Ocean also displays his exceptional talents as a songwriter on “Thinkin Bought You,” something that he exhibits throughout the entire album.Īs the project progresses, Frank starts to sing about the lives of the young and financially privileged. He even enlists John Mayer to play guitar on the minute and sixteen second “White.” The first full-length song that listeners are treated to is the single “ Thinkin Bought You” where Frank flaunts a captivating falsetto reminiscent of Usher or even a young Marvin Gaye. Ocean has seemed to have mastered.Ĭhannel Orange is a colorfully cohesive body of work that is best enjoyed from start to end… literally as the albums opening track is called “Start” and the final song is appropriately titled “End.” “Start” is one of a handful of songs/interludes on the project that span just around 60 seconds, but Frank still manages to make some of these short snippets just as enjoyable as the full-length tracks. The album contains self-reflective stories of love, lust, money, and religion told through the distinctive electro-soul type of music that excluding The Weekend, only Mr. In an interview with BBC earlier this year, Ocean said that he wanted this project to define him as an artist, and Channel Orange does just that. However the album itself can only be judged based on one thing the music, and this music is some of the best I’ve heard all year. With that being said, it’s inevitable that Channel Orange’s sales will be somewhat judged by Frank’s courageous choice to come out right before the album’s release. Thirty, twenty, or perhaps even just ten years ago, this type of move would’ve been career suicide for an artist in Frank’s shoes – shoes that are still fairly new yet have ran with the best of them including Kanye West, Jay-Z, Odd Future and Beyoncé. He did so through a letter on his tumblr page that was penned just as poetic as many of the songs on his debut album Channel Orange. Last week, Frank Ocean shocked his fans by revealing to the world that his first love was not with a woman, but with a man.