How Frank Ocean's 'Blonde' Redefines Pop Queerness

The word "gay" shows up just once on Blonde, the long-awaited sophomore album from Frank Ocean. In the short interlude "Good Guy," Ocean describes a blind date with someone he met through a mutual friend. After this new acquaintance takes him to a "gay bar," their incompatibility becomes apparent. His date talks too much and is thinking short term. "I know you don't need me right now/And to you it's just a late night out," sings Ocean. The track, like the encounter, is fleeting, and it's the only explicit reference Ocean makes to a male partner or love interest over the course of the record's 60 minutes. But along with Endless, the visual album that preceded it, and Boys Don't Cry, the magazine that accompanies it, Blonde is the artist's boldest, queerest project to date.  Read more.