On Tuesday, news broke that Ocean was no longer with the major label Def Jam and that Blond(e) had been released independently. To borrow and pervert a buzzphrase, he’s culture jamming, injecting some individuality into a corporatized system and, perhaps, antagonizing it. That a highly anticipated release from a major artist doesn’t have an agreed-upon title fits Ocean’s apparent business mission in 2016, too. Which is another way of saying the “e” is for “enigmatic.” It’d make some sense if it was: The so-called “God particle” can either contain mass or not, almost immediately disappears into nothingness after coming into somethingness, was first detected by humans in July 2012 (a few days before Ocean’s album Channel Orange arrived!), and, of course, is prone to mis-explanation and misunderstanding by laymen like me. The last song on Endless, the visual album he released 48 hours before Blond(e), is called “Higgs,” which may or may not be a reference to the subatomic particle of the Higgs Boson.
That Ocean’s new album could be spelled either way might be a reflection of his own sexuality-lyrics on the album refer to relationships with both men and women.īut I’ve actually taken to thinking about the “e” in Blond(e) in even more high-concept terms-a symbol of all the ambiguity that fascinates Ocean. The most common theory for the meaning of the spelling duality is that the word “blonde” is a gendered adjective, referring to fair-haired women, while “blond” can apply to anyone. “I got two versions” are his first words on the first piece of Blond(e) music released to the public, the music video for “Nikes.” Incidentally, the version of that song that’s actually on the album does not have Ocean saying that. So it seems pretty clear by now the ambiguity is intentional-and of a piece with Ocean’s larger M.O. The Sci-Fi Crime Novel That’s a Parable of American Society Cullen Murphy
0 kommentar(er)
