This happy occasion might be a good opportunity to revisit a few points about what became one of the most discussed music stories of the year.
Frank Ocean has never described himself as gay, or as a gay man.
Most of the songs on Channel Orange are clearly about women.
The song Forrest Gump is about falling in love with a man, and he says it's autobiographical.
But he's also said the relationship it describes - "my first love" - is in the past, and suggests it was a one-off (Read his Tumblr post on this here).
As far as I know he's only spoken about the "coming out" circus this gave rise to in one interview (in the UK press, at any rate), with The Guardian Guide.
Much of the gay media were very excited about all this, though many seemed not to have listened to the album, or to what he's actually said.
The Advocate, America's biggest gay magazine, put him on the cover.
But, perhaps tellingly, Frank didn't give them an interview.
I'm not a mind-reader, and nor do I know him, so I have no way of knowing if Frank Ocean is actually gay (though it would be odd for him to be so candid and then write a load of love songs using the female pronoun).
But I also can't see any reason to try and shoehorn him into an identity that he doesn't use himself.
Mentions Frank Ocean's "coming out", natch.
Try and guess which leading authority on Hip Hop they ask about it... Peter Tatchell!
Inspired journalism.
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His statement was incredibly vague and yet very direct at the same time. Like, he doesn't say he's gay but definitely describes falling in love with a man; which I thought was pretty great.
ReplyDeleteHe does say in that Guardian piece, "I was thinking of how I wished at 13 or 14 there was somebody I looked up to who would have said something like that, who would have been transparent in that way," which kind of suggests he was at least bi or feeling something like that back at that age; but even that is kind of vague (maybe he just means he wanted someone to be open and vulnerable like that).
your point, if i discern it correctly, kinda short-circuits itself if we call him bisexual; an impression his manager and friends have fostered or not challenged -- a fact he slyly alludes to on his odd future rap called oldie. [sorry, quote marks broken]
ReplyDeleteMuddying the water somewhat is the line on post-out blue whale where he raps about not feeling the same about girls as his friends did, or something.
additionally, he's an astute disciple of pop culture and prince is his hero, so he knows the value of sexual ambiguity. ocean was either prescient enough to see this dimension still had currency, or [and i favour this interpretation] he's serious and arrogant enough about his own singular artistic vision that he doesn't feel the need to hide it's motivating forces or to conform or constrain the raw material of his life, because, as an artist, he believes different rules apply [again see blue whale]. it was a gamble and it paid off. it's progress, whichever way you look at it.
not doing an interview with the advocate… who can blame him; gay life style mags are not cool. offends against his hipsterish cool. ditto labelling himself. he doesn't need your or my approval. again progress.
besides, he said everything he needed to say, and nothing more, in the guardian piece.
p.s. i counted four songs with, admittedly oblique, references to a guy. i'm sure you haven't missed these less obvious references in but just in case --
thinking bout you -- contains the knowing phrase …boy, they pour when i'm thinking bout you…;and compares the beloved to a [masculine connoting] fighter jet.
pink matter second half invites the idea he's having anal sex with his sensei, making a favourable comparison with his girls pink matter from the first half. i doubt there has ever been a song the world over that has tackled this theme. and done so slyly, and being simultaneously plaintively beautiful. the ambiguity in his work his what makes it at times approach art. it's not the same cowardly ambiguity of an 80's neil tennant or morrisey et al and their tricky pronouns.
further, some of the songs to girls are in character i,e he's not a crackhead; nor has he got his girl cooking up dope as in lost. and he didn't grow up sierra leone nor has a daughter.
if anything the songs addressing same-sex love are in a way the most directly honest. indeed, he states the very album and it's title is a response to his first real love — a man. orange, because it's the colour that reminds him of that summer of love and pain.
Thanks for that.
DeleteVery interesting and astute.
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