Andre 3000 appears on “Pink Matter” Ocean initially reached out to both Andre and Big Boi, but Andre refused to have OutKast reunite on another artist’s song. Fellow Odd Future member Earl Sweatshirt continues his resurgence on “Super Rich Kids,” while John Mayer lends his distinctive guitar tones to both “Pyramids” and “White,” though he is uncredited on the former. The album’s features are few and far between, and Ocean chose them wisely. Ocean’s storytelling comes to a peak in “Pyramids,” where he uses a lengthy metaphor surrounding Cleopatra and relates it to the experience of working as a stripper for a living. Channel Orange often feels like it goes against the grain in a world and genre that frequently glorifies the very things that the album vilifies it provides a breath of fresh air. Ocean’s lyrics provide the primary connecting thread through the album, with common themes of unrequited love (particularly for Ocean), drug use and drug abuse, and the consequences of a decadent lifestyle.
Several interludes mediate the album’s pace, characterizing each one’s subsequent track. Each song feels like its own album, though none of them feel like they don’t belong on the same album. Though generally an R&B album, the songs take influences from a wide range of other genres, such as funk, soul, pop, and psychadelic music. The album’s production is stellar, with the beats for every track composed by Malay, who worked closely with Ocean throughout the entire process of writing and recording. The album takes its time with song, only a few of them ramping up the tempo, with great effect as a result.
Ocean’s voice is hypnotic, with a startling amount of range, able to go from deep, full baritone to falsetto within a single line. For now, the music.Ĭhannel Orange sits comfortably in the R&B spectrum, with large swathes of hip-hop across it as well, some from Ocean himself, some from his few vocal collaborators scattered across the tracks. We’ll talk a little bit more about the circumstances surrounding the album in a bit. I remember thinking “this man is the future.” I remember the day Ocean came out, the waves it made in the R&B and hip-hop scenes. I came across the song “Pyramids” before the album came out, and was immediately dragged in by the ambition and scope of the track’s production. I vividly remember where I was when I first came across Ocean’s music – in my father’s house, spending the summer in Georgia. Frank Ocean noted in an interview that he had the track list laid out before he even started recording not a single song was moved, from that initial track list to the final product sitting on my desk. From “Start” to “End,” this is an album put together so meticulously, so thoughtfully, that very little of it ever feels out of place. You may have to select a menu option or click a button.That’s the first thought that popped into my mind, the first time I finished the album.
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