stuff that’s either an album in the traditional sense or an album-length release.
4 'Endless
Released as a visual album on August 19, 2016
With Endless, the story behind the album is perhaps the most interesting part, and its release was also unique. It’s not entirely an album in the traditional sense, given it was originally a visual album that could be streamed on Apple Music exclusively, only a day before Frank Ocean released his “real” second studio album. Endless is viewed as the release that got Ocean out of his contract with Def Jam Recordings, and so right after Endless came out, there was a second Frank Ocean album drop. And that album is considered potentially his best, so it’s wild to look back at 2016 as the year when Frank Ocean dropped both his worst and best albums back-to-back, with each being unexpected for their own reasons. And 2016 was a generally wild year for music and album releases, with Kanye West’s The Life of Pablo being as chaotic in release as it was in sound, and David Bowie also dropping his final album (Blackstar) mere days before he passed away from an illness that wasn’t known about by the public at the time.
But with Ocean’s double drop, it’s an event that’s conditioned some fans to be hopeful that any day, a new album could just materialize out of nowhere. As for the music? Yes, Endless is technically his worst, but it’s also great. There are few artists whose worst release sounds as good as this does. It’s a ton of unusual tracks, all purposefully designed to bleed together, meaning it’s hard to talk about Endless as a series of songs. His other albums have standout tracks that all build up to something more, when listened to front-to-back, but Endless feels more stream-of-consciousness in its approach. "(At Your Best) You Are Love" (originally by the Isley Brothers and later covered by Aaliyah) and “Slide on Me” probably come the closest to feeling like independent songs, but the approach on Endless to have the whole thing sound like one long song is successful. It’s an album that gets overshadowed by the one released right after, by design, and it’s probably not quite as continually rewarding to go back to as his other albums, but it’s still pretty sweet.
3 'Nostalgia, Ultra' (2011)
Released as a mixtape on February 16, 2011
In The Big Lebowski, the Dude famously clashes with the Eagles… well, more specifically, he hates the fact that a song of theirs is playing in a cab he takes, since he’s also having a rough night. But Frank Ocean is like the Dude in that he also clashed with the Eagles, thanks to the release of his mixtape Nostalgia, Ultra. This one is a little hard to compare to his other works, since it wasn’t released commercially and was instead a way for him to put some of his solo efforts out into the world. They definitely got him a good deal of attention, and it was a good demonstration of what Ocean could do. But the pre-existing music used went beyond the bounds of sampling, according to Don Henley of the Eagles, who wasn’t really all that happy about the instrumental of “Hotel California” being used on Nostalgia, Ultra’s “American Wedding.”
If you want a hot-take, Frank Ocean does “Hotel California” better than the Eagles. He also does new things with a fair few other recognizable tracks, including MGMT’s “Electric Feel” ("Nature Feels"), Coldplay’s "Strawberry Swing" (on, well, "Strawberry Swing"), and Radiohead’s "Optimistic" ("B**ches Talkin' (Metal Gear Solid)"). But the highlight of the mixtape is probably "Novacane," which is particularly striking, catchy, thought-provoking, and in line with the sorts of consistently great tracks that can be found on Ocean’s later albums. Speaking of those…
2 'Channel Orange' (2012)
Released as a studio album on July 10, 2012
To have a debut studio album be as good as Channel Orange is absolutely remarkable, because not even the Beatles kicked off their discography with a record so good. Actually, maybe that comparison is a bit unfair. Ocean had been a member of Odd Future before the release of Channel Orange, and there was that aforementioned (and also excellent) mixtape of his. But Channel Orange was the big one. It was his first solo release that was commercially sold, and it blew people away back in 2012 while still sounding fresh, distinctive, and undeniably great way over a decade later. It’s an album that is approximately an hour long yet contains nothing by way of any weak tracks. No filler, all killer, but there are still standout songs that, like… kill more efficiently? They're extra killer/deadly? Something like that.
Take “Pyramids,” for example. Channel Orange could be 50 minutes of armpit fart noises and 10 minutes of “Pyramids” (which is 10 minutes long and all) and it would still be an album worth listening to. That song is simply that great, and it packs an album’s worth of ideas into one epic track. And then there are other Frank Ocean staples here like "Thinkin Bout You," "Super Rich Kids," "Lost," and the rather underrated “Forrest Gump.” Even better, everything coalesces into a whole, maybe not quite to the point where Channel Orange feels entirely like a concept album, but it does feel like a coherent vision… so that might be close enough. It’s endlessly satisfying to listen to in its entirety, and that consistency combined with the variety of genres explored makes it an immense musical achievement. It’s a youthful album, but not an immature one, and for a while, it looked like it wouldn’t ever be surpassed by Frank Ocean. How could an album of his be better? Well…
1 'Blonde' (2016)
Released as a studio album on August 20, 2016
Blonde is Frank Ocean’s best album, and feels like even more of a concept album than Channel Orange, with both working in tandem to help show that making such an album is far from dead (not just a 1960s/70s thing, by any means). Blonde feels like it’s about heartbreak, nostalgia, being lost, and longing. These are all things Ocean had explored effectively on previous releases, but never with as much passion, consistency, or introspection as can be found in Blonde. It sees Frank Ocean really putting every ounce of emotion possible into a single album, and it’s the kind that gets more moving the more you listen to it; the more layers are peeled back.
It's an experience that feels more cinematic than some movies, and it does this without having a direct story; not one in the narrative sense, at least. But Blonde feels like an emotional journey, and there is vivid imagery conjured up by both the sounds and lyrics present in every single track. And, like all the other Frank Ocean albums, the tracks here build immensely into one coherent whole of an album. It was released right after Endless, and independently, too, feeling like the start of something new for Frank Ocean, though, as mentioned before, this is technically his most recent album to date. It would be hard to top Blonde, but in the years 2012 to 2016 (right before Blonde’s release), it would’ve seemed unthinkable for Frank Ocean to make something better than Channel Orange. Time will tell, of course, if he ever comes back, but as bittersweet as it is to admit, Blonde would be one remarkable final statement for an artist to make.
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