frank ocean . pyramids [official video]

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directed by: NABIL // dop: Danny Hiele // producer: Tara Ravazi // editor: Brandon Driscoll-Luttringer // post: Bonnie Brae // color: Marshall Plante

About the Song

"Pyramids" is a song by American singer Frank Ocean, released as the second single from his debut studio album Channel Orange (2012). The song was written by Ocean and produced by Malay and Om'Mas Keith. The track features an uncredited guitar solo from singer John Mayer. On June 7, 2012, Ocean posted a small teaser video featuring a snippet of the song onto his Tumblr account, and released the full, nearly 10-minute song later that day onto his official SoundCloud account. The song explores a narrative of a pimp falling in love with one of his clients. The track lyrically contains several extended metaphors referencing Cleopatra, pyramids, and strip clubs. The song received highly positive reviews and was called epic in nature by several publications, who praised the ambition and scope of the track's length, along with the lyrical merit.

About the video

An extended, eight-minute video for "Pyramids", also directed by Elderkin, was later released on September 8, 2012. The video follows a loose narrative, with stream-of-consciousness scenes, and utilizes several songs from Ocean's album channel ORANGE. It begins with Ocean drinking four shots of absinthe at a bar, before opening fire upon the bar itself; a segment of "Pink Matter" plays during this portion. A title card appears as Ocean boards his motorcycle (the song "Start" appears.) As he rides off into the desert, a snippet of the first half of "Pyramids" plays before transition directly into the second half. Shots of Ocean singing on his motorbike are interspersed with slow-motion scenes of Ocean walking through a strip club in a hallucinogenic haze, occasionally bursting into laughter; the club employs vampy women. Ocean is then seen in front of a large neon triangle with the Kabbalahian Tree of Life in neon upon it, from which John Mayer emerges and performs an entirely new guitar solo exclusive to the video. James Montgomery of MTV News characterizes the scene as an inadvertent "vision quest". Ocean falls down backwards, instantly re-appearing in the desert as a plane flies overhead. The song "End" appears as Ocean walks back to his motorcycle, picks up his helmet and walks down the highway towards a pyramid in the distance.

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