MUSIC LYF: Frank Ocean

Who is FRANK OCEAN?

Oblivious to the local music scene is a 24 year old American singer-songwriter named FRANK OCEAN who happens to be heating up the World Wide Web after unleashing his new album, “channel ORANGE”, and later stating how he has fallen in love with someone of the same sex as revealed in the album’s liner notes. In the past few weeks, Frank Ocean has nearly gotten 1.5 Million tweets and has been featured on 5,192 blogs. The album has also trended worldwide and has been tweeted 154,887 times. SPIN Magazine expressed that "A lot of people are going to love this man (Ocean) very soon." People Magazine stated that “channel ORANGE is not just the best debut of 2012 – it’s the best album period.” 

But who is Frank Ocean? In a world that divvies up art by genre, that constantly seeks to quantify cool, he is impossible to miss. His music style is reminiscent of R&B singer D’Angelo’s sexy slow jams, Robin Thicke’s smooth falsetto voice and Maxwell’s honest-to-goodness classic soul sound. Frank had long labored behind the curtain – writing for Justin Bieber, John Legend and Brandy among others. A self-released mixtape entitled “Nostalgia, Ultra” in 2011 led him to critical acclaim gaining the interest of recording artists such as Kanye West, Beyonce and Jay-Z. This milestone in his career ultimately led him to the birth of his debut studio album “channel ORANGE”. 

“channel ORANGE” includes seventeen tracks which feature the three charting singles, “Thinkin’ ‘Bout You”, “Pyramids” and “Sweet Life”. Frank Ocean has quickly proven himself to be among the most gifted singer-songwriters of his generation with this new album. His major-label debut swings from Stevie-style keyboard breeziness to 90s bap and R&B to mystic psych rock to crunching 8-bit funk without thinking twice. Indeed, his first studio album already feels like a genuine classic.

Frank Ocean’s new album channel ORANGE is out now in CDs exclusively under MCA Music available at Astroplus and Odyssey Music & Video. Get it online via iTunes or www.MyMusicStore.com.ph. Special thanks to: BusinessWorld and HerWord.com