Frank Ocean is a thousand mysteries, and that's just the way he tends to like it. However, his wall of reclusive intrigue appears to be coming down a little of late, what with a recent profile in the New York Times, and a string of summer 2017 live dates already announced.
Further to this, Frank also ran a limited, one-day-only CD and vinyl release of his album Blonde on Black Friday, and as fans have finally got their sweaty little paws on IRL copies, the mysteries piqued by the cryptic list of album contributors in the "Boys Don't Cry" magazine accompanying Blonde's release are finally being solved.
Intrepid Reddit user JammJava has, to the sweet relief of the internet, uploaded a photo of the CD liner notes, and it holds some interesting revelations. Firstly, we are forced to ask: is there a pie that Kanye West does not have his finger in? He's credited as a songwriter on "White Ferrari", and though his specific contribution is unknown, it's fair to say that his Midas touch is still very much alive and kicking, as the track is one of Blonde's standouts. It's also clear that Frank is not intimidated by a musical behemoth, as "Pink + White" hosts Beyoncé on backing vocals, continuing the creative love-in they began on her album 4, where they collaborated on "Superpower".
The notes also correct some of the earlier assumptions we had about who did what on Blonde. It had previously been stated that James Blake was a writer on "White Ferrari", however that has now been amended – he actually worked on "Solo", "Solo (Reprise)" and "Godspeed". The same goes for Yung Lean, who had been credited for "Self Control", but whose contribution really came on "Godspeed".
Because this is a Frank Ocean record, I'm pretty sure that there are still a number of factoids lurking below the surface, but this is more than enough to be getting our teeth into for now. Long may this period of insight into the Ocean enigma continue.
(Image by Dave Gold via Wikipedia)
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