Through the drug-laced imagery, we see him fiending after the initial feeling of giving in to desire. For one, Frank Ocean has come into the consciousness of the fickle nature of lust. We can read the close of the second verse as a cry for help and an admittance. Frank tells us as much later on in verse: “ You put me on a feelin ’ I never had, never had, never had (Never) / And ever since I ’ ve been tryna get it back, and pick it up and put it back… I still can ’ t feel my face.” We don’t have to assume he’s realized his grand mistake in privileging lust over self-fulfillment. The pause before the yikes leaves us wondering: How does Frank feel about all this severe loss of self? The basic nature of the declarative “ Yikes” is nothing short of comedic to the point of being unsettling. Once more, Frank Ocean plays with space and commas to deliver a simple line with fresh impact. It’s a total stagnation, as presented by the next line, wherein Frank notes we’re doing coke for breakfast. Who we are and can become are nowhere in sight. Beneath the undertow of a moot passion, there are only remnants of who we once were. We lose who we are in the waves of lust crashing onto our shores. In the case of “Novacane,” we get the impression desire brings with it the ignoring of the self.
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A “ sink full of dishes” gives us the impression personal care has gone to the wayside. This hurt manifests nicely on the second verse, where Frank details a crumbling relationship through various minutiae.
The more you want for something without internal motivation, the greater a chance that something has to hurt you.
The pursuit of externalities to summon happiness is a fruitless mission on “Novacane.” Frank suffers all over this hook because he positions himself to be a victim of desire, instead of giving himself the tools to bring himself lasting happiness. The line “ Fuck me numb,” wherein Frank admits pursuing passion exclusively, is a one-way ticket to emptiness. The enigmatic woman tells him to lean into the high before it’s gone because she personifies the fleeting and dastardly nature of desire. Here, the drugs Frank smokes are a metaphor for the allure of desire and how it can get us sprung quickly, though the high rarely lasts. Putting these two sections in conversation, we get a universal truth from “Novacane”: That which excites us is not always good for us. Frank’s trepidation is palpable and leads us into a hook where his desire overtakes him. He comes across as deadpan as pop can get, and then we’re sitting on an “ ice cold lawn,” falling for the wrong girl at the worst time, with the added kick of getting high. The narrative proper begins once Frank has clarified that he feels nothing for his leading woman.
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