Frank Ocean is the master of elusiveness. Like the alternative rock group Tool, the enigmatic singer is as unpredictable as they come. Last year, he dropped not one, but two albums a day after each other, intentionally skipped the Grammys, released a zine, live streamed himself building a staircase, and gave his first interview in three years at the White House for a 90-second chat — all just because.
So last night (February 13), when a video surfaced online of Ocean discussing the inspiration and creative process behind his 2016 album Blonde, it came as no surprise. As with all of his moves, we should always expect the unexpected with Frank. In the mentioned video, which popped up via a since deleted video by @TeamFrankDaily, Ocean discusses not shying away “from expectations” that come with his music.
“I really try to use it as fuel because people have a positive association of what I do and what I make and they expect something that’s good,” he continues. “So, okay, how do you convert that into, I don’t know, just a better moment, a better song, a better album, a better presentation?” He also hits on the thought process for the LP, stating, “There’s no fantasy on this record.”
“It’s all, for better or for worse, autobiographical. Finally getting the album out to the public was a relief,” he explained. “You do feel like you’ve defeated something,” he said.
The clip has since been taken down on both YouTube and Twitter. In related Ocean news, the singer recently called out the Grammys in a Tumblr post.
Ocean most recently issued public comments last week, calling out producer Ken Ehrlich and writer David Wild that his criticism of the Grammys is based on his infamous 2013 performance. “We executed his vision knowing that it was faulty,” Ehrlich stated on the Rolling Stone Music Now podcast. “And we tried to tell him that, we tried to tell his management that, we tried to tell the record label that. So, his feelings about the Grammys right now, I would imagine, probably go back to that in one way. But honestly, it wasn’t us.”
In response, Ocean clapped back and called out the show for giving Taylor Swift’s 1989 the Album of the Year award in 2016 over Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly. “1989 getting album of the year over To Pimp A Butterfly,” Ocean said on Tumblr. “Hands down one of the most ‘faulty’ TV moments I’ve seen.”