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Every time we've no control
If the sky is pink and white
If the ground is black and yellow Frank Ocean – Pink + White
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These lines are referenced in Frank’s Boys Don’t Cry magazine, in his “Godspeed” screenplay (pages 50-55). In the screenplay, Steely’s girlfriend Schoobie recites these lyrics:
Shoobie: (Bobbing her head to music that isn’t playing, she sings)
‘That’s the way every day goes, every time we’ve no control…’ (Page 51)
Color is a significant motif in Frank’s music, from the title of his 2012 album channel ORANGE to symbolistic songs like “Eyes Like Sky” and “Pink Matter.” He specifically mentions pink skies in “Sierra Leone.” Here, Frank expresses how we have no control over the color of the sky, it can be blue, or it can be pink and white.
The “black and yellow” ground calls to mind the image of the black asphalt and the yellow painted lines of the street.
This may also be connecting to Hurricane Katrina, which Frank alludes to in the second verse, in reference to an old proverb, “Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning”. He’s essentially using the notion that “we have no control” over the color of the sky as a way of coming to terms with what happened during the hurricane.
(It's a loop) What would you recommend I do?
(The other side of the loop is a loop) Frank Ocean – Seigfried
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On Blonde’s fifth track, “Solo,” Frank uses the metaphorical depths of hell (plus some wordplay with “solo/so low” and “inhale/in hell”) to symbolize the depths of depression.
He continues the directional metaphors with this “loop”, which harkens back to the cyclical nature of life touched on in “Nights”:
Every night fucks every day up
Every day patches the night up
Depression can tend to be cyclical (or “recurrent”) as well. It is expressed here as a recurrent “hell” that Frank has experienced and ostensibly can’t escape, given the fact that a loop is, by definition, self-enclosed.
The “other side of a loop is a loop” evokes the infinity symbol.
Get drunk and I can't shut up
(Whoo, whoo, whoo-ooh, whoo, whoo-ooh)
She says that I drink too much
I'm fucked up and she hates my guts
She says I need to grow up PUP – DVP
What is this?
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What is this?
The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.
To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.
The Ace Hotel Downtown Los Angeles was originally built as the United Artists Building, housing the flagship theater for United Artists. The restored Theatre at Ace Hotel is a beautiful construct, designed as a classic movie house. As described by the hotel’s website, “To enter the theater is to feel the awe that parishioners feel entering their place of worship.”
The building itself was designed by architect C. Howard Crane, modeled after the Segovia Cathedral in Spain. In the 1990s, the building was used as a church and parishioners put up two “JESUS SAVES” neon signs. The building was converted into the Ace Hotel in 2014. One of the signs remains as a nod to the building’s neat history.
Thus, the Ace Hotel has the unique quality of having been both a place of God and a cathedral for artists. The lyric may intend to make a distinction between religion and God; that is, his “religion” is art. Trevor Hagen put it this way, “If music is a sacred form of discovering, knowing, and being, then Bon Iver’s albums are totems to that faith.”
Coincidentally, Justin was once pictured at The Ace Hotel and Swim Club in Palm Springs, CA, where Vanity Fair snapped the below picture in 2011.
The Ace Hotel is also where the iconic “Jesus Saves” sign is.