Dissect - S3E2 – Thinking About You by Frank Ocean

Episode Date: May 29, 2018

Our serialized examination of the music of Frank Ocean continues with a look at the cultural impact of Frank’s open letter that revealed his sexuality days before the release of Channel Orange. Then we dissect Ocean’s biggest hit to date “Thinking About You.” Follow @dissectpodcast on Twitter and Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From Spotify Studios, this is Dissect, long-form musical analysis broken into short, digestible episodes. I'm your host, Cole Kushner. In August of 2005, a 28-year-old rapper Kanye West appeared on MTV News and promotion of his sophomore album, late registration. Rather than promote his album, he took the opportunity to broadcast nationally and injustice he saw in hip-hop culture. Like, damn, you know, hip-hop really is about, um, it seems like it's about, like, fight. for your rights in the beginning, about speaking your mind and about breaking down barriers or whatever. But everybody in hip hop discriminates against gay people. To me, like, that's one of the standards of hip hop, is to be like, yo, you fag, you're gay.

Matter of fact, the exact opposite word of hip hop, I think is gay. As the interview continues, an off-camera producer distracts Kanye, causing him to lose his train of thought. But Kanye is determined to get his message across. Me speaking from my entire culture, me looking at my rappers out there, hip hopers discriminate against gay people. They feel like they can't act. Hold on one second. Everybody don't throw me off. I really want to say this.

I want to say this to America. I want to. Speak your mind. No, he was just throwing me off just lately. I want to just to just come on TV and just... tell my rappers, just tell my friends, like, yo, stop it, fan. Like, seriously, that's really discrimination. To me, that's exactly what they used to do to black people.

I'm just trying to tell people just stop all that. The use of homophobic slurs and hip-hop can be traced back to the origins of the genre in the 1970s and early 80s. The first mainstream hip-hop song, The Message by Grandmaster Flash and the Fab Five, refers to a homeless lady as a former, quote, fag hag, and a man raped in prison as a, quote, undercover fag. A more overtly homophobic mentality can be found in the DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince's Live at Union Square.

From their 1988 triple platinum album, I'm the rapper, He's the DJ. On the 2003 track, Where the Hood at, rapper DMX displays one of the more forthright attacks on homosexuality. The homo thugs Empty y'i load You're almost slugs How you gonna explain fucking a man Even if we squash the beef

I ain't touching your hand I don't fuck with chumps For those that been in the jail That's the cat with the collate on his lips and pumps I don't fuck with niggins that think they bruns Only know how to be one way That's the dog The legendary rap group

A Tribe Called Quest had perhaps the most explicitly Homophobic song A 1991 track called Georgie Porgy that was intended to be included on the album Lowen Theory. On the track, each MC takes aim at a character named Georgie Porgy, a gay black man. I'm going to quote some of the lyrics on the track, and just as a heads up, it gets pretty explicit. The song opens with Fife Dog rhyming, quote, In the beginning there was Adam and Eve, but some try to make it look like Adam and Steve,

and later saying, quote, walking in the ville with them long dreadlocks, but on the D.L. getting done up the butt box. Oh my God, how gross can one be. Verse 3 finds Grand Puma rapping, quote, Now George swung with gays, just the way he sways, even fooled around with his mom's lingerie. Come get it, girl, something fierce was his line, even wore a dress and on his face he had swine.

He is cypher monkey, cypher, you fucking faggot, couldn't wait for a gay parade so you can drag it. The track concludes with a verse from Q-tip, containing such lines as, quote, Now Georgie Porgy putting pie, what made you choose the pass of the gaze, oh why, ain't got no reason, to hell with alibis, won't play basketball because your nails ain't dry. Call me homophobic, but I know it and you know it. You're filthy and funny to the utmost exponent, unquote. The song Georgie Porgy was deemed too offensive by Tribe's record label to include on their album and was subsequently rewritten, existing today as the song's show business. Of course, a lot of time has passed from 1991, and it's a song,

It seems some tribe members have since changed your views. Tribe leader Q-tip told Noisy in 2016, quote, If I come across something, which I definitely do, which is racism or sexism or homophobia, or chauvinism or classism or an elitist, then you just have to blow the whistle, even if it's upon myself, even if I fall guilty, you have to be willing to examine it, unquote.

Of course, homophobia was and is not limited to hip-hop. At the time of Kanye's interview in 2005, Only 31% of American adults favored same-sex marriage. 60% said they would be upset if their child was gay, and there was a near-equal split on whether or not homosexuality was morally acceptable. And in a genre of music built in large part on invincible machismo and cutthroat street credibility, hip-hop had gained a general reputation for being unaccepting of homosexuality, so much so that high-profile rapper Kanye West put his reputation on the line to speak out on national television.

Fast forward now to 2011, six years after Connie's MTV interview. Emerging artist Frank Ocean was fresh off the release of his critically acclaimed mixtape Nostalgia Ultra. As you remember from our last episode, the tape transformed Ocean from a successful but relatively unknown songwriter and fringe member of Odd Future to a unique golden voice solo artist with superstar potential. The music industry and fans alike were awaiting his debut studio album Channel Orange, awaiting to discover if Frank Ocean was to live up to the enormous potential displayed on nostalgia

ultra. And on July 10th, 2012, the day Channel Orange would release digitally, the world was set to find out. And then, six days before that release, Ocean set the internet on fire. It wasn't a new song, it wasn't a new video. It was a simple screen grab of a text edit document posted on his Tumblr page. This document, now simply known as the open letter, is a beautiful two-paragraph account of Ocean's first love, written with the intimacy and honesty of a private journal entry. The big reveal comes halfway through paragraph 1. Quote, four summers ago, I met somebody. I was 19 years old.

He was two. We spent the summer and that summer after together, every day almost. And on these days we were together, time would glide. Most of the days I'd see him and his smile. I'd hear his conversation and his silence until it was time to sleep. sleep I would often share with him. By the time I realized I was in love, it was malignant, it was hopeless. There was no escaping, no negotiating with the feeling, no choice.

It was my first love, and it changed my life, unquote. The open letter made internet headlines across America. Gay rights in the country were increasingly politicized debate points, and there was a general shift towards inclusion occurring. At the time of Ocean's letter in 2012, there was for the first time more American adults in favor of gay marriage than there were against, up nearly 20 percentage points for 2005, the year Kanye West spoke out on MTV. The moral acceptance of homosexuality was rising too, up to 60%. Though far from universal acceptance, it was clear that the tides were beginning to turn,

and Ocean's letter was seen by many as another step towards progress, specifically in the hip-hop culture. And while not strictly a hip-hop artist per se, Ocean was working in the space of urban music and is coming out in the way he did was simply unprecedented. When asked if he worried that publishing the letter would derail his career, Frank told GQ, quote, I had those fears. In black music, we've got so many leaps and bounds to make with acceptance and tolerance in regard to that issue. It reflects something just ingrained, you know. When I was growing up, there was nobody in my family, not even my own mother, who I could look to and be like, I know you've never said anything homophobic. So, you know, you worry about people in the business who you've heard talk that way.

Some of my heroes coming up talk recklessly like that. It's tempting to give those views and words, that ignorance, more attention than they deserve. Very tempting, unquote. Years later, Frank would reveal a story about his father on Tumblr, saying, quote, I was six years old when I heard my dad call her transgender waitress a faggot, as he dragged me out of a neighborhood diner saying we wouldn't be served because she was dirty. That was the last afternoon I saw my father, and the first time I heard that word, I think, although it wouldn't shock me if it wasn't, unquote.

When we consider the general public perception of homosexuality, its perception in urban music specifically, and Frank's own family's view on the subject, his open letter seems impossible. Ocean said he felt compelled to publish a letter ahead of Channel Orange's release due to a listening party given a few days prior. There, journalists were privy to hear the album before its release, and due to the male pronouns used in some of the songs,

some began to speculate about Ocean's sexuality. He later told GQ, quote, I was just like, fuck it, talk about it, don't talk about it, talk about this, no more mystery, through with that, unquote. Frank was getting ahead of the rumors. He didn't want his story written by strangers. He wanted to own his narrative, wanted to express to the world his story in his own words,

in his own personal way. Like the British rapper's speech DeBelle beautifully wrote, Frank Ocean didn't come out, he just let us in. The letter was both an altruistic, gesture and an act of personal emancipation. After being asked if he felt the letter was courageous, Frank told the Guardian, quote, I don't know. A lot of people have said that since the news came out. I suppose the percentage of that act was altruism, because 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. But there's another side of it that's just about my own sanity, and my ability to feel like I'm living life where I'm not just successful on paper, but sure that I'm happy when I wake up in the morning, and not with this freaking boulder on my chest, unquote. Indeed, the publishing of the letter seemed to be deeply liberating. He told GQ, quote, the night I posted it, I cried like a fucking baby. It was like all the frequency just clicked to a change in my head. All the receptors were now receiving a different signal, and I was happy. I hadn't been happy in so long. I've been sad again since, but it's a totally different take on sad. There's just some magic and truth and honesty and openness, unquote.

Like the changing of his name from Christopher Bro to Frank Ocean, like the independent release of his self-funded mixtape nostalgia Ultra made in spite of Def Jam's neglect. Ocean's open letter is a defining act of independence. It's the taking of fate by the throat. It's the writing of his own history, his story, his art. It seems no coincidence that the letter was published on the 4th of July, Independence Day. One of the things that makes Ocean's letter so moving is this authenticity and rawness of expression.

It wasn't a press release, it wasn't a production, it wasn't some marketed grand reveal exclusive on national television. Frank doesn't even say the word gay in the letter or define his sexuality in any concrete way. And this was a calculated decision, as he's not one for definitions or labels. When asked directly by GQ if he was bisexual, Frank responded, quote, You can move to the next question. I'll respectfully say that life is dynamic and comes along with dynamic experiences. and that same sentiment I have towards genres of music, I have towards a lot of labels. I'm in this business to be creative.

I'll even diminish it and say to be a content provider. One of the pieces of content that I'm for fuck sure not giving is porn videos. I'm not a centerfold. I'm not trying to sell you sex. People should pay attention to that in the letter. I didn't need to label it for it to have impact, because people realize everything I say is so relatable. Because when you're talking about romantic love,

both sides in all scenarios feel the same shit. As a writer, as a creator, I'm giving you my experiences. But just take what I give you. You ain't got to pry beyond that. I'm giving you what I feel like you can feel. The other shit, you can't feel. You can't feel a box. You can't feel a label.

Don't get caught up in that shit. There's so much something in life. Don't get caught up into nothing. That shit is nothing, you know. It's nothing. Banish the fear, unquote. This is an extremely important thing. point, one that's going to inform our analysis of Frank Ocean's music this season. We're going

to respect his wishes. We're not going to evaluate him as a gay artist. We're not going to evaluate his music as gay music. We're going to evaluate Frank Ocean as a human being, a human being who feels just like everyone else. What does sexual preference have to do with feeling? Feelings are universal and great art evokes feeling. To categorize feeling is to reduce its universality. Like Frank said, you can't feel a label. And so we won't label. We won't categorize. We certainly won't judge. Rather, what we'll do instead is listen. And so without further ado, let's dissect. A tornado flew around my room. Led by its first single, Thinking About You, Frank Ocean's debut album, Channel Orange, released digitally on July 10th, 2012, with physical CDs releasing a week later.

Create Channel Orange, Frank collaborated closely with James Ryan Ho, aka Malay, a producer-songwriter who has credits on all but one song on Channel Orange. Ocean and Malay wrote the album over the course of two weeks in February of 2011. Yes, you heard that right. The majority of Channel Orange was written in just two weeks. Once the writing process was complete, Frank ordered the songs as they appear on the album today, over a year before its release. He then recorded the vocals alone, in track order, over the course of nine months. Malay said, quote, this is how diligent this dude is as far as his work ethic. He went in and did the vocals for like nine months, like intense recording and being a perfectionist. The dude really takes it super

seriously, but he recorded them in order of how they are on the record. Then we got back together once the vocals were complete. On the production end, we did the same thing. We went back in and reworked. But we did it all in order of the record, like how it is now, unquote. Conceptually, Channel Orange's nostalgia Ultras' kindred spirit, where Ultra's framework was a cassette tape being skipped through and played, Channel Orange centers around a television, with Frank flipping channels throughout the album. The songs themselves play like cinematic stories of his life and the lives of others. We also find similarities between nostalgia Ultra and Channel Orange's cover art. Each project contains two-word titles, placed approximately in the same position on the

front cover, both written in the same two fonts. Both projects' artwork also prominently feature the color orange, a color that to Ocean is extremely significant. Ocean has been on record stating he has grapheme color synesthesia, which is a neurological phenomenon of seeing letters and numbers and colors. People with certain types of synesthesia also associate colors with sounds and memories. Weeks before Channel Orange released, and just days before its open letter, Ocean posted on Tumblr, quote, Orange reminds me of the summer I first fell in love, unquote. Of course, we know from his open letter that his first love occurred in the summer when he was 19 years old, and that it was a defining time in his life.

Based on his own words, we can safely assume orange is the color that symbolizes that summer, those feelings, those memories. Of course, Channel Orange's cover art is flooded entirely with the color orange, specifically the color hex FF7E30.30. Nostalgia Ultra's artwork features an orange BMW E30M3, which has been Ocean's dream car since he was a teenager. We might speculate the color orange was used symbolically here as well, as his dream car is not unlike his dream partner or summer, something he fantasizes about and longs for. Like the cassette tape introduction of nostalgia ultra, Channel Orange's cryptic opening skit start sets the album in its television-based environment. It begins with candid laughter and vaguely audible voices. If you listen close enough, you can hear one male voice say, they look like twins

while laughing, which is followed by a distant sound of the original iPhone text message. Another male voice then says, that was embarrassing. And then eight seconds in, the sonic environment changes abruptly. We hear someone breathing as if woken suddenly. Next we hear footsteps followed by the sound of a television being turned on. You can tell by the sound the television makes that it's an older analog TV, not a modern digital flat screen. Next we hear the sound of an original Sony PlayStation being booted up,

which is then followed by the sounds of Street Fighter 2, the iconic immensely popular head-to-head fighting video game that seemingly every kid in the 1990s grew up playing. This introduction has a few interesting parallels with Nostalgia Ultra's opening sequence. There, if you'll remember, we heard sounds of a cassette tape being fast-forwarded, rewound, and then played. The song's Strawberry Swing then follows, where Frank dreams fondly about childhood and love. He's then woken by an alarm clock, followed by a deep sigh, which then leads into the rest of the album. Channel Orange's introduction is almost like a truncated version of this sequence. We hear two boys laughing and talking, just kind of hanging out and having a good time in each other's company.

The echoes and the ambient background noise make this setting feel dreamlike, like a memory being remembered. Frank is then awoken, sighs, turns on the TV, and begins to play Street Fighter. It should be noted that Nostalgia Ultra's opening track is titled just that, Street Fighter, which seems like a conscious detail that hints at the two projects' relationship. Another interesting detail is the sound of that text message in the opening dream or memory. It's the original incoming SMS or text message sound from the original iPhone, which was released in the summer of 2007. As we know from Frank's Tumblr, Channel Orge is in part about or inspired by the summer he first fell in love.

Frank stated in his opening letter that he was 19 then, and having been born in October of 1987, Frank would have been 19 in the summer of 2007, the same summer that the original iPhone was released. From the information we've gathered, we may speculate that the opening sequence of Channel Orange is a depiction of a dream or memory Frank is having about he and his first love. It makes sense then that the next track is titled, Thinking About You. Thinking About You is easily Frank's most commercially successful song to date, the details of which will thoroughly dive into right after the break.

Welcome back to Dissect. Before the break, we covered Channel Orange's opening track start, a cryptic skit that leads directly into the album's first song, Thinking About You. Thinking About You was Channel Orange's first official single, and Easley Ocean's most commercially successful song to date, with over 242 million streams on Spotify alone. The song was originally written by Frank for the artist Bridget Kelly,

whose rendition, Thinking About Forever, appeared on our 2011 Every Girl EP. Frank's reference track for this song leaked on the internet, and the song soon became associated with Frank's rendition. Later, a reworked and remastered version was released as the first official single from Channel. Orange. Thinking About You was co-produced by Shea Taylor, with the majority of the song comprised of a drum loop, bass, and electric keyboard, with strings and guitar entering later in the track. The song's minimal production puts Ocean's lyricism and voice center stage, where it displays an incredible vocal range. Although somewhat brief, the songs' verses show off Ocean's aptness for cryptic detailed lyricism and symbolic imagery.

It usually doesn't rain in Southern California, much like Arizona. My eyes don't shed tears, but boy they pour when I'm thinking about you. Who, no, no, no. Frank sings, a tornado flew around my room before you came. Excuse the mess it made. It usually doesn't rain in Southern California, much like Arizona. My eyes don't shed tears, but boy, they pour when I'm thinking about you. Frank blames a tornado for his messy room, which reminds us.

represents his mess of a life in general. We know a tornado didn't actually fall upon his room, and this is just the first of many outlandish lies Frank will tell his love on the song. The line, it usually doesn't rain in Southern California, seems to make reference to the 1972 song It Never Rains in Southern California by John Hammond. The song tells a story about an aspiring musician who moves to Los Angeles to pursue his dream, only to fail miserably. In Hammond's song, Rain is used to represent unhappiness and disappointment. Saying it never rains in Southern California represents the naive mentality and youthful optimism of moving to the fictitious wonderland of Los Angeles.

The musician finds out that it does indeed rain quite heavily in L.A., representing his failed dreams to make it as a musician. On the song's hook, Hammond sings, It never rains in California, but girl, don't they warn you, it pours. Compare that to ocean singing. It usually doesn't rain in Southern California. My eyes don't shed tears, but boy, they pour, when I'm sorry. thinking about you. These passages seem too similar to be mere coincidence, and where Hammond says,

But girl, don't they warn you, it pours. Frank says, but boy, they pour. This could be a deliberate reference to his first love as expressed in his open letter, or the pronoun was changed because a song was originally tended for Bridget Kelly. The story of an aspiring musician told on Hammond's song is also similar to Frank's own personal story, as we know he moved to Southern California to pursue a music career. When we recognize this, we might wonder whether or not that tornado Frank sung about alludes to Hurricane Katrina, the incident that ultimately led Frank moving to Southern California. In any case, verse one establishes a character that is obviously a wreck, making excuses to justify the mess of his life, and is deeply saddened that he and his love interest are no longer

together. In verse two, the lies get even more grandiose. This second I don't love you, I just thought you were cute. That's why I kiss you. Got a fighter jet. I don't get to fly it, though I'm lying down thinking about you. Oh, no, no, no. This second verse makes use of a clever rhetorical structure. Frank states his feelings and follows with an obvious lie, which is used to suggest that

his stated feelings are also a lie. He sings, no, I don't like you. I just thought you were cool enough to kick it. Got a beach house I could sell you in Idaho. Frank's claims not to like this person are as fraudulent as someone selling non-existent Oceanfront property in Idaho. Like the John Hammond reference in the first verse, this rhetorical tool may be a reference to an older song.

This time it's George Strait's Oceanfront Property, a number one hit in the 1980s. I don't love you and I'll buy that. I got some oceanfront property. Aero, you can see the sea. I got some... Straight's song uses the same rhetorical tool as Ocean's Thinking About You. In the song's verses, Straight claims he wouldn't miss his girl if she ever left, and he leads into every hook with the line, I don't love you. Now if you buy that, I got some oceanfront property in Arizona.

Interestingly, Arizona was reference in verse one of thinking about you. Adding to our growing list of small interconnected details we're discovering in this deceptively nuanced lyric sheet. Ocean continues verse two singing, Since you think I don't love you, I just thought you were cute, that's why I kissed you. Got a fighter jet, I don't get to fly it though. Again, another lie about his feelings, followed by an outlandish lie about owning a fighter jet. Cleverly, Frank ends the verse with the line, I'm lying down, thinking about you. I'm lying down, of course, sounds a lot like I'm lying now. Both of the song's verses are followed by the song's hook, which reveals

Frank's true feelings about his love interest. I've been thinking about you, do you think about yourself? Frank sings, I've been thinking about you, do you think about me still, or do you not think so far ahead, because I've been thinking about forever. Based on everything we know in the song so far, we might assume the two had some kind of past relationship that no longer exists, implied by the still in the line, do you think about me still?

But it's clear that Frank's character values whatever that relationship was much more. As we heard on both verses, he's insecure about his feelings and tries to downplay them, only to call out the ridiculousness of those claims by surrounding them with extravagant lies. On the song's bridge, Frank's character is more straightforward about his feelings, snapping the song into place. Frank sings, Yes, of course, I remember. How could I forget how you feel? You know you were my first time, a new feel. It won't ever get old, not my my soul, not my spirit, keep it alive. We'll go down this road till it turns from color to black and white.

It's here that the real beauty of the song reveals itself. Frank acknowledges that the other person doesn't reciprocate his feelings, but by, quote, thinking about you, Frank keeps the ethereal essence of their relationship alive. He aligns the feelings of the past, remembers them in the present, which ensures their existence in the future. That's timelessness. That's eternal transcendence. That's forever. And as he says, this is, quote, a new feel, won't ever get old, not my soul, not my spirit, keep it alive. The feeling is now permanently integrated in his soul, now a part of and inseparable from who he is. It's really a beautiful sentiment. Much like the memories of our deceased loved ones keep them alive in a very real and significant way. Frank's memory of this person and his feelings

when they are together keep them alive. Often in life, there's a temptation to try and forget our unrequited or failed loves, as the memories often come with feelings of hurt, insecurity, resentment, or any number of discomforting emotions. On thinking about you, Frank displays a kind of pureness and his appreciation for the feeling being able to exist at all. He distills his feelings into a singular, sanguine strand of emotional DNA. It's a feeling he'll keep forever, that he'll cherish forever, forever a part of who he is. And for that, he seems thankful. Again, we turn to Frank's open letter, quote, thanks. To my first love, I'm grateful for you. Grateful that even though it wasn't what I hoped for, and even though it was never enough, it was. Some things never are, and we were.

I won't forget you, unquote. Thinking about you is a beautiful start to a beautiful album. Like Nostalgia Ultra's opening song, Strawberry Swing, Thinking About You opens Channel Orange with the magic of memory, the warmth of nostalgia, and the beautifully tragic and transcendent potential. of love. And with thinking about you, Frank Ocean is just getting started. He'll continue to flip through the television that is his imagination on Channel Orange, which will continue to explore an incredible detail. Next time on Dysect. Dysect is written and produced by me. Additional project support by Spotify's Michelle Santucci, original theme music by Beirocratic. Remember, when you listen to Dysect on Spotify, you'll get new episodes a week before all other platforms, as well as access to

exclusive bonus episodes only available on Spotify. On this week's bonus episode, you can hear Frank's open letter read and full. Follow at Dysect Podcast on Twitter and Instagram and follow the official Dysk Spotify user profile for playlist curated by me, as well as collaborative playlist you can contribute to. You can find that by searching Dysect Pod playlist in Spotify. Also, I wanted to recommend to you a podcast I love called 20,000 Hertz. It's a podcast that reveals the stories behind you. the world's most recognizable and interesting sounds.

Recently, they did a show on Musak that you should start with. Here's a clip. Musak gave us a lot more than just the genre of easy listening. Musak introduced the idea that music was to occupy and influence public spaces. There's a lot of, frankly, spurious research, which purports to show that we all love music everywhere. We don't. Unlike the easy listening of Musak's heyday,

music in public spaces today is often faster and louder. Restaurant reviewers who measure and list noise in their reviews are reporting levels above 70 and even 80 decibels. Those levels can cause hearing loss over time. 20,000 Hertz is a super highly polished show, and every episode is fascinating. Search 20,000 Hertz, which is spelled out without numbers, on Spotify or wherever you listen. Okay, thanks you guys.

I'll talk to you next week.