At about 2:00 AM this morning, Frank Ocean released a music video titled “Nikes,” a project that follows Endless, a 45-minute visual EP he released Thursday. The music for “Nikes” is trippy and dream-like with Ocean’s voice chopped, screwed and heavily distorted throughout most of the video, an effect used to blur not just the sound of his voice but his point of view, a point drawn out by Ocean, whose opening statement for the song is “I got two versions.”
Dark lit and full of rapid scene changes, the video speaks to drug-fueled-youthful exuberance and letting go, but at the same time is made sober by heartfelt moments like Ocean revealing himself leaned against a race car in heavy eyeliner plus rest-in-peace shout outs to A$AP Yams (with a sign held by A$AP Rocky), Pimp C and Trayvon Martin (“That n***er looked just like me.”)
Mixed in as a theme is Ocean’s own internal conflict with his role as a public figure with the singer shown literally in flames in one scene (not long after we see him in eyeliner) and collapsing on a stage in an Elvis-like costume (Balmain) near the end of the video.
Multiple media outlets are saying there will be an additional album released this weekend, but Ocean as per usual isn’t saying squat. In the meantime, this video should give his fans plenty to think about.
Interesting aside via Reddit, it looks like at least parts of the video were shot 52 weeks ago.
Video and lyrics below.
