He said he loved all the post-blonde singles
>"My guy pretty like a girl
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>And he got fight stories to tell
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>I see both sides like Chanel
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>See on both sides like Chanel"
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>Frank Ocean, Chanel, (2017)
I vividly remember finding this song on Spotify after listening to Blonde for the first time. It’s been my favorite song ever since. The lyrics felt really abstract to me at first, but they were really fun to think about. After a few listens, I realized his play on words involving “see both sides” and the Chanel logo, which is an intersecting frontward and backward C. I read about his personal life and learned that he came out about his queerness on his Tumblr page (tbt) in 2012, which made the lyrics a lot more sensible. He received love and praise from the hip-hop community, but he also faced backlash, and years later, he spoke out about his father’s homophobia. I like how the first two lyrics both juxtapose and unite tropes of femininity (’pretty’) and masculinity (’fighting’). I also love the way he champions his queerness in the song, pairing it alongside themes of wealth and luxury (Chanel). I think that’s really powerful.
Thinking about Roland Barthes’ essay, “The Death of the Author,” I feel like he doesn’t quite understand the way art functions in people’s lives. He urges readers to disregard an artist’s personal background and avoid searching for authorial intent in their work, but music, as with literally every other art form, is born out of personal experience. He wants to preserve the reader’s freedom to interpret work without the author’s omnipotence, but honestly, I often find it much more interesting to uncover a work of art’s inspiration. Art allows the otherwise voiceless to tell their stories. I guess it would be fun to imagine what Frank meant by “see both sides like Chanel,” but I actually preferred learning about his experience with coming out a lot more. That makes these lyrics feel more powerful than any of my ill-informed interpretations ever could.
Holy shit. The chorus is silky smooth, the beat is simple yet exotic and he's got barrsss in this song. FrankO is officially more than a GOAT with this single
- Chanel
- Pink Matter
- White Ferrari
- Nights
every trepadaaation ... every ..??? reparation??
I’ll start. For me it’s Nights, and I bet it’s for many of you as well. The part after the beat switch just gets me every time. Might be because of the contrast with the beginning, who knows.
I used to skip Siegfried all the time, but after a while it became one of my favourite Songs.
Anyone got some songs which they didn't enjoy that much initially?
He obviously has a lot of great songs, but you know that one song that’s unbeatable, great beyond comprehension, a song that set the bar so high you believe he’s never done anything remotely great. Which one is THAT ONE song to you? What makes it so great? Why is it special to you? How is it different from others? (Nostalgia, Ultra, Endless and singles included)
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