The opening track "Start" is a snippet of ambient sounds, bits of silence, and flickers of noise, including a PlayStation booting up. The low-key torch song "Thinkin Bout You" features soothing synth cycles, sparse keyboards, muffled electronic percussion, and lyrics addressing a lover with white lies in the verses and thoughts of eternal love in the chorus. "Fertilizer" is based on James Fauntleroy's 2010 song of the same name, repurposed on the album as an AM radio jingle and interlude about "bullshit". "Sierra Leone" incorporates chillwave and quiet storm styles, wind chime sounds, lo-fi beats, and polyphony similar to Prince's 1985 song "Paisley Park". Its lyrics address sex, conception, early parenthood, and childhood dreams. It recounts the narrator's lust for a girl as a teenager, and compares their relationship to the vicissitudes of Sierra Leone such as diamonds and civil war. Ocean's singing exhibits quickly descending chord succession and is overdubbed against his spoken vocals.
