Frank Ocean, born Christopher Edwin Breaux, is a singer and dynamic lyricist. Looking back through his discography, it’s no wonder that he got his start in the music industry with his pen. He has written songs for Beyoncé, Justin Bieber, Brandy Norwood, and more. He also was a part of Odd Future as a ghostwriter. Odd Future is a hip-hop collective with members such as Tyler, The Creator, Syd the Kid, Earl Sweatshirt, Taco Bennet, and more. The collective jumpstarted many of the artists’ solo careers. Ocean was a part of Odd Future from 2010-2015.
While his writing is impressive, most fans fell in love with his voice. He released his debut mixtape Nostalgia, Ultra in 2011. The mixtape contained songs such as “Novacane,” “Swim Good,” and more. After the release of his mixtape, he accepted a record deal with Def Jam.
For Ocean, it’s quality over quantity. For someone who only has two studio albums in a day and age where most artists have a new album every year, he still reigns as one of the most influential artists in the past decade. Both studio albums Channel Orange (2012), and Blonde (2016) are critically acclaimed as they show off his impressive lyricism and sultry deep vocals. In 2016, he released his visual album Endless. He did so in order to fulfill his contractual obligations with the label. A day after the release of Endless, he self-released his second studio album Blond.
Frank Ocean: Present Day
Ocean’s last full-length project was Blonde in 2016. He headlined Coachella this year for the first weekend. He didn’t return for the second weekend due to an ankle injury. He was replaced by Blink-182. However, in between songs during the first weekend, he left the audience confused about “I wanna talk about why we’re here… because it’s not about the new album… not that there’s NOT a new album.”
— Frank Ocean at #Coachella pic.twitter.com/N2y1EDPXxt
“I wanna talk about why we’re here because it’s not about the new album… not that there’s not a new album,” he said to the crowd.
Well, while we wait to see if we are to hear new music from him, take a look at seven of his best songs ranked below: