Christopher “Lonny” Francis William Ocean, better known as Frank Ocean, is a 36 year old LGBT singer from Long Beach, California. He started off writing lyrics for other artists like Beyonce and Justin Bieber. He also joined the group Odd Future in 2009, with members like Tyler, The Creator and Earl Sweatshirt. He released his first mixtape Nostalgia, Ultra in 2011. This mixtape helped him gain a record deal with Def Jam recordings. Soon after, he released his first album, Channel Orange. This album won multiple awards, including a Grammy. Then, in 2016, Frank released, my personal favorite album, Blonde.
My favorite part about Frank’s music is the way he expresses his emotions and thoughts. On his album Blonde, on the first track titled “Nikes,” the first verse has multiple meanings. The verse says, “These [explicit] want Nikes, They looking for a check.” According to Genius.com, “It’s a triple entendre, looking for a check as in Nike the shoe, cheque as in money and check as in validation from their friends while wearing Nikes.” I love verses like this because they can be interpreted any way the audience would like. That’s not all though. The whole song, in the words of Genius.com, is “a critique of the trappings of materialistic hedonism…” This means, he is talking about the issue of seeking validation by, in this case, wearing something everyone else is, that being Nikes.
Another thing I love about Frank’s music is how the beats and lyrics in his songs can make you feel different emotions. Songs like “Ivy” can make you want to cry, with lyrics like “I broke your heart last week, you’ll probably feel better by the weekend,” while songs like “Super Rich Kids” can make you feel more upbeat with the bass and and the sound of the piano throughout the song. It’s not only the lyrics he uses or the beats, it’s also the way he makes the words flow together. If you’ve ever listened to Frank Ocean, you know his words fit together perfectly, putting your feelings into words.
“He has nice music and like, um- his songs have like, a very heavy heartfelt meaning and like, he’s gay like me,” said eighth grader Jazlyn Garnica, an occasional listener of Frank Ocean.
“My favorite album is Blonde. I like Frank Ocean because his music is very soothing. It makes me calm. It makes me think about things,” said eighth grader Jaylynn Aparicio, who listens to him often.
I also love how every track on each of his albums flow together to make a story. His second album, Blonde, is an example of that. According to listener interpretation and Genius.com, the album talks about Frank’s coming-of -age. This is evident with the use of pitching his voice higher on certain songs on the album. The title of the album, Blonde, has also been seen as a way to talk about himself when he was younger, as for many children their hair starts off lighter, getting darker as they grow up. In an interview with The New York Times, Frank stated, “Sometimes I felt like you weren’t hearing enough versions of me within a song…my point of view from one emotional state to another is a different point of view.”
The album talks about falling in and out of love with someone, many listeners saying it sounds like what a failed talking stage, or “situation-ship,” feels like. It also brings up themes of drugs, this being shown in the first verse of “White Ferrari”: “Better not to talk on these rides. Mind on the road, your dilated eyes watch the clouds float.” His music also talks about failed relationships, with the lyric from “Nikes”: “He don’t care for me, but he cares for me.”
Overall, Frank Ocean is one of the greatest musical artists, in my opinion. The way he went from a ghostwriter to a phenomenal musician in the span of a few years is so inspiring. Frank’s known for going on hiatus, his first being between the release of his two albums, lasting four years. Now, it’s been eight years since his last release. Me, and many other listeners are waiting impatiently for a new release. Frank is still active on his Instagram, “@Blonded”, posting stories from time to time, but regardless of him being on a hiatus from music, he will always be an inspiration for upcoming artists.
