Channel Orange

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It's hard to believe that Frank Ocean is a member of OFWGKTA when this album sits entirely on the other side of the spectrum, but even with features from Earl and Tyler, the album manages to maintain an air of maturity about it, which is refreshing to hear. Ocean's singing exhibits quickly descending chord succession and is overdubbed against his spoken vocals. Brice Ezell from PopMatters wrote that it denotes "the vital midpoint of the overarching narrative", where "the wittier tone of the record's front half gives way to an emotionally dense second half.

A quiet outlier, he scored notable collaborations with Jay-Z and Kanye West, yet managed to breach popular culture without making much noise. A lot of the music sounds very similar to Drake's R'n'B work, except Ocean's vocals are on another level. Music journalist Alexis Petridis asserted that the song "repurpos[es] the battle between religion and lust that's been at the heart of soul music since it ceded from gospel". He titled the album as a reference to the neurological phenomenon grapheme–color synesthesia, through which he had perceived the color orange during the summer he first fell in love. a distorted version of the tumblr-leaked track 'Voodoo' could be heard underneath the album's outro.Earl Sweatshirt's vocals on Super Rich Kids, adds an extra element to the track which I really like. Ocean conveys his messages with an innocent zeal, displaying a youthful expression that’s equally reserved and mischievous. Their stage setup featured a guitarist, bassist, drummer, two pianos, and a DJ setup behind television monitor props, [100] which showed ever-changing images. Priya Elan of NME said the "inventive and spirited" album's music occasionally sounds overindulgent. His recent sexual revelation sent shockwaves through the internet, and his television debut on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon catapulted the young crooner into mainstream allure.

Randall Roberts of the Los Angeles Times categorized Channel Orange as a concept album about "the twentysomething experience in Los Angeles", [41] while Greg Kot interpreted the California setting to be "a state of mind in Ocean['s] world: numb, deceptively luxurious and self-satisfied, where the denizens live disconnected from one another and the world. Ocean spent more time with Malay, introducing him to his Odd Future collective, while connecting creatively through their respective songwriting, which led to their partnership for Channel Orange. He was inspired by West and Jay-Z, who prevented their 2011 album Watch the Throne from leaking by announcing several misleading release dates.Ocean and Malay previewed songs to rock musician John Mayer, which inspired his guitar playing for both "Pyramids" and "White".

The new wave-styled "Lost" is about a perplexed addict, [56] who hopes for a better life for him and his drug-cooking girlfriend. Ocean's manager Christian Clancy responded in a message on Twitter that he found it "interesting" that Target "also donates to non-equal rights organizations", suggesting their decision was influenced by Ocean's coming out. when he's singing maybe from a female perspective or whatever, it's a story, it's a world that he created. Although its wide physical release was scheduled for July 17, [81] Universal encouraged physical retailers to start selling it immediately after they receive shipments of the album. Malay joined him as the tour's musical director and said that it would expand on the production of Ocean's previous concerts for Nostalgia, Ultra.

Rather than rely on samples as he had with his mixtape, Ocean wanted to approach sound and song structure differently on the album. Music journalist Sasha Frere-Jones noted "a combination of decadence and spiritual ache similar to Prince's". Ocean also performed "Thinkin Bout You" and "Pyramids" on Saturday Night Live on September 15, the latter of which featured John Mayer on guitar.