Frank Ocean Unleashed
Frank Ocean is a quiet superstar. In an era of oversharing, Ocean seems to be one of few singers who values privacy and absence. While the lives of other singers are the subject of constant discussion, Ocean provides little to no personal details to his fans, opting to maintain an aura of mystery. Stars like Kanye constantly tweet out thoughts like, “Man…ninjas are kind of cool…I just don’t know any personally,” but Ocean maintains virtually no social media presence, save for a Tumblr he posts on infrequently. In contrast to other stars who tour constantly, appearing at festival after festival, Ocean is nowhere to be found. His live performances are about as rare as a shooting star sighting — a set in Denmark last summer was his first in three years.
It follows, then, that Ocean’s new music appears as frequently as he does, which is to say almost never. Fans eagerly anticipated a follow-up to Ocean’s Grammy-winning, genre-defying Channel Orange, and despite the endless speculation it took a little over four years for Ocean to release his Endless and Blonde albums. During this hiatus, Ocean was a mute, silent except for the occasional collaboration with Tyler, the Creator and Jay-Z.
All of this has changed since Blonde. Despite Ocean’s propensity for waiting what seems like eons between new music, he has recently been producing music at a furious rate with a profusion of releases either coming from his infrequent Beats1 radio show “blondedRADIO” or just randomly appearing on music streaming services like Spotify. These singles include “Chanel,” “Biking,” “Provider,” “Lens,” and most recently, “Moon River.”
So, what changed? Why has Ocean the recluse, so removed for so long, suddenly decided to share music at this unprecedented rate? The answer lies at least partly in the music itself, in the lyrics and tone of his new releases.
In 2009, Ocean signed a three-album contract with Def Jam Records, but during and after the release of the first two albums he began a “seven-year chess game” with the label, aiming to regain control of his work and extricate himself from the contract. The Endless/Blonde combo was his tour de force: Endless was produced and distributed by Def Jam, thus fulfilling the three-album requirement and releasing him from label purgatory. One day later, Ocean independently dropped Blonde, which instantly rose to the top of the Billboard 200 albums chart and ended up being the third-largest release in 2016.
“Chanel” was the first of his series of single releases, dropping in March 2017. The song is an extension of many of the themes of Blonde. The album’s cover art, with a stylized “blond” and an androgynous picture of Ocean, emphasizes gender fluidity within a world that sees “blond” as masculine and “blonde” as feminine. Ocean continues this theme on “Chanel,” starting off with the lyrics “My guy pretty like a girl / But he got fight stories to tell / I see on both sides like Chanel / See on both sides like Chanel.” Ocean, who is bisexual, is exploring both sides of his partner: he is pretty in a traditionally feminine sense, yet he feels a need to prove his masculinity through fighting. In this instance, the Chanel logo is Ocean’s metaphor for gender fluidity: the two C’s facing each other are traditional roles for men and women, and Ocean explores the part where they interlock. Musically, the song is also an extension of Blonde, which used melody and instrumentation sparingly. “Chanel” uses a simple drum and light piano, allowing the listener to focus mainly on Ocean’s voice and lyrics.
Then, during the summer came “Biking,” which signaled a subtle shift away from “Chanel” and Blonde. “Biking” is about exactly what the title suggests, although Ocean hides deeper meaning behind the carefree image of riding a bike, using it as a rollercoaster-type metaphor for the ups and downs of life. The song is simply happier than most of his earlier work, and he uses stronger, more rhythmic beats that are simultaneously forceful and relaxed. He belts, “God gave you what you could handle / What you could handle / I got the grip like the handle / And I’m bikin’ / I’m bikin’ with me and my Daniel.” While lines like these still spout common themes found in Ocean’s work — his “Daniel” is most likely a biblical allusion to the possible homosexual relationship between Daniel and Ashpenaz — Ocean has a newfound confidence not really seen in Blonde. He has mastered the bike, he has a stable grip on the handles of his life, and he is declaring who he is with an authoritative tone that directly contrasts his crooning, melancholy voice on older songs, “Bad Religion” chief among them.
This confidence is also apparent in the few recent interviews Ocean has done with reporters. “I’m in a very different place than I was four or five years ago with all that [relationship] stuff,” he said in a New York Times story following the release of Blonde. “Different in my relationship with myself, which means everything. There’s no, like, shame or self-loathing. There’s no, you know, crisis.”
“Lens” and “Provider” both dropped later in the summer through Ocean’s blondedRADIO. Both songs are lyrically complex, typical of Ocean’s work. The former, which relies on an electric keyboard and drums that build throughout the song, mainly focuses on people who have inspired him throughout his life and career. In the chorus, he repeatedly sings “I feel their smiles on me,” and at the end of the songs he names a number of individuals he has connections with, singing “Lionel got a lens / Janet got a lens / Matthew got a lens on me right now / Cleve got a lens / Kevin got a lens.” The song is both a word of thanks to people he feels indebted to and a reflection on the pressure he feels to live up to the expectations of those he cares about. The line about smiles, however, seems to indicate that Ocean embraces the pressure, rather than retreating away from it.
“Provider” is simple but effective. Ocean’s lyrics have some moody, romantic themes (which are also present in “Lens”), but he also talks about the path he has provided for other singers and the trappings of success he has seen in those people. While it is not as positive as “Biking” or “Lens,” Ocean’s ability to navigate between these completely different lyrical worlds is a testament to his musical range and confidence. He is the tsunami, a natural force unleashed.
After the August release of “Provider,” six months elapsed without a release. Ocean hinted on Twitter this past November that he might be sitting on a completed album, but if he is he has declined to share that with the rest of the world. It seemed as if Ocean’s wave of music was over.
And then, on Valentine’s Day, Ocean did something that he had only done a couple times before: a song cover. It was a synthesized, primitive, gut-turning rendition of Audrey Hepburn’s 1961 classic “Moon River,” one of the most widely covered songs of the past 50 years. Artists from Amy Winehouse to Frank Sinatra have put their own spin on the song, but Ocean’s is unlike any other. He starts singing with a high-pitched autotune voice, similar to “Nikes” on Blonde, crooning the famous lines: “Moon river, wider than a mile.” Although he switches back to non-autotuned singing shortly afterwards, the variance in the tone and volume of his voice throughout the song is masterful, shifting in a way that brings out the emotional love and heartbreak already in the lyrics. Ocean also creates gorgeous harmonies, layering his crescendoing voice until it sounds like a chorus of pure gold. The music is a perfect accompaniment. A muted guitar strums electronically-tinged chords throughout, allowing the Ocean’s melody to shine. Of all Ocean’s new releases, “Moon River” might be his best. It is the most meaningful, the most vulnerable, and the most fundamentally human of the bunch.
Ocean turned 30 last October, about a year after he fulfilled his record contract and took back complete control of his music. He is now free: free from restraint, free from the demands of labels, free from self-doubt, and his new music certainly reflects this change. Although we can never really be sure what to expect from the enigmatic Ocean, I, for one, hope he continues to push his boundaries with new musical releases. Who knows what else he has in store.
