"Nights" | |
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Song by Frank Ocean | |
from the album Blonde | |
Released | August 20, 2016 |
Genre |
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Length | 5:07 |
Label | Boys Don't Cry |
Producer(s) |
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"Nights" (sometimes styled as "Night.s") is a song by the American R&B singer Frank Ocean, released as a part of his second studio album Blonde (2016). The track debuted at number 98 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, despite not being released as a single. In August 2024, a version of the song featuring Kendrick Lamar leaked online. [1] [2]
"Nights" is a two-part track. [3] The first part is an upbeat guitar driven section in which Ocean raps about a tedious nine to five job and the highs and lows of a previous relationship. [4] [5] [6] In the ending of the first verse, Ocean moves away from the past, and discusses his anger with letting a relationship go. [3] [7] At 3:30 in the song, the halfway point in the album, the beat switches. [8] [9] The second half of the song features a slower, synth-heavy beat. [4] Ocean raps about the struggles he dealt with in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which forced him to temporarily relocate from New Orleans to Houston. [10] [11]
Luke Winstanley of Clash wrote that "Nights" featured "superb, instantly memorable codas that will quickly worm their way into your subconscious." [12] Writing The Music 's review of Blonde, James d'Apice called "Nights" the album's standout track. [13] Okayplayer 's Heven Haile listed "Nights" as Ocean's 6th best song and called its beat switch "iconic." [14] Writing for Pitchfork , Ryan Dombal called "Nights" the centerpiece of Blonde. [15] Jonah Weiner of Rolling Stone called the track a standout, writing on its themes of romance: "He approaches the subject from oblique angles, time-shifting the different phases of relationships like he’s got them loaded on DVR: skipping from the blossoming of love directly into its demise, backing up a bit, leaving out big chunks." [16]
Chart (2016) | Peak position |
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UK Hip Hop/R&B (OCC) [18] | 36 |
US Billboard Hot 100 [19] | 98 |
US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs ( Billboard ) [20] | 40 |
US Hot R&B Songs (Billboard) [21] | 14 |