White Ferrari

Album: Blonde (2016)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This slow-burning, minimal ballad finds Frank Ocean using the image of a ride in a white Ferrari as a metaphor for a fast and pure relationship with a lover.
  • When Ocean sings the line "spending each day of the year" (at the 1.45min mark), he uses the same melodic phrasing as in The Beatles' 1966 Revolver track "Here, There And Everywhere."

    Speaking in an interview at the Time 100 Gala, Ocean said that he was listening to The Beatles and The Beach Boys for inspiration while making the album.

    He also sampled another Beatles track "Flying" for the Blonde song "Seigfried."
  • Frank Ocean revealed to the New York Times that there were 50 different versions of this song, and that his younger brother's favorite didn't make the final cut. "I have a 15-year-old little brother, and he heard one of the versions, and he's like, 'You gotta put that one out, that's the one'," Ocean said. "And I was like, 'Naw, that's not the version,' because it didn't give me peace yet."
  • Frank Ocean wrote the song with his go-to writing partner Malay, and with Kanye West. Yeezy also served as a backup vocalist on the track.

    While "White Ferrari" is the only Blonde track West contributed towards, he also penned a poem about McDonald's for Boys Don't Cry, a magazine that accompanied its physical release.
  • "White Ferrari" went viral on TikTok in December 2024 thanks to the "lamp looks weird" trend. This trend encourages users to question the reality of their experiences, prompting introspection on whether their current moment is truly happening or if it's a figment of their imagination, a simulation, or even a dream.

Comments: 1

  • Flowrs from Dreamvillebeautiful song
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Paul Williams

Paul WilliamsSongwriter Interviews

He's a singer and an actor, but as a songwriter Paul helped make Kermit a cultured frog, turned a bank commercial into a huge hit and made love both "exciting and new" and "soft as an easy chair."

Jack Blades of Night Ranger and Damn Yankees

Jack Blades of Night Ranger and Damn YankeesSongwriter Interviews

Revisit the awesome glory of Night Ranger and Damn Yankees: cheesily-acted videos, catchy guitar licks, long hair, and lyrics that are just plain relatable.

Glen Ballard

Glen BallardSongwriter Interviews

Glen Ballard talks about co-writing and producing Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill album, and his work with Dave Matthews, Aerosmith and Annie Lennox.

Randy Newman

Randy NewmanSongwriting Legends

Newman makes it look easy these days, but in this 1974 interview, he reveals the paranoia and pressures that made him yearn for his old 9-5 job.

They Might Be Giants

They Might Be GiantsSongwriter Interviews

Who writes a song about a name they found in a phone book? That's just one of the everyday things these guys find to sing about. Anything in their field of vision or general scope of knowledge is fair game. If you cross paths with them, so are you.

Mike Rutherford (Genesis, Mike + The Mechanics)

Mike Rutherford (Genesis, Mike + The Mechanics)Songwriter Interviews

Mike Rutherford talks about the "Silent Running" storyline and "Land Of Confusion" in the age of Trump.