Video will appear as you scroll through the story
Frank Ocean · S2 E4
Finding His Voice
Somewhere between R&B, indie rock, and hip-hop: developing a sound nobody had heard before
Late at night in a rented studio, Frank presses record on a song that sounds like nothing on the radio. The chords are borrowed from Radiohead, the delivery is pure R&B, and the lyrics read like a short story that doesn't bother with a chorus.
"You're Not Dead" (Frank Ocean, tour promo, 2012). A visual statement about survival and creative persistence. For an artist whose label told him his music didn't fit any format, the title says everything: you're not dead, you're just not what they expected.
“He was making something that existed between genres. It wasn't R&B, it wasn't indie, it wasn't hip-hop. The labels kept asking him what format it was for, and he didn't have an answer. That turned out to be the point.”
— Ryan Dombal, "Frank Ocean: channel ORANGE," Pitchfork, July 2012
The Sound Nobody Could Place
The demos Frank is recording in 2009 and 2010 sound like nothing else coming out of the LA songwriting scene. Where most R&B writers are chasing radio play with uptempo beats and big hooks, Frank is writing slow, wandering songs with unusual chord progressions and lyrics that tell stories instead of repeating catchphrases. Producers who hear the demos don't know what to do with them. Neither does Def Jam.
Sources
Caramanica, Jon. "Frank Ocean's Lonely, Lovely Debut." The New York Times, July 2012.
Wallace, Amy. "Frank Ocean: The All-American Boy." GQ, December 2012.
TAP TO REVEAL: Why couldn't record labels figure out what to do with Frank's demos?
The Songs Nobody Else Would Write
One demo starts with a sample of an Eagles song and turns into a psychedelic R&B confession. Another tells the story of a girl he met at Coachella who numbed everything she touched. A third is a ten-minute suite that shifts from ancient Egypt to a modern strip club without blinking. These aren't songs that any sane A&R person would greenlight. That's the point.
Sources
Dombal, Ryan. "Frank Ocean: channel ORANGE." Pitchfork, July 2012.
Pilot Jones, Frank Ocean (2012)
If you want to hear what 'between genres' actually sounds like, play this track. Pilot Jones is dreamy, disorienting R&B that drifts between psychedelic haze and sharp emotional clarity. The synths feel borrowed from an 80s new wave record, the vocal layering is pure gospel, and the lyrics refuse to sit still. It's the exact sound that no A&R executive at Def Jam could figure out how to sell.
Pilot Jones, Frank Ocean (2012)
"Pilot Jones, your crash don't frighten me." Read the lyrics while you listen. The song is a love story tangled up with self-destruction, and the way Frank's voice glides between falsetto and full tone mirrors the emotional instability at the center of the narrative. Nothing about this song follows a formula.
Finding His Voice: The File
Which rock band did Frank Ocean borrow chord progressions from while developing his sound?
The demos pile up on a hard drive, unreleased and unheard, until someone leaks them online. Next: The Lonny Breaux Collection hits the internet, and the underground cult following that Def Jam ignored starts growing without permission.
0 XP earned this session