unlabeled, unmastered. — Millennials use labels to their advantage
Just one week before hip-hop artist Frank Ocean released his 2012 album, “Channel Orange,” he posted a letter on his Tumblr. Deeply raw and personal, the post described Ocean’s first love, who was a man.
Some fans weren’t surprised, as lyrics from the album’s single “Thinkin Bout You” had hinted at this already: “My eyes don’t shed tears, but boy they pour when I’m thinking ‘bout you.” But others were shocked that a hip-hop artist who hadn’t yet “made it big” would publicly discuss his sexuality so early in his career. He was, by expressing this aspect of his identity, labeling himself — or so we thought.
Labels can empower, but they can also be restrictive and binding. People create labels as a means of understanding and communicating ideas, revealing identities or even starting movements.
The excess of available information in 2016 makes labels more important now than ever. This is the age of hashtags and one-sentence Tinder bios; people attempt to understand concepts by reducing them down to simplistic means.
Celebrities like Frank Ocean experience the effects of these labels intensely, but Ocean took a unique approach to handling the conversation around his sexuality. He discussed his relationship with a man, but still avoided giving his sexuality a label.
Even though some thought Ocean’s personal letter was a risky career move, his album “Channel Orange” took off anyway. Ocean rose to fame quickly and his fans spent four years waiting not-so-patiently for his next album on a roller coaster of excitement, speculation, frustration and memes to pass the time.
Last month Ocean released his third album, “Blond(e),” which he accompanied with another open letter to his fans. Ocean again discusses his love for a man in this letter, and again manages to be both shockingly personal and deeply elusive: despite the assumptions of media and fans, Ocean still leaves his sexuality without a label. The album’s title itself features two gender forms, and its lyrics include a mixture of pronouns. But when asked in an interview with GQ if he considers himself bisexual, Ocean said, “You can move to the next question.”
But while only decades ago it was controversial when a celebrity came out as “gay” or “bisexual,” today it’s even more progressive to avoid these labels completely.
In this case Ocean’s refusal to define his own sexuality is the opposite of playing it safe — it’s bold.
It’s similar to how Miley Cyrus refuses to define her gender, or your next-door neighbor told you he’s not really a Republican or a Democrat. In 2004 “The L Word” depicted a group of lesbian women in West Hollywood in a queer community that was fascinatingly isolated from a heteronormative world, but today Netflix’s “Orange is the New Black” blurs this separation by depicting women in an American prison with fluid sexuality. There’s less emphasis on “coming out” and what that means, and more emphasis on the relationships themselves.
But labels are still an ever-present part of society, and choosing to either avoid them or embrace them creates challenges.
Millennials in 2016 recognize this. This generation grew up experiencing the constant changes that come with high-speed Internet, a whirlwind of media outlets and new information at the click of a button. They’re used to ideas being presented before they’re fully formed and before society can come up with a way to make sense of them.
That’s why in 2016 people fear these labels. It’s not that they’re scared to present themselves to the world, but that they’re scared that these identities will pigeonhole them into something narrow when they too are constantly growing and changing right along with the Internet.
The feminist movement promotes equality of all people, but its title serves to emphasize that a specific group of people, women, have been especially subjected to inequality and oppression. But still, some men and women refuse to identify as a feminist because they fear the aggressive, man-hating connotation that some associate with the label. The same can be said about Black Lives Matter this past year, when some Americans created a #BlueLivesMatter hashtag out of the false perception that a label emphasizing support for one group of people is automatically against all others.
People experience labels in both personal and professional contexts.
Millennials know the power of labels, and often want to include every part of themselves on their resumes out of fear that an employer will wrongly assume they don’t have enough qualifications. But personal branding involves knowing what labels to include and what not to include, because excluding a label can increase focus on the whole package. By not labeling his sexuality, Frank Ocean actually makes a statement about who he is as an artist: someone with strong convictions and quality music that can’t be compartmentalized.
During the recruiting process this means everything from students carefully choosing their top 10 visible skills on LinkedIn to tailoring their cover letters depending on each job and its requirements. As a student who applies for both reporting and marketing internships, I have two different baseline resumes that I use for my applications.
On a more personal level, millennials using labels may mean examining different viewpoints to figure out their own. It may mean simplifying their complex selves into something understandable, and quickly finding common ground when they meet someone new.
And sometimes, harnessing the power of labels means avoiding them altogether. In Frank Ocean’s case, not labeling his sexuality actually helped to break down the cultural barriers and stigmatizations around it. It was a bold and powerful choice.
Frank Ocean: GQ’s Men of the Year 2012 Interview
“People should pay attention to that in the letter: I didn’t need to label it for it to have impact. Because people realize everything that I say is so relatable, because when you’re talking about romantic love, both sides in all scenarios feel the same shit,” Ocean said in an interview with GQ. “As a writer, as a creator, I’m giving you my experiences. But just take what I give you. You ain’t got to pry beyond that. I’m giving you what I feel like you can feel. The other shit, you can’t feel. You can’t feel a box. You can’t feel a label.”
As fall and recruiting season begin, it’s important for students to analyze how their presentation impacts the way they’re perceived by employers. Instead of filling their resumes with generic buzzwords, they should consider focusing on the qualities that make them uniquely competitive applicants. However they use or don’t use them, people should take advantage of the power that labels provide.
This piece did not mention that Frank Ocean is Black. It didn’t analyze the music in “Blond(e)” — which is incredible by the way — and it didn’t give a detailed backstory on every idea that was mentioned.
Because in the abscess of information that is a millennial’s world, sometimes effective communication means only discussing the labels that are relevant at hand. And even further: simultaneously recognizing that the labels in view are important, but never the whole story.
Madison Rossi is a journalist who writes about human culture and the people who change it. Check out what she and other ProMazo writers are doing to disrupt the current job recruiting model here, and follow her on LinkedIn and Medium.
