Frank Ocean Talks Blonde, Endless, Grammys, Def Jam Split in Rare Interview
Other than some brief comments given to CSPAN at the White House, Frank Ocean hasn’t given a proper interview since the release of Endless and Blonde. In a new interview with The New York Times, he’s opened up about everything—receding from the spotlight, abstaining from putting his albums up for Grammy consideration, his split with Def Jam and independent release of Blonde, and the creation of both albums. Read the entire thing here, and find some excerpts below.
On withholding his albums for Grammy consideration:
I think the infrastructure of the awarding system and the nomination system and screening system is dated. I’d rather this be my Colin Kaepernick moment for the Grammys than sit there in the audience.
On self-releasing Blonde immediately after fulfilling his obligations to Def Jam:
With this record [Blonde] in particular, I wanted to feel like I won before the record came out, and I did, and so it took a lot pressure off of me about how the record even would perform after the fact. Once the goal is met, everything else is lagniappe. It’s not essential for me to have a big debut week, it’s not essential for me to have big radio records.
On why he left L.A. and receded from the spotlight in London:
It started to weigh on me that I was responsible for the moves that had made me successful, but I wasn’t reaping the lion’s share of the profits, and that was problematic for me. I had, in the midst of all of this, this feeling of isolation. Within my circle, there was a lot of places I thought I could turn that I felt like I couldn’t turn to anymore.
On regretting performing at award shows:
Certain moments were drawbacks for sure. Now I look at things differently, but at the time, yeah. Audiences in excess of five million people [on national TV]. I was always reluctant to do those things except in cases where they had this nostalgic significance to me. Like performing at the VMAs, being tapped to perform at the Grammys—me saying yes to those things had a lot to do with how those things made me feel before I was actually in the business. And just wanting to be rubbing shoulders with those people and being seen at those places. I still was reluctant and sort of skeptical of those things because I questioned whether or not I was prepared.
On singing in multiple voices:
Sometimes I felt like you weren’t hearing enough versions of me within a song, ’cause there was a lot of hyperactive thinking. Even though the pace of the album’s not frenetic, the pace of ideas being thrown out is.
Ocean also revealed that he always carries his hard drives with him on planes (“I’d rather the plane goes down in flames and the drives go down with me than somebody put out a weird posthumous release”). He also discussed having writer’s block for a year until a childhood friend “made me feel as though I should talk about the way I grew up more,” which led to Blonde and Endless being more autobiographical.
Watch his “Nikes” video:
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