Writer’s block strikes many of us — in a number of ways — a majority of us can relate to. You can keep going back to the blank document that sits before you, but nothing comes of it. You remain optimistic for awhile, then finally you decide to take a step back and stir up ideas on the drawing board. Some of us get writer’s block for minutes, hours, or a few days. To stretch its unwanted hands, the block can last for a year, if you’re unlucky. For Frank Ocean, this was the case.
After going to London for a new atmospheric look of life, Ocean returned to New York, where he would record pieces of Endless and Blonde. Soon after, writer’s block struck down and put a hold on Frank’s writing and recording process. During an interview with NY Times, Ocean detailed his writing drought and lost of creativity — that hammered down on during needed times.
“I had writer’s block for almost a year,” he said. Going back and forth to the studio, Ocean would “stare at the monitors and come up with nothing, or nothing that I liked.”
All of this came to end — once a childhood friend came back into the picture. Connecting with his New Orleans friend, Ocean opted to take an autobiographical route of recording his music, rather than play things out like he did with his Grammy-winning album Channel Orange.
Channel Orange was written in two weeks, the complete 180 degree-turn of what came about for Endless and Blonde. Nonetheless, the right inspiration came, right when he needed it most.
