Except the critical love was curiously qualified in the same, specific way. See the zombie-filled mania below:īut there's more for everyone on Channel Orange, too.Earlier this month, Frank Ocean‘s first proper album Channel Orange turned 10, which naturally prompted writers to sing the praises of the highly acclaimed 2010s landmark. And, the album is simply excellent.įor instance, the spare, bewitching lead single 'Thinkin' 'Bout You' soars when Ocean croons in a falsetto: 'Or do you not think so far ahead/'Cause I've been thinkin' 'bout forever.' It is a touching, universal sentiment for any of you who've ever had sleepless nights or even midday bouts of lovelorn restlessness. Today's release of his first proper debut, Channel Orange, coming on the heels of this, feels somewhat celebratory for mankind. And as a gay African-American male who loves pop, hip-hop, and pretty much everything else, Ocean's 'coming out' means a lot to me. Since then, much has been opined over what Ocean's coming out means for hip-hop how the tiring masculine trope of the 'real black man' can be finally laid to rest. Ocean came out on his Tumblr (very poignantly his story wasn't 'everyone's story,' but his own). Something pretty amazing happened a few weeks ago, as if to confirm critics' early votes for Frank Ocean to single-handedly reignite R&B's alleged fallen torch. With Nostalgia, many critics identified promise in Ocean, suggesting that he, with his startlingly-honest lyrics and skilled, nuanced singing would reflect and comment on the everybody's-got-a-story era we are now living in. Ocean has always remained relatively above the fray last year, his excellent breakout mixtape, Nostalgia, Ultra earned him universal acclaim. 24-year-old Frank Ocean, as some of you may know, is the velvet-voiced, 'prog-R&B' portion of the young and fiercely talented Odd Future collective, who stirred up lots of Internet buzz and controversy last year through a series of explicit, musically challenging mixtapes and their dynamite-and-occasionally-offensive off-wax personalities (mainly: 20-year-old Tyler, the Creator, Odd Future's head founder). Now that Throwback Tuesday is out of the way, let's segue to this week's review.

Channel orange review