CHANNEL ORANGE FRANK OCEAN SONG RATING TV

CHANNEL ORANGE FRANK OCEAN SONG RATING TV

Sweet Life (co-written with Pharrell Williams) builds into a huge chorus about someone whoвЂ™s вЂњhad a housekeeper and a landscaper since were bornвЂќ before the haunting and melodious backing vocals frame the throwaway yet revealing line: вЂњmy TV ainвЂ™t HD вЂ“ thatвЂ™s too realвЂќ. ItвЂ™s an incredibly strong album lyrically though we may not know how autobiographical it all is, but thereвЂ™s a strong sense of a lack of fulfilment, especially when accompanied by copious amounts of wealth. The results arenвЂ™t always as spectacular as you might expect вЂ“ with a few notable exceptions, Channel ORANGE is solid rather than spellbinding вЂ“ but his magpie instincts look set to ensure his longevity. Soul, funk, hip-hop, pop and blues are all subsumed into OceanвЂ™s world and become part of his polished aesthetic. Throughout Channel ORANGE, Ocean shows what a good ear he has, as he pilfers from other musical genres and adapts them to fit his own style.

This doesnвЂ™t mean heвЂ™s entirely a closed book though indeed, first track proper Thinkin Bout You displays a naked vulnerability thatвЂ™s as disarming as it is eloquent. In fact, Frank Ocean may be the only R&B artist who youвЂ™d like to hear talk about themselves more. His style, his vocals, his grammar and his unwillingness to self-mythologise are extraordinarily refreshing. WhatвЂ™s most striking about Channel ORANGE is how unlike most modern-day R&B singers Frank Ocean is. Such was the quality of Nostalgia ULTRA, it was difficult to keep three things in mind: that it was only a mixtape, that he is affiliated with the controversial and violent hip-hop collective, Odd Future, and that with the style of music he makes, OceanвЂ™s contemporaries are actually acts like Usher and Ne-Yo. Channel ORANGE has been one of the most anticipated albums of the year and rightly so on his 2011 mixtape, Nostalgia ULTRA, Ocean demonstrated that heвЂ™s an exciting addition to the world of popular music, with a wealth of ideas and a willingness to experiment which far outstrips the majority of his R&B peers. Of course, all this scandalised whispering and hypothesising has overshadowed the release of this record and, in the rush to make a point or three, this review has fallen into the same trap as so many before it. Ocean had spoken about sleeping with women previously therefore his falling in love with a man doesnвЂ™t make him gay any more than eating a tofu burger makes you a vegetarian. Finally, it taught us that, by and large, people have a poor understanding of the spectrum of human sexuality.

It told us that many people fall into two groups: homophobes and people who are so desperate to show theyвЂ™re not homophobic that they loudly congratulate themselves for being comfortable with the sexual preferences of others вЂ“ you know, standard human behaviour that youвЂ™d hope would be the norm and neednвЂ™t be accompanied by a fanfare of self-recognition. It told us that, despite it being 2012 ( 2012?!), who an artist fancies is still more newsworthy than the art they create. OceanвЂ™s Tumblr post and the ensuing hubbub revealed several things вЂ“ notably that he writes absolutely beautifully вЂ“ but it really said more about us than it did him. Sure, heвЂ™s had some healthy record sales in the aftermath but you canвЂ™t help but think that nobody would want the scrutiny of the media turned on them in such a fashion. There have been countless features, articles and op-ed pieces about him, though depressingly few have focused primarily on his music. Since he published a certain Tumblr post (which was initially planned to be included within Channel ORANGE itself), heвЂ™s become one of the most talked-about artists on the planet. They say thereвЂ™s no such thing as bad publicity, but Frank Ocean might have a thing or two to say about that.

Channel orange frank ocean song rating