By Socratis Santik Oglou,
I believe that the music industry nowadays is rife with drama, controversies, and unhealthy behaviours. However, there are only a few musicians that prefer to keep their private affairs private in this enormous ocean of controversy and rumors, with Frank Ocean leading the charge.
One of the artists of the twenty-first century who is most cherished is Frank. Frank Ocean was born and reared in New Orleans, where he was greatly influenced by the thriving jazz scene there. Since he was a young child, Frank has lived in a dorm at the University of New Orleans; however, just a few days before Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005, when his recently constructed, labor-intensive home recording studio was destroyed by the floods, he made the decision to leave his education and family behind and head to Los Angeles with $1,000 in cash, intending to stay for six weeks while finishing some recordings he had planned while there. He got in touch with several people in the music business and was able to secure a permanent position as a songwriter. For Justin Bieber, Beyonce, and John Legend, Frank created tunes. For many years, he was able to make a good livelihood this way.
When he met Tyler the Creator and joined the now-famous hip hop group Odd Future in 2010, his own musical career in the late 2000s got underway. Frank Ocean has released four full-length albums to date, and with each new one, he only manages to become more secretive and mysterious. When his debut mixtape, Nostalgia Ultra, was released in 2011, the news was received with immediate acclaim. The tape featured samples of songs by Coldplay, MGMT, and even Radiohead, some of Frank’s favourite bands from his adolescence.
The lyricism of nostalgia was appreciated for focusing on personal reflection, social commentary, and Frank’s previous relationships. The Orange channel the year after Frank’s first studio album was released; it was a more accomplished work than Nostalgia Ultra, produced primarily by Frank with help from Pharrell Williams. By incorporating elements of jazz, psychedelia, funk, and other genres, this record offers a unique perspective on our culture. The intricate and sensitive lyrics explore Frank’s own experiences with romance, drugs, and contemporary excess. Frank’s unusual aesthetic and creative approach was recognised by the general public thanks to Channel Orange, which earned a Grammy Award for best urban contemporary album of 2012.
Around this period, Frank made the decision to further disassociate himself from his already minimal public presence. Frank gave over 15 interviews in 2011 and 2012, the most of which were unscheduled chats that focused mainly on his musical influences and recent achievements. Only a few occasions did he open out to the media; the most notable instance was during his lengthy GQ interview in late 2012, which also happened to be one of the final times he would speak with the media for years. The interview covered two areas of Frank’s life that, while fascinating to fans, have little to do with the music: his turbulent childhood and his unclear sexuality. He strongly defended his right to privacy as an artist, arguing that his only duty is to share his feelings through song and nothing more, when the GQ reporter asked Frank if he was bisexual. Frank’s response to the question bordered on violence.
A few months later, Frank canceled his Twitter account; it was undoubtedly a divisive action. Twitter can be an artist’s main form of communication with the outside world while they are between projects, but it can also be a distraction. Frank’s reaction to a fan who questioned his choice on Tumblr intuitively was just one word, with no further explanations. It would be more than three years before Frank Ocean released his next album Blonde, and the wait for it was agonizingly long. Artists today tour endlessly drop singles, tease fans online, and stir up drama to build high; Frank did none of that but to help him found itself caught up in controversy anyhow, being plagued by demanding fans and rumors for years when Blonde was confirmed to exist in July of 2016 after years of speculation and rumor there was yet more drama.
Blonde was immediately hailed as a masterpiece; it received raving reviews and was universally regarded as one of the best albums to be released that year. However, after its release, Frank vanished once more, declining to tour it or participate in interviews. He even neglected to submit it for consideration at the Grammys, stating in his lone interview with the New York Times that he thought the award system was outdated. The protracted and frustrating wait for Frank’s next project began. He gave a Tumblr indication before the end of last year that his follow-up record was finished, but since then, nothing has been announced. He also made an uncredited appearance on Travis Scott’s Astroworld, singing on the second track, Carousels.
Even if it takes another two years for Frank to reappear, I won’t mind because the essence of his creative spirit tells us clearly that he lives his life and we live our lives and when he has something more to say, he says it and we listen. Frank has established himself as one of the most talented artists of our generation and he continues to create thoughtful, introspective masterpieces that are quickly regarded as some of the best ever made.
References
- Frank Ocean’s Blonde dissected: ‘A cultural artefact that deserves to be studied’, the guardian.com, Available here
- A Look Back: Blonde by Frank Ocean, medium.com, Available here
