Frank Ocean is finally getting the recognition he deserves ever since he managed to come out of the shadow of the group he is in, led by Tyler, the Creator. His Nostaligia/Ultra mixtape introduced the world to his brand of r&b music and his style of writing. After the success of his mixtape, he has worked with industry heavyweights that include Jay-Z, Kanye West, Beyonce and Brandy, and even though his personal life has been the subject of media attention lately, he has successfully shifted the attention back to his amazing debut album, a collection of organic, raw r&b songs that will remind you of the high esteem this genre once held.
Channel Orange is an underdog in the midst of the numerous hip-hop and r&b albums that have come out in recent time, but the sheer magnificence of its content has made it both a critical and commercial success - in the sense that it has well-received by both critics and his audience. From his soulful delivery on songs like Sweet Life and Lost to the mellow direction on songs like Pilot Jones and Pink Matter, he delivers quite an impressive debut album which will not only shine for its great content but also because Ocean has found a sound unmatched by his contemporaries in the industry at the moment.
Although, I give him a lot of praise for the musical direction he has chosen to take, I must admit that his songwriting still remains somewhat strange and some tracks (Start, End, Fertilizer) could have easily been left off the album and it would have still been a solid effort. Overall, Frank Ocean proves that he has his own musical style and has decided to own it, he is no doubt going to become a critics-favourite to write about, musically that is.
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