Is frank ovean gay
CorrinaCorrina
There’s something both joyous and tragic about RnB singer and hip-hop associate Frank Ocean’s decision to reach out as bisexual. In 2012, this shouldn’t be as ‘heroic’ or ‘brave’ as people are making out.
Personally I’m thrilled, as Frank Ocean’s rising chart stature in a harmony genre that’s still so closeted about its homosexual and bi community can only help beat a path to the overdue acceptance of people’s sexuality.
In an eye-wateringly beautiful letter that sums up the bewildering excitement of love’s first pang, Frank wrote:
“4 summers ago I met someone. I was 19 years old. He was too. We spent that summer. And the summer after. Together. Everyday almost. And on the days we were together, second would glide…by the period I realised I was in love, it was malignant. It was hopeless.”
The internet is awash with commentators congratulating his heroic and bold move, however his move is also marred with people commenting that they will ‘still love him the same’ as if he’s just announced he’s had his arms amputated and needs some pity.
The magnitude of Frank&
Dotty: How Frank Ocean’s coming out changed the landscape
The album that followed was Channel Orange, a body of serve that served as the soundtrack to his ‘coming out’ a powerful plan that saw him talk openly of his devotion for a man. ‘You run my mind boy’ he sang on Forrest Gump, the album’s most overt exploration of Frank’s sexuality. ‘You're so buff and so strong, I'm nervous, Forrest’, he continued. Then there’s the self-deprecation on , a ballad that sees Frank battle the demons of unrequited same-sex love in the back of a cab. ‘Taxi driver, I swear I've got three lives / Balanced on my leader like steak knives / I can't tell you the truth about my disguise / I can't trust no one.’ He sings, ‘I can never make him love me.’
Like his open letter in July 2012, Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange was perfectly undefinable. Flirting with essence, funk and electronic styles without ever turning its back on R&B. It was also a masterclass in songwriting, with each composition showcasing a flair for honesty and vul
It’s A Sin? Frank Ocean & Prejudice Against Male Bisexuality
Frank Ocean’s statement about his sexuality is, in a music world that increasingly communicates through blaring statements and marketing braggadocio, a beautiful, poetic and elegant thing. It’s a rare thing indeed when one so young and so in the widespread eye is able to express themselves with such openness and honesty about the thorny issue of their sexuality.
Those easy words, typed into Notepad and posted on Tumblr, are surely a stone that will send influential, important ripples out across the worlds of hip hop and R&B. Hopefully Ocean’s Odd Future pal Tyler The Creator might be given pause for thought on some of the disgustingly homophobic lyrics he insists on spitting into the world. But that isn’t what this piece is about. What was interesting and slightly depressing about the response to Ocean’s nuanced, poetic words was how simplistic they were. “Frank Ocean comes out and becomes the first famous male lover rapper in history,” announced Holy Moly. Twitter was full of “Frank Ocean is gay” posts. But did Ocean actually compose that? No. He merely said his first valid love was a
The Repercussions of Frank Ocean’s Coming Out
Frank Ocean, one of hiphop and R&B’s biggest breakout successes of the year, came out as same-sex attracted – not on national television, but in a shyly poetic, sideways publish on his Tumblr. ‘Four summers ago, I met somebody,’ Ocean wrote. ‘I was 19 years mature. He was too. We spent that summer, and the summer after, together. Everyday almost. And on the days we were together, time would glide. Most of the morning I’d see him, and his smile. I’d listen his conversation and his silence [...] until it was time to rest. Sleep I would often share with him. By the time I realized I was in cherish, it was malignant. It was hopeless. There was no escaping, no negotiating with the feeling. No choice. It was my first love, it changed my life.’
Ocean is a fan – and in some ways, an inheritor – of Prince’s gender-bending approach to songwriting. But he is the first mainstream R&B star to come out of the closet instead of remaining a question mark, continually playing with an ‘is he or isn’t he’ edifice.
The choice to construct his grand coming-out declaration via Tumblr made cosmic sense somehow; many of music’s biggest stories
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