Few singer-songwriters are able to capture an audience that includes Beyoncé, Kanye West and Jay-Z with their first independent EP, but Frank Ocean did. The Los Angeles-based artist released the highly popular "Nostalgia/Ultra" mixtape project in 2010 via Tumblr to great results, and now, after becoming a priority artist at the Island Def Jam label, Ocean's announced a release date, July 17, for his debut album, Channel Orange, according to Billboard.
The follow-up to last year's lauded "Nostalgia/Ultra" mixtape includes hints of inspiration from legends as Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Prince, The Roots and D'Angelo. Still, Ocean doesn't adhere to one sound, nor shape himself into something that people could peg solely to R&B.
Similar to "Nostalgia/Ultra," Ocean connects the album with transitional interludes in which one hears the tampering of a cassette player, video game playing and some as sententious songs themselves.
Lyrically, he's a storyteller. He simultaneously unravels and explores — himself and those around him — through a diatribe of the privileged yet insatiable ("Super Rich Kids," featuring Odd Future's Earl Sweatshirt), soliloquies of heartbreak and abandonment, and confessionals. His falsetto breathes color into the content.
Read more at Billboard.