I can’t scroll through TikTok’s For You page without seeing at least one heartstring-tugging video soundtracked by James Blake performing “Godspeed,” a song from Frank Ocean‘s album Blonde. Sensing a hit, Blake’s label has been pushing the piano-driven song hard recently with an official single release in September, and last night, a performance of the cover on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
If you were hearing the song on TikTok, the video you’d be watching would probably a heartfelt reunion or tender eulogy. For his Fallon performance, Blake plays the song on a grand piano in a very interesting space; to me, it could be a cathedral’s sunroom. Sonically, it’s quite a ways away from James Blake’s latest EP Before, which finds him reconnecting with this underground club roots. Watch the performance above.
Watch James Blake perform Frank Ocean’s “Godspeed” on Jimmy Fallon
