In the Genius community, we’ve spent the last few days soaking in the glory of all of Frank Ocean’s new projects, but especially his album, Blond. The album finds Frank making a ton of artistic choices we’re eager to decode. The other day, we took a dive into the deeper meaning behind Frank’s cryptic “I got two versions” lyric from “Nikes.” But it turns out, the two-part song “Nights” might be another vital piece in Frank’s puzzle.
“Nights,” the album’s ninth track, is essentially two songs. It starts with Frank singing about “everyday shit” before flipping into a more melancholy song laced with nostalgia about the old days. No big deal right? After all, plenty of songs flip into other songs. What’s notable is that the second half starts at 3:30, which means that the song splits at the 30-minute mark of the 60-minute album. The song essentially splits the album in two.
We’re not the only ones who noticed this either. Fans over on the Frank Ocean subreddit (who you can read an interview with here) have been analysing the album as well. One user named JoseToThe made a similar argument about how “Nights” splits the album in two. Here’s a quote:
In here the beat switch in “Nights,” at least I think, fully spaces out the album from being about a Frank who was new to falling in love and who was excited about exploring his identity fully to a Frank who was confused on how to move on from past lovers and who was distraught and tired about all of the effort he had to take to discover himself. I found it fitting how he repeats the same hook from the first half in a more lackadaisical way.
It’s easy to dismiss this theory as nothing but coincidence, but there is more evidence to suggest this might be intentional on Frank’s part. Like cars and colors—duality is a recurring motif on Blonde. This goes back to the many interpretations of his “two versions" line which could be used to explain why there are multiple versions of “Nikes” and whether the album’s true title is Blond or Blonde. Themes of masculinity and femininity play a role on the album as well—hence the difference between blond (masculine) and blonde (feminine). Bifurcating the album can also be interpreted as a nod to the two sides of Frank, or perhaps his bisexuality.
Frank isn’t the only artist who has used time signatures for effect. For example, Kid Cudi’s “Marijuana” is exactly 4 minutes and 20 seconds—a nod to the weed smoking culture. Joe Budden’s “10 Minutes” and Madonna’s “4 Minutes” both live up to their titles. Meanwhile, Radiohead’s album In Rainbows sparked fan theories citing binary theory and the golden section to explain the album’s structure. Is the fact Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood contributed to Frank’s Endless just another coincidence? This wouldn’t be the first time Frank did this either. On channel, ORANGE, “Pyramids” also morphs into two songs and splits about 28 minutes into the 62 minute album.
But who knows? Until we get word from the man himself, we’re gonna have to speculate about the meanings behind this intricate project.
*Additional reporting by Genius users: @jeffreylsoffer
