Frank Ocean

• 1. Introduction

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  Frank Ocean, born Christopher Edwin Breaux, spent the summer of 2016 keeping fans guessing. At about 3 am on the 1st of August, a live stream surfaced on a website called boysdontcry.co. Apple Music sponsored it. The picture was shot in negative lighting, in what was allegedly a Brooklyn warehouse. The camera appeared to show Ocean woodworking and sporadically playing instrumentals on loop. The full version of the stream is estimated to run 140 hours. Those loops later proved to belong to a visual album called Endless. Who was the man behind the stream, and how did a former ghostwriter from Louisiana become so closely watched? What made his debut album matter so much to critics? And why would an artist with a celebrated record choose such unconventional ways to release his work?

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• 2. Louisiana Roots

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  Christopher Edwin Breaux was born on the 28th of October 1987 in Long Beach, California. His father, Calvin Cooksey, was a singer and keyboardist. His mother, Katonya Breaux Riley, was an entrepreneur. The family moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, when he was five. His parents divorced when he was six, and his mother raised him. He grew up Christian and spent a brief period as a practicing Catholic.

  Lionel McGruder Jr., his maternal grandfather, became a father figure after Ocean's father left the family. Lionel was a recovering drug addict who later mentored people at Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings. He took his grandson along to those meetings. They inspired a song on Channel Orange called "Crack Rock". Lionel also gave the boy the nickname Lonny, which Ocean still uses today. Lionel died in 2010. Ocean dedicated the song "There Will Be Tears" on his mixtape Nostalgia, Ultra to him, and mentioned him again on the 2017 single "Lens".

  Ocean graduated from John Ehret High School in Marrero, Louisiana, in 2005. He enrolled at the University of New Orleans to study English. Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in August 2005. The storm destroyed his home and his personal recording facility. He transferred to the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, stayed only briefly, and dropped out to focus on music. Leaving Lafayette without a degree, he pointed himself toward the other side of the country.

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• 3. Ghostwriter to Odd Future

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  In 2006, Ocean moved to Los Angeles to pursue music, supporting himself with a string of fast-food and service jobs. In less than three years, he had built a reputation as a songwriter under the name Lonny Breaux. After landing a songwriting deal, he wrote songs for Justin Bieber, Beyoncé, John Legend and Brandy. He said staying on that path would have been comfortable, with a steady income and anonymity. Yet that was not why, in his words, he had moved "away from school and away from family."

  The stage name Frank Ocean came from Frank Sinatra and from Ocean's 11, the 1960s film in which Sinatra starred. Soon after, he joined the Los Angeles hip hop collective Odd Future, whom he had met in 2009. His friendship with member Tyler, the Creator reinvigorated his songwriting. In late 2009, he met Tricky Stewart, who helped him sign a writing contract with Def Jam Recordings. Ocean felt neglected by the label. He began a mixtape on his own, without their input.

  On the 16th of February 2011, Ocean released that mixtape, Nostalgia, Ultra, online for free. It focused on relationships, personal reflection and social commentary. Critics embraced it. NPR's Andrew Noz praised songwriting that was "smart and subtle...setting him apart from the pack." Jonah Weiner of Rolling Stone called him a "gifted avant-R&B smoothie." The mixtape made Ocean widely known and led to collaborations with Jay-Z and Kanye West. In June 2011, he revealed that he was working on their joint album, Watch the Throne. He co-wrote and appeared on two of its tracks, "No Church in the Wild" and "Made in America".

  That year, Ocean also appeared in Tyler, the Creator's video for "She", from the album Goblin. His first live performance came alongside Odd Future at the 2011 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. He then joined the group on its first tour across the east coast of the United States. In August 2011, he made his first appearance on the cover of The Fader, in its 75th issue.

  On the 28th of July 2011, a song called "Thinkin Bout You" leaked online. It proved to be a reference track that Ocean had written for Bridget Kelly, a Roc Nation artist, for her debut project. Kelly renamed it "Thinking About Forever". In September 2011, a video for Ocean's own version, directed by High5Collective, was released, even though the song still appeared on Kelly's debut EP Every Girl. That same song would soon become the first single from his own debut album.

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• 4. Channel Orange

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  A re-mastered version of "Thinkin Bout You" leaked a month before its release to digital retailers on the 10th of April 2012. Ocean said the single "succinctly defines me as an artist for where I am right now." He described the album as a set of 14 stories that he loved, with a musical environment built around them to carry the stories.

  Channel Orange arrived in 2012 to universal acclaim. The HMV Poll of Polls later named it the best album of the year. It earned Ocean six Grammy Award nominations. It counted as his first commercial release on a traditional record label. The songs were noted for storytelling and social commentary, and for a dense fusion of jazz, soul and R&B. Funk and electronic music also shaped the sound. Some writers credited the album with pushing R&B in a more challenging direction.

  At the 55th Annual Grammy Awards, the album was nominated for Album of the Year and won Best Urban Contemporary Album. "Thinkin Bout You" was nominated for Record of the Year. At the 2013 Brit Awards, Ocean won the award for International Male Solo Artist. Across his career, he has won two Grammy Awards and a Brit Award. Time named him one of the world's 100 most influential people in 2013.

  The 2012 Summer Tour promoted the album and included appearances at Coachella and Lollapalooza. On the 28th of May 2013, Ocean announced the You're Not Dead... 2013 Tour, fourteen dates across Europe and Canada. It began on the 16th of June in Munich. A small vocal cord injury forced him to cancel his slot on the first night of OVO Fest on the 4th of August 2013. The festival's first night was then cancelled, and James Blake was booked for the second night as his replacement. Ocean also sang on "Wildfire", a song on John Mayer's album Paradise Valley.

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• 5. The Long Wait

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  In February 2013, Ocean confirmed he had started a second studio album, which he said would be another concept album. He named Tyler, the Creator, Pharrell Williams and Danger Mouse as collaborators. He said The Beach Boys and The Beatles were influencing him. He also spoke of wanting to work with Tame Impala and King Krule, and of recording part of the album in Bora Bora.

  In March 2014, the song "Hero" became a free download on SoundCloud. It teamed Ocean with Mick Jones, Paul Simonon and Diplo for a Converse project called Three Artists. One Song. In April 2014, he said the album was nearly finished. That September, critical success and awards let him change management, and he signed with Mark Gillespie of Three Six Zero Entertainment. On the 29th of November 2014, he posted a snippet called "Memrise" on his Tumblr page. The Guardian said it showed that his experimentation and melancholy had survived reported changes of label and management.

  On the 6th of April 2015, Ocean announced that the follow-up to Channel Orange would arrive in July. It did not, and no explanation was given. The album was rumored to be called Boys Don't Cry. In February 2016, he appeared on "Wolves" on Kanye West's album The Life of Pablo, alongside Vic Mensa and Sia. A month later, West re-edited the track, and Ocean's part was split off and listed as its own song, "Frank's Track".

  In July 2016, Ocean's website showed a library card labeled Boys Don't Cry, covered in stamps that implied many due dates. The first date was the 2nd of July 2015, and the last was in July 2016. His brother, Ryan Breaux, posted the same photo on Instagram with the caption "BOYS DON'T CRY #JULY2016". His collaborator Malay said in a question-and-answer session on Reddit that Ocean is a perfectionist who keeps tweaking and whose art cannot be rushed.

  On the 18th and the 19th of August 2016, music began to accompany the stream, and at midnight a link led to Endless on Apple Music. Endless was his last album for Def Jam Recordings, which had signed him in 2009. He had already begun trying to part ways with the label. He described the talks as a "seven-year chess game". Along the way, he replaced many of his representatives, including his lawyer and manager. He also had to buy back all of his master recordings that had belonged to Def Jam.

  At midnight Pacific time on the 20th of August 2016, a video for "Nikes" appeared on Ocean's Connect page on Apple Music and later on his own website. The same day, he released his second studio album, Blonde, independently. It debuted at number one in several countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom. It sold 232,000 copies in its first week, or 275,000 when album-equivalent units are counted.

  Ocean skipped the usual promotional circuit of radio festivals and television appearances. Instead, he spent a month traveling in countries such as China, Japan and France. He also chose not to submit Blonde to the Grammy Awards. He said the institution "just doesn't seem to be representing very well for people who come from where I come from."

  Time named Blonde the best album of 2016, and Pitchfork later placed it first on its list of the best albums of the 2010s. Forbes estimated that Ocean made nearly one million in profits in a single week. It credited his independent release and a limited exclusive arrangement with iTunes and Apple Music. The RIAA certified Blonde platinum on the 9th of July 2018.

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• 6. Voice and Legacy

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  Jon Pareles of The New York Times heard open echoes of Prince, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Maxwell, Erykah Badu and especially R. Kelly in Ocean's writing. He noted melodies that hover between speech and song, asymmetrical and syncopated. The music itself leans on electronic keyboard, often played by Ocean himself, over a subdued rhythm section. His compositions tend to move at a middle tempo, carry unconventional melodies and occasionally take experimental shapes.

  Writers have called him an "avant-garde R&B artist" and an "avant-soul singer". Steven Hyden described him as "an introspective psych-soul balladeer." Jody Rosen of Rolling Stone called him a torch singer for his feel for romantic tragedy in slow-boiling ballads. Chris Richards of the Washington Post described his stage presence as "low-key."

  Nostalgia, Ultra mixed Ocean's original music with tracks built on sampled melodies. On Channel Orange, he was the primary composer. Robert Christgau argued that as sole composer, Ocean resists showing off. In his view, Ocean passes up the obvious hook, the clever tempo and even the transcendent falsetto.

  Love, longing, misgiving and nostalgia recur in Ocean's lyrics. His debut single "Novacane" sets the numbness and artificiality of a sexual relationship against mainstream radio. "Voodoo", which he released on his Tumblr account, merges spirituality and sexuality. Its chorus plays on the traditional spiritual "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands". Corbon Goble of Stereogum read in it Ocean's "sometimes-bleak, depressive lyrical tendencies." Tirhakah Love of MTV News wrote that such songs transform the meaning of short-term and long-term memory and "disrupt the flow of linear time."

  Insider and The Wall Street Journal both regarded Ocean as the most dominant artist of the 2010s. Forbes put him on its 30 Under 30 list in 2017. Culture critic Nelson George said Ocean and Miguel had staked out ground away from hit-driven commercial R&B acts. Callie Ahlgrim of Insider wrote that Ocean "changed our very understanding of modern music." Jacob Shamsian of Business Insider called him one of the most important artists in all of music. Jon Savage of GQ praised the "startling sound pictures" he builds to fit his lyrics. Pitchfork called him a "master of confessional songwriting." In 2023, Rolling Stone ranked him number 190 on its list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.

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• 7. Private Life

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  On the 4th of July 2012, Ocean posted an open letter on his Tumblr blog that he had first planned to include in the liner notes of Channel Orange. It described unrequited feelings for another young man when Ocean was 19, which he called his first true love. He thanked the man for his influence, and thanked his mother and friends. "I don't have any secrets I need kept anymore," he wrote. "I feel like a free man."

  The announcement made global headlines. Some critics compared its cultural impact to David Bowie's 1972 revelation that he was bisexual. Beyoncé and Jay-Z were among the celebrities who voiced support. Tyler, the Creator and other members of Odd Future tweeted theirs. Russell Simmons wrote in Global Grind that Ocean's decision "gives hope and light to so many young people still living in fear." Asked in a 2012 interview whether he considered himself bisexual, Ocean said "life is dynamic and comes along with dynamic experiences." He added that he felt the same way about labels as he did about genres of music.

  In June 2016, after the Orlando nightclub shooting killed 49 people, Ocean published an essay expressing sadness and frustration. He wrote that his first experience of homophobia and transphobia came from his father when he was six. He described how many people pass hateful values to the next generation. In 2017, his father sued him for defamation and asked for $14.5 million. On the 17th of October 2017, Ocean and both of his parents took the stand at a hearing. The presiding judge ruled in Ocean's favor, finding that his father had not provided sufficient evidence of defamation.

  On his 23rd birthday, Ocean told an interviewer in 2011, he tried to change his name to Christopher Francis Ocean through a legal website. In March 2014, reports said he was legally changing his name to Frank Ocean. In November 2014, it emerged that the change had not gone through because of multiple speeding offences. The change became legal on the 23rd of April 2015.

  In 2019, Ocean urged British fans on Instagram to vote for the Labour Party in the UK general election. In October 2023, he signed the Artists4Ceasefire open letter, which urged then-President Joe Biden to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

  Ocean's younger brother, Ryan Breaux, was killed in a car crash on the 2nd of August 2020, at the age of 18. It was a single-vehicle collision, and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

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• 8. After Blonde

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  On the 21st of February 2017, the Scottish DJ and producer Calvin Harris announced "Slide", a single featuring Ocean and the hip hop trio Migos. It was released two days later on Harris's album Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 1. It also featured on the first episode of Ocean's Beats 1 radio show, Blonded Radio. It was his first recorded collaboration since leaving Def Jam, and its liner notes list him as "appearing courtesy of Frank Ocean." The RIAA certified it double platinum. It became his first top ten single on the Billboard Mainstream Top 40 chart, peaking at No. 9.

  On the 10th of March 2017, the second episode of Blonded Radio premiered "Chanel", his first solo release since Blonde and Endless. Ocean also played a version featuring ASAP Rocky. Episodes in April premiered "Biking" with Jay-Z and Tyler, the Creator, and "Lens" with an alternate version featuring Travis Scott. They also brought a remix of the Endless track "Slide On Me" featuring Young Thug. On the 28th of August, he released "Provider" on the show.

  In Grand Theft Auto V, Ocean plays himself, hosting an in-game radio station called Blonded Los Santos 97.8 FM. He sings the station's jingles. He also lent the game six songs: "Provider", "Ivy", "Crack Rock", "Chanel", "Nights" and "Pretty Sweet".

  The 360-page magazine Boys Don't Cry came out on the 20th of August 2016 alongside Blonde. It was themed around fashion and automobiles. Its photo projects came from Wolfgang Tillmans, Viviane Sassen, Tyrone Lebon, Ren Hang, Harley Weir, Michael Mayren and Ocean himself. Four months later, the British magazine Print published another photo work by Ocean. On the 1st of May 2017, he attended the Met Gala as a special photographer for Vogue. In October 2017, he made two covers and a visual essay for the British fashion magazine i-D. In the essay, titled "New 17", he wrote: "If you liked two thousand and seventeen then you'll love two thousand and eighteen."

  On the 14th of February 2018, Ocean released "Moon River", a cover of the song Audrey Hepburn performed in the 1961 film Breakfast at Tiffany's. In September 2018, it was reported that he had taken legal action against Travis Scott through a cease and desist letter. Ocean later said on Tumblr that the dispute was about social issues, not music, and had been resolved. On the 6th of November 2018, Blonded Radio aired three midterm election specials. Free merchandise went to people in Houston, Atlanta, Miami and Dallas who showed proof of voting.

  On the 19th of October 2019, Ocean released "DHL" on Blonded Radio and announced 7-inch vinyl singles of "Dear April" and "Cayendo". They were first available only as physical records, with B-side remixes from Justice and Sango. In February 2020, he cancelled the vinyl of "Little Demon" and gave refunds. Shipping of the other vinyl began on the 25th of March 2020, but many buyers reported trouble receiving orders or refunds. The exclusivity encouraged listeners to leak the two songs on Twitter and SoundCloud. Both received an official digital release on the 3rd of April.

  On the 8th of August 2021, Ocean revealed Homer, his first fashion project, which he had first announced in a Financial Times interview. Its press release called Homer "an independent American luxury company founded by Frank Ocean." The jewelry company has collaborated with Prada. On Instagram, Ocean wrote that his hope was "to make things that last, that are hard to destroy, see it in stone." He said the project had been three years in the making. On Christmas Day 2021, he released a nine-minute untitled song on Blonded Radio with music from Cory Henry. In June 2022, it was announced that he was in talks to direct his first feature film, with A24 producing. That October, he revealed Homer Radio, a weekly Apple Music 1 broadcast.

  Coachella had planned to have Ocean headline in October 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic led to its cancellation. In August 2021, co-founder Paul Tollett confirmed that Ocean would headline in 2023. On the 16th of April 2023, Ocean began his set nearly an hour late and had to end early because of local curfew restrictions. Fans and critics widely criticized the show. It was not live-streamed on YouTube, unlike most of the festival's other performances. No professional photographers were allowed in the audience, and no merchandise was available. He cancelled his appearance on the second weekend, citing a leg injury.

  In January 2025, Ocean's directorial debut was confirmed, with David Jonsson announced as the lead and shooting set for Mexico City. Rumors had said that Ocean, a self-described cinephile, was scouting locations in Mexico. The film's title, plot details and release date have not been confirmed.

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