I still remember my first time listening to “Blonde.” It was the late summer of 2016, just before the start of my first year of high school. I was assigned to the dishes that night, which was always a go-to time for me to explore the new music releases. While putting the dirty dishes in the sink and cleaning up the remnants of a messy family dinner, I hit play on this new Frank Ocean album, hoping it would live up to the greatness of his previous project, “channel ORANGE,” an album I adored.
Just a few minutes into the album, I knew this one was different. Vivid images flooded my mind, and I quickly found myself daydreaming as I let the sink water run for minutes on end before snapping back to reality once the song fizzled away. “Blonde” hit me during my first listen like no other album had done for me before. I was mesmerized.
Today, that same feeling isn’t lost. Anytime I hit the play button on what many refer to as Ocean’s magnum opus, its consistent lyrical themes of nostalgia conjure up deep memories by way of his heartfelt and deeply intimate approach. The album weaves through the spectrum of dramatic emotion that still feels closely relatable. “Blonde” has remained on the Billboard 200 albums chart for over 326 consecutive weeks and has even earned the 79th spot on Rolling Stone’s coveted “500 Greatest Albums of All Time” list. Despite his relatively small discography, Frank Ocean has earned his spot as one of the most beloved and enigmatic artists of this generation.
In the years since “Blonde,” Ocean has released a sparse amount of singles but has largely remained out of the spotlight. His mystery is arguably a significant reason he’s so admired. People crave him. In an age where most artists do everything they can to keep their fans’ attention, fighting to stay at the forefront of the public eye, he doesn’t seem to care.
Finally, Ocean broke the silence and came back into the spotlight as Coachella’s headlining performer on April 16, his first major performance in six years. With fans in high anticipation of a performance that took years to get once again, expectations were at a high for what the unpredictable artist would pull out of his sleeve for his grand return to centerstage. Fans also speculated the potential release of new music — without any music releases in over three years, let alone an album release in nearly seven years, many fans assumed a comeback headlining performance at a major music festival wouldn’t happen without something new to promote.
But with all the hype came even more disappointment from many audience members in attendance. The show ended in deep controversy over what transpired. Many concertgoers left the show underwhelmed, annoyed and generally disheartened.
According to fans who attended the show, he showed up over an hour late and wasn’t very visible for most of the performance. He performed for only about 30 minutes, playing a couple of his biggest songs, but the rest of the set was filled by random DJ sets and even long silences that lasted several minutes. The stage production for the show, which consisted of an ice rink and ice skaters who would skate around him during the set, was canceled last-minute leaving an incomplete visual production. Several ice skaters were confused and disgruntled about the last-second cancellation after having rehearsed for days leading up to the show. Many of the songs were also dramatically rearranged and underperformed with an overall low energy and a messy, disjointed pacing.
Beyond the attendees of his set, even more fans were upset when the scheduled YouTube livestream of his performance was unexpectedly canceled, squashing the hopes of his fans being able to witness his comeback from home.
Shortly after his set at Coachella’s first weekend, Ocean canceled his performance for the second weekend due to a leg injury sustained during on-site rehearsals leading up to the first show. His headlining spot was replaced by Blink-182.
So what does this mean? Was this performance a flop? Does it show any implication of what will happen going forward?
Historically, it’s always been hard to tell Ocean’s next move. Remaining fairly withdrawn from mainstream media attention, he’s not one to explain where he’s at or his intentions with his upcoming music. During his Coachella performance, he claimed he was not performing because of a new album. He did hint at the prospect of a new album in the works but clarified that it’s “not right now.” He confirmed that his appearance at the festival was a tribute to his late brother. He further explained that he and his brother would go to Coachella together, and he has fond memories of spending time with him at the music festival, and his brother would have loved to be there again.
As a loyal, hopeful fan, I will always be willing to wait for his next project. As hard as it is, my patience will persist with the hope that his new music will be anything like that first listen to “Blonde” over the kitchen sink. But if this performance means anything, despite its awkward turnout, it’s that Ocean came out and gave his fans something, whether or not people liked it. It’s hard, even for him, to make any promises. At the very least, we know he’s alive and something could be on the horizon. It might take awhile before we get to that reality, but his fans know he needs his time and space to make his best work. It comes as no surprise, but we’re just going to have to wait a little bit longer.
