Written by James Quent, published by BLONDED
Blonded is obsessed with cars and that is also reflected in their car collection, the way they use them lyrically in music, and also how many visuals of cars they includes in their videos. Because I’m a fan of Blonded's music and a petrolhead, I wanted to know more about the car collection, what they drive personally, and the things they says about cars in their music. And of course one of the best places to listen to music is a car and for them, a car isn’t just a means of transport. For Blonded, cars carry a deeper meaning and are twined into their repertoire. They bind vehicles with memories and makes them a part of their storytelling.
“Raf Simons once told me it was cliché, my whole car obsession. Maybe it links to a deep subconscious straight boy fantasy. Consciously though, I don’t want straight—a little bent is good. I found it romantic, sometimes, editing this project. The whole time I felt as though I was in the presence of a $16m McLaren F1 armed with a disposable camera.” -Blonded
Cars from Nikes music video: McLaren F1 GTR Longtail, Aston Martin DBR9, Audi R8, McLaren F1 GTR (total price=~20+m$)
The first cars of Blonded's car collection
- BMW 550i
But, we've all started off with an old banger, looking deeper; the first car she had was a stick shift Acura Integra with tinted windows and a loud exhaust. The Acura had a sad fate, she crashed it into water when he fell asleep while driving. But he did name a song after her first car in which you can also see an Acura/Honda NSX with pop-up headlights driving in the night. After that, she bought a 1991 Civic for a grand and after that a 2002 Nissan Maxima. As a fun fact at least in the beginning years Blonded also used to drive around and listen to music while he was making new songs to get a feel of how her own music sounded in a car.
Honda Civic and a Nissan Maxima
Nostalgia Ultra Car
Blonded is also a big fan of BMW having included an “orange car”, the famous E30 M3 on the Nostalgia Ultra album cover, and owning multiple beemers. The car in the photo actually wasn’t his and neither was the picture. The picture was taken by a BMW enthusiast who goes by the username Dricebrug and was an active member in bimmerforums and he also owned the car at the time but has sold it by now. Dricebrug said that Blonded never contacted him about using the image as the cover of his mixtape and said he has tried to contact Blonded himself but it’s not known if they got in touch or not.
Driceburg’s picture of his old BMW as the cover photo of Frank’s Nostalgia, Ultra mixtape
Blonded's later cars
After the success of her mixtape Nostalgia, Ultra, and first studio album Channel Blonded could finally afford to buy some cool rides for themself. The BMWs she got were the E30 M3, E90 M3 (which she crashed on one occasion), and an F10 M5. She also finally had an orange M3 built that looked like the one on the cover of Nostalgia, Ultra album. The small difference in those cars are the painted mirrors (orange vs black). Blonded's love for BMW is similar to Tyler.
E30, E90 and F10
Golden E30, Nikes E30 and a E46Life-sized toy car box for the M3
Some other modern cars that Blonded owns are the Tesla Model X, McLaren 675LT, and a Porsche GT3. She has also said in an interview that he has an affinity for European and Japanese cars. For example, she likes the Nissan Skylines, Mercedes-Benz CLK DTM, Audi RS4s, and Subaru Imprezas, and some bigger SUVs like the G-Wagon, X6 and Porsche Cayenne.
Frank Ocean in a McLaren 675LTFrank Ocean in a Porsche GT3
White Ferrari / Cars in songs
While there are no white Ferraris in the Blonded car collection “White Ferrari” is still a big part of her repertoire. An anthem for all of us that wish to be a bit taller. All jokes aside White Ferrari has a lot of meaning hidden inside it, it’s a song that belts you into the front seat of an emotional rollercoaster and ends in a weird catharsis. It’s a heartbreaking story of young lovers who were too afraid to share their feelings and then when they finally gather the courage to tell something it’s too late. The soft-spoken nature of the song almost lifts the seriousness of love and makes it feel like a sad summer’s breeze so you barely notice the emotional heaviness of the whole song until it’s over. And it’s only then, after the song ends you understand that you are left empty and start to long for the feeling of listening to it again… just like love.
“Mind on the road, your dilated eyes watch the clouds float White Ferrari, had a good time”
Some other possible pop culture influences on the album that I found based on that were from a movie and a TV Show. Namely “The Wolf of Wall Street” starring Leo and the TV show “Miami Vice”. Miami Vice is actually a show that made Ferrari more popular in the 80s. The main characters used Ferraris and in the first 2 seasons they used replica Daytonas but Ferrari didn’t like that. They asked them to stop using the replicas and donated 2 white Ferrari Testarossas to them which instantly became synonymous with the show. At the time Miami was known for its drug use as well. In The Wolf of Wall Street Jordan Belfort referenced the TV show telling us how his Ferrari was white like in Miami Vice. The Wolf of Wall Street is also known for its heavy use of the drug Quaalude which Frank also mentions in his song Nights. To sum it up if we were to put a specific Ferrari model to this song it would most likely be a white Ferrari Testarossa from the 80s
“This feel like a quaalude”
There’s also a close-up photo of a white Ferrari in a magazine shoot so check it out if you have it. The magazine is filled with cool pictures of Blonded’s favorite vehicles.
Here’s a list of some other cars (and car-related things) Blonded mentions in his repertoire
Lexus, Bugatti (Futura Free, Blonde)
Honda, Porsche & Bugatti (U-N-I-T-Y, Endless)
Xenons (a type of headlight for cars) (Endless)
“Xenons with the blue color If that’s a lease, least it look cool on you“
Mitsubishi Sony (Endless)
Mercedes-Benz (Mitsubishi Sony)
“Big body Merc, LED lights and it’s all overprice“
Lincoln Town Car (Swim Good, Nostalgia, Ultra)
Mustang (American Wedding, Nostalgia, Ultra)
Blonde and racing
We only scratched the surface of Blonded car collection and how they're used in songs. Her garage is constantly evolving along with her music and it will be interesting to see what comes next for her regarding her rides.
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