Channel Orange: Why It Was One of the Best Albums in the 2010s
An album review
During these quarantine times, it is nice to revisit some good old classics in a Spotify playlist. I did so the other day. I went into a 2010s playlist and I shuffled upon Super Rich Kids randomly. I listened through the song’s catchy beats and, before I knew it, I found myself listening through the whole album: Channel Orange. Released in 2012 by the debut artist Frank Ocean, this album went on to achieve great commercial and critical success. Rolling Stone, GQ Magazine, Billboard: they have all ranked Channel Orange as one of the best albums of the entire decade. Moreover, beyond its mainstream success, Channel Orange presented an innovative music composition and treated relevant topics in its lyrics that present an adequate criticism of today’s society. With chill beats, an accurate LA vibe, and some bold and fresh lyrics, Channel Orange by Frank Ocean is an album that deserves to be in those historic Halls of Fame.
Frank Ocean is, among other things, an American musician. He was born as Christopher Edwin Braux on October 28th, 1987. He started to work on the Channel Orange album after working on a previous mixtape (Nostalgia Ultra) and featuring in songs by well-renowned artists, such as Kanye West and Tyler the Creator. Ocean worked on Channel Orange alongside producers like Malay and Pharrell Williams. Ocean claims he even wrote the album’s lyrics in two weeks. He inspired his lyrics from his own experiences, along with references to movies, games, cultural masterpieces, and his birth state of California. Moreover, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, and Sly and the Family Stone were all considered musical and lyrical influences over Channel Orange. The album was mostly recorded at EastWest Studios in Hollywood throughout 2011 and 2012.
Later on, Channel Orange was released on July 17th, 2012. Metacritic gave the album a score of 92 over 100, and it received almost universal critical acclaim. Commercially, Channel Orange peaked #2 in the Billboard 200 chart in the summer of 2012. Furthermore, the album won a Grammy for Best Urban Contemporary Album in 2013, earned Grammy nominations for Album of the Year and Record of the Year, and it ended up as one of the most praised albums in 2012.
And yet, the question remains: what makes the album so extraordinary? On the one hand, the album’s lyrics are an element that contributes to Channel Orange’s greatness. There are four aspects of the album’s lyrics that make them stand out over 2010s music: they uniquely reference cultural art pieces, they discuss social issues and inequality, they raise awareness about the LGBT+ community, and they show a strong cohesion that unites the album under a common mood, tone, and harmony.
First, Channel Orange’s cultural references are masterfully crafted in the album’s lyrics. The track Thinkin’ ‘Bout You is an example, which lyrics begin as follows:
A tornado flew around my room before you came
Excuse the mess I made, it usually doesn’t rain in
Southern California, much like Arizona
My eyes don’t shed tears, but boy, they blow
When I’m thinkin’ ‘bout you […] [1]
According to the music platform Genius, Frank Ocean uses two cultural references to describe a relevant moment in his childhood in the song’s first verse. The song references It Never Rains In Southern California by Albert Hammond as both songs’ lyrics describe California’s rain as extremely rare, but always pouring. Also, Thinkin’ ‘Bout You references the 1939 movie Wizard of Oz. In the movie, its main character is swept to another world through a tornado. Frank Ocean uses the two references to symbolize the past trauma he developed with Hurricane Katrina, which he experienced when living in New Orleans at the time it happened. Thinkin’ ‘Bout You is a perfect example of how complex metaphors enrich both the quality of the album and the emotions Ocean intended to portray when he recorded Channel Orange.
The track Forrest Gump is another example. According to Pitchfork, the whole track references the 1994 movie of the same name. In the movie Forrest Gump, the eponymous protagonist has a love interest named Jenny. Though the movie ends up with Jenny and Forrest together, the movie shows a moment where Forrest runs past Jenny because she had previously turned down a marriage proposal of his. In comparison, the song Forrest Gump uses the movie’s plot as a metaphor to describe a similar experience — how a person can wait for a lover that is not and will never be requited.
I saw your game, Forrest
I was screaming “run, forty-four!”
But you kept running past the end zone
Oh, where’d you go, Forrest?
Forrest Gump[…] [2]
Just like Forrest Gump ran past the end zone in the movie’s plot, the song is referring to a person that is running past somebody else’s love. Forrest Gump is a song that shows a masterful domain over the cinematic representation of personal sensations and experiences.
Start and Sweet Life are further examples. Start is the first track of the album, and it symbolizes the richness of the cultural references made in the whole album. Rather than merely being a conventional song, Start is a metaphor. The track features a sound sample of a Play Station console being set. According to Genius, Start references Frank Ocean’s love for videogames when he was a kid. Furthermore, the song symbolizes the beginning of a group of experiences that are very well united within a cohesive album. In comparison, Sweet Life features a particularly interesting reference to the 1999 famous film The Matrix. In the movie, the protagonist Neo is given the chance to choose a blue pill to stay unconscious and blissful, instead of waking up from The Matrix’s virtual reality. According to Pitchfork, Frank Ocean references the pill element from The Matrix in his song, Sweet Life.
The water’s blue, shallow the pill
Keepin’ it surreal, whatever you like
Whatever feels good, whatever takes your mountain high […] [3]
In the song, Ocean uses a movie reference to enrich his description of a privileged lifestyle that ignores the social problems that afflict the rest of the world. Various devices within Channel Orange allude film and art classics to portray multiple, deep emotions in its lyrics.
Secondly, Channel Orange’s lyrics discuss social inequality as well. The tracks Sweet Life and Super Rich Kids both talk about the ridiculousness of rich people’s lifestyles. Both songs serve as a satire over the blindness privileged people may present over real-world problems. Sweet Life and Super Rich Kids show the social awareness the whole album presents — both songs represent the shallowness of a capitalist world and, within it, the lives of people who base their self-worth on wealth. The two songs are complemented by the track Not Just Money. It is a spoken monologue from the perspective of someone’s mother, which lyrics talk about how money is valuable because it brings happiness (despite what other people may argue). Following a plastic 2000s pop culture, Frank Ocean seemed to be ahead of his time in 2012, before woke people and cancel culture even existed. Beautifully, Channel Orange paves its way to enlighten social inequality and shallow privilege within the metaphors of its lyrics.
Next, Channel Orange’s lyrics shed a light on LGBTQ+ awareness. The album’s lyrics do not follow the mainstream trend of heterosexual lyrics. Instead, Channel Orange discusses lyrics that describe love interests towards both men and women. As previously stated, the track Forrest Gump is an example. The track bases its lyrics over the perspective of Forrest Gump’s love interest, Jenny. Therefore, the lyrics express a love interest for a man, as they are sung by a male voice. Forrest Gump is a track that references bisexuality in its lyrics — it describes the passion and fear a lover can feel when they love somebody they should not. Though other songs in the album, like Pyramids, describe heterosexual love stories, the album successfully shows bisexuality without any stigma. Channel Orange holds no fear in mixing gender pronouns to describe love in its most natural way.
And finally, Channel Orange feels like a TV channel indeed. Throughout the whole album, sound effects point out a cohesive element that makes the album a unique, synesthetic experience. For instance, the tracks Start and End respectively begin the album with the sound of a TV being turned on and finish it with the sound of a TV being turned off. Furthermore, some tracks deepen the notion that the album is similar to a TV channel. For example, Fertilizer is a track that lacks complex lyrics and discusses consumerism in a jingly, happy, and simple tune. The song truly feels like a TV commercial amidst two other tracks. Channel Orange features the illusion of a TV machine throughout the production of its further tracks. Volume shifts, TV buzzes, spoken monologues: Channel Orange is successful with its purpose to build a metaphor and unite the tracks under a single synesthetic album… Just like a network’s programming on a TV channel.
On the other hand, Channel Orange is innovative within the realms of pop and R&B music. Sometimes, the album features classical instruments that create the sensation of being in an opera house. Violins, church organs, pianos: Channel Orange is an album that adheres itself to unconventional music instruments to create songs that still sound contemporary and fresh. Still, the album is produced and mixed alongside beats and EDM samples. Therefore, Channel Orange is a masterfully crafted music collection, that mixes classical opera and jazz melodies with the genres of pop, R&B, and a small taste of EDM. Channel Orange does justice to its lyrics with its music because it takes its listeners into a depiction of the feelings Frank Ocean aims to portray that goes beyond the power of words.
Like no other album, Channel Orange deserves the praise it got when it was released. The album is a masterful ode to cinematic and pop culture while it is also a faithful portrayal of Frank Ocean’s synesthetic feelings and thoughts. The album takes its 20th-century influences and it combines them with a new and fresh sound. Furthermore, the album sheds a light over the LGBTQ+ community and the problems of a capitalist, socially unequal world. The album builds a social awareness in its lyrics like few other albums have done so in the 2010s. With its lyrical poetry and a new approach to contemporary music, Channel Orange by Frank Ocean is an artistic masterpiece that will hardly ever be forgotten in pop culture history.
Bibliography and other references
Billboard. “Chart History: Frank Ocean”. In Billboard, accessed on July 16th, 2020. https://www.billboard.com/music/Frank-Ocean/chart-history/TLP.
Billboard Staff. “Grammys 2013: Winners List”. On Billboard, February 10th, 2013. https://www.billboard.com/articles//1538685/grammys-2013-winners-list.
Billboard Staff. “The 100 Greatest Albums of the 2010s: Staff Picks”. On Billboard, November 19th, 2019. https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/list/8543722/best-albums-of-the-2010s-top-100.
Caramanica, Jon. “Creating His Own Gravity”. In The New York Times, July 8th, 2012. https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/08/arts/music/frank-oceans-channel-orange.html?pagewanted=all.
Caramanica, Jon. “Frank Ocean Is Finally Free, Mystery Intact”. In The New York Times, November 20th, 2016. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/20/arts/music/frank-ocean-blonde-interview.html.
Complex. “Interview: Frank Ocean’s Co-Writer And Producer Malay Talks About Making “Channel Orange,” Andre 3000 and Kanye’s Help, And Frank Coming Out”. In Complex, July 6th, 2012. https://www.complex.com/music/2012/07/interview-frank-ocean-channel-orange-producer-malay.
Dolan, Jon, et al. “The 100 Best Albums of the 2010s”. In Rolling Stone, December 3rd, 2019. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-albums-2010s-ranked-913997/.
Genius Contributors. “Start”. In Genius, accessed on July 16th, 2020. https://genius.com/Frank-ocean-start-lyrics.
Genius Contributors. “Thinkin’ ‘Bout You”. In Genius, accessed on July 16th, 2020. https://genius.com/Frank-ocean-thinkin-bout-you-lyrics.
Kellman, Andy. “Frank Ocean | Biography by Andy Kellman”. In AllMusic, accessed on July 16th, 2020. https://www.allmusic.com/artist/frank-ocean-mn0002592086/biography.
Kennedy, Gerrick D. “Grammys 2013: Frank Ocean wins for urban contemporary album”. In Los Angeles Times, February 10th, 2013. https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/la-xpm-2013-feb-10-la-et-ms-grammys-2013-urban-contemporary-album-winner-20130209-story.html.
Metacritic. “Channel Orange by Frank Ocean”. In Metacritic, accessed on July 16th, 2020. https://www.metacritic.com/music/channel-orange/frank-ocean.
Ocean, Frank. Channel Orange. The Island Def Jam Music Group. 2012.
Pitchfork. “Cataloging Frank Ocean’s Obsession with Film”. In Pitchfork, December 1st, 2015. https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/969-cataloging-frank-oceans-obsession-with-film/.
The Editors of GQ. “The Best Albums That Shaped the 2010s”. In GQ Magazine, December 19th, 2019. https://www.gq.com/story/the-best-albums-of-the-2010s.
[1] “Thinkin’ ‘Bout You”, Spotify, track 2 on Frank Ocean, Channel Orange, The Island Def Jam Music Group, 2012. https://open.spotify.com/album/392p3shh2jkxUxY2VHvlH8?highlight=spotify:track:1VMdwVq0yaTc4DeqSCi7DO.
[2] “Forrest Gump”, Spotify, track 16 on Frank Ocean, Channel Orange, The Island Def Jam Music Group, 2012. https://open.spotify.com/album/392p3shh2jkxUxY2VHvlH8.
[3] “Sweet Life”, Spotify, track 5 on Frank Ocean, Channel Orange, The Island Def Jam Music Group, 2012. https://open.spotify.com/album/392p3shh2jkxUxY2VHvlH8?highlight=spotify:track:4YZbVct8l9MnAVIROnLQdx.