Frank Ocean is now one of the most talked about artists for reasons outside of his music. In recent history, he had a moment of “coming out of the closet”. Now being referred to as “homosexual” or “bisexual”, many people have opinions. Most of the music world, however, has accepted him. Even more so, many artists are concerned for the music. Meaning: they could care less about his bedroom drama. For the most part, they are only wondering about the greatness of his music and its eventual release. As such, Channel Orange came out a week early (July 10, 2012) on Itunes. Before any physical CD’s come out, many of us will witness what Frank Ocean can offer R&B and music as a whole.

 

From many listens, Frank Ocean is as captivating a story teller on Channel Orange as he was on Nostalgia, Ultra.

 

What drives the songs is the intricate emotion that is unleashed on each track. When there is joy, pain, or indifference, all emotions come across visually through the words. “Sweet Life” unleashes the feelings of posh relevance and the mentality of opulence and affluence. “Crack Rock” explores the pitfalls of addiction, while “Super Rich Kids” mentions the mentality of the irresponsible and unsupervised youth with the benefits of money. And every song is matched with the proper emotion to catapult them into the stratosphere of remembrance.

 

Plus, how many artists you know that can make crack rock and Majin Buu sound melodiously worthwhile? I’ll wait on the response.

 

Impressively, the music is complimentary of the emotive lyrics. “Pyramids” shifts mid-song to demonstrate a shift within the story. “Pink Matter” is so beautifully subtle with its guitar licks, keyboard stabs, and string instrument orchestration. The simple bluesy guitar of “Forrest Gump” unleashes the scenery of juke joints and reflections of a male similar to Tom Hanks. As subtle as the production cam seem, they were a perfect match for the lyrics that Frank Ocean put together.

 

This album just demonstrates what many fans realized a long time ago: Frank Ocean can make fabulous music. Nostalgia, Ultra was just the tip of the iceberg. Channel Orange is the true step into the mind of Frank Ocean. His mind, with all intents and purposes, is quite the visual and surreal experience. This album is like a television network full of different programming. Thus, it can be understood why many will leave their “TV’s” on Channel Orange: the programming is quite engaging.