This much we know, Frank Ocean”s tune, “Swim Good” is killer. As far as the official video that came out today for the Odd Future member”s solo tune, it”s one of those esoteric things (complete with Japanese subtitles) that we”re not sure we can ever grasp, no matter how many times we view it. Plus, we”re sure there are people way more versed in “Ocean”-ography, who can decipher all of the hidden messages.
[More after the jump…]
The song, from the mixtape-turned-EP “Nostalgia, Ultra,” progresses as if it”s totally stream of thought as Ocean drives along. Ocean, who most recently collaborated with Kanye West and Jay-Z on “Watch the Throne,” is thinking about tinting his windows, and then ruminates how he”s been wearing the same black suit ever since his lady left him, to the grand thought of trying to swim to something better than me.
We think the Samurai part on the Nabil Elderkin-directed video may deal with giving up fear, and we certainly understand the water imagery, but the blood on the sword and the car explosion are a little too conceptual for us. Do you think he killed the woman? Feel free to explain away below.
Ocean fans can probably explain the trippy clip for his song, “Thinking of You,” which came out Thursday, while we”re at it. Note that there are no teepees in “Swim Good.”
frank ocean [swim good] from christopher francis ocean on Vimeo.