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Do you remember where you were when Frank Ocean released Blonde? After months of teasing and false starts, Ocean finally released his long-anticipated second album over the weekend and even though folks knew it was coming sometime, it was still a surprise—one that lit up social media as soon as it happened. So even if you weren’t following the Ocean album saga, you probably were aware it was going on; and if you were following it, then you know where you were when you got the news. (Full Disclosure: At least one member of the WIRED Culture team was watching a Star Wars marathon when it happened.)
Now that Blonde (Blond?) is out, we here at The Monitor have a lot of things about it we want to discuss. Is this Ocean’s Pet Sounds? Maybe. Is its accompanying visual album, Endless, a little too low-key? Depends on your mood. Is Ocean dropping really obscure Quentin Tarantino references in his songs? Less likely, but it’s possible! Anyway, you get the idea; there’s a lot to parse here.
We’re not just discussing Blonde on this episode of The Monitor, though. We’re also rapping about the incredibly dismal weekend that just went down at the US box office and the penultimate episode of HBO’s The Night Of. So, come on. Vibe with us. We’ve got writers and editors Peter Rubin, K.M. McFarland, and Angela Watercutter on the mic, and they all managed to stop listening to Frank Ocean long enough to record this podcast. Enjoy it, won’t you?
A few helpful links for things we talk about in the podcast:
-Angela Watercutter’s piece on the impact -Brian Raftery’s story on the release of Endless -WIRED’s post on the high prices Frank Ocean’s Boys Don’t Cry magazine is commanding on eBay -Laika’s Travis Knight breaks down the opening scene of Kubo and the Two Strings
