Frank Ocean and the Tale of "Nights"

     Frank Ocean is a Hurricane Katrina survivor who never knew his father, was a closeted bi-sexual for many years, and now is a Grammy award winning music artist.  Why is any of this information relevant? Because every experience in Frank Ocean’s life, or Christopher Breux’s life, has shaped his music into lyrical stories that so many relate to. More importantly, in his latest album, Blonde, one song in particular gives exposure to a double life that is not only obvious, but intertwined.

     “Nights” is an explanation of a man lost in two different worlds, his days and his nights, and how they are still enough connected to affect one another. One line of the song states this abruptly. “every night f***s every day up, every day patches the night up” (Ocean, Nights). Essentially nights are Ocean's time of work, usually long and grueling hours that Ocean is away from his girlfriend, with whom he was having trouble; this caused him the most grief. When the day arrived however, Frank found himself lost in a world of dopamine paradise while accompanied by his girlfriend and other choice addictive substances. Although separate in occasion, Ocean clearly acknowledges how this double way of living affects him, and even strategically marks it in the song. Between the halfway point of Blonde, a beat switch occurs that signifies the duality of the album, and the separate explanations of the song are had. Low-fi sounds corral the rest of the album and reflect on Frank’s sadness while happier, upbeat tunes reside in the past half of the song. All of which is marked by the defining piece, Nights.