Apple Music ranks ‘Blonde’ at #5 on “100 Best Albums” list
Sprawling and minimalist, direct and oblique—the definitive statement by a generational artist. —Apple Music.
Apple Music has ranked Frank Ocean’s Blonde at number five on its inaugural ”100 Best Albums” collection, a “definitive list of the greatest albums ever made.” The 2016 project holds the highest position of all records released in the last 25 years.
Yesterday, Apple Music teased the top 10 albums on its chart with an Instagram post featuring images that alluded to the remaining records. One graphic featured an ivy leaf, referencing the song titled “Ivy” on Blonde.
Today, Apple Music’s Zane Lowe & Ebro Darden sat down with legendary producer Nile Rodgers and Grammy-nominated artist Maggie Rogers to announce the albums topping the chart during a broadcast on Apple Music 1. Each panelist described Blonde in their own words during the roundtable discussion.
Zane Lowe: It is just the most beautiful piece of art, this album. […] I don’t know why he made the decisions he made to do what he did—arrangement, melodically—I’m like, “Who puts that there?” And I love it so much. […] I think they were 200 [tracks on one song], and I just don’t think we actually hear them all in one human sitting. […] In terms of who’s on this album—Beyoncé, James Blake, Tyler, The Creator—the list of collaborators is incredible, and yet, I never once listened to this album and go, “That’s the James bit.” Even Beyoncé, her harmonies and beautiful, very thoughtful, wonderful vocals at the end of “Pink & White…” [Maggie Rogers: I didn’t even know she was on this record, and I’ve heard this record so many times.] And now you do hear it, but it’s never distracting away from what Blonde is. Blonde is its own identity—that’s the crazy thing about this record. […] It’s timeless.
Nile Rodgers: It’s great. I remember walking through the doors of Electric Lady [Studios] and [Frank Ocean] was walking out. I wanted to say, “Yo! You know that new album?” I was actually fanboying. I didn’t even know what to say because I was so impressed. It’s an amazing piece of art.
Ebro Darden: My love for what Frank Ocean does, the way he writes, is so hip-hop. It’s also just like when we were talking about with Stevie [Wonder]—chord changes, melodies, vivid lyrics, word play—he taps into all of it. […] It’s another one of those “one of ones.”
Maggie Rogers: When I think about this record, I think about intention. I mean, his intention is razor blade sharp on this record of the things that he chose to leave on the canvas. […] The choices he made—the spelling of the word “blonde,” the world-renowned photographer to take the cover without his face. […] I heard somebody describe a record—I was like, “What’s it sound like?” And they were like, “Post-Frank.” And I said, “Got it.” I know everything I need to know. I mean, [Blonde] feels like smoke rising; it is so delicate and so unpredictable and so precise. I love it.
See the full list at AppleMusic.com.
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