With 21 songs and 5 features Frank Ocean has become one of the most popular artist gathering fans and critics across the globe. With majority of his songs like ‘Pyramids’ and ‘Thinkin Bout You’ gaining major popularity and exceeding music charts, there’s some songs that don’t gain the recognition they deserve. Although, it could be argued there is no such thing as a bad Frank Ocean song, I took a deep dive into the entire list of songs and found 5 songs that fans think deserve an extra replay.
1) ‘Sierra Leone’ – ‘We’re spending too much time alone, and I just ran outta Trojans’
From the album ‘Channel ORANGE’, Sierra Leone is one of the least played tracks of the album. The track starts with a repeated heartbeat-like drumbeat and harmony of twinkling strings making the atmosphere feel almost dreamlike. Frank paints a story of an unwanted pregnancy due to recklessness in behavior and the reality of facing up to the consequences of our actions. The track does a good job in portraying the idea of growing up. The lack of attention and appreciation of the song earns Sierra Leone its status as underrated.
I asked students in Morton West High School, and on social media to collect a group of Frank Ocean Fans locally and nationally to learn their opinions on this song. One student, Monse Gonzalez, who had Frank as her top artist on all music platforms like ‘Spotify’ and ‘Apple Music’ agreed to sit and talk to me about Sierra Leone and why she thinks it’s so underrated.
‘I mean I love frank and love the whole R&B vibe of the song, but I think it’s outshined by his other songs in the album. I can definitely see why others might not get hooked in the beginning due to its slow tempo, but I think it’s meaning and it’s overall sound should get more recognition.’ Said Gonzalez.
2) ‘Biking’ (FT. Tyler, the creator and Jay Z) – ‘Life goes in cycles, what comes around, goes around’
The single ‘Biking’ from ‘Blonded RADIO’ hasn’t reached high popularity compared to other singles. The song’s lo-fi vibe fits perfectly in Frank’s world, Tyler, the Creator, and Jay Z. The song starts with chants repeating ‘what goes around comes around’ and a calming piano shaping the lyrics into a more inspirational tone. Almost as if a lesson or speech is being shared. The track switches up to Frank singing while a guitar expands the soundscape. Biking comes in contrast to Frank’s constant reoccurrence theme with cars like in ‘White Ferrari’ and his cover of Lonny Breaux. ‘Biking’ shows Frank metaphorically riding a bike portraying the Ups and downs life brings. The song feels almost relatable which is surprising for the lack of attention it got.
California fan, Lalo Perez, who claims himself to be a Frank Ocean enthusiast and has listen to all his songs was shocked when asked on why he himself thinks this song is underrated.
‘I’m surprised not a lot of people know about this song. It sounds so much like a lot of his other popular songs like ‘She’. I feel like if it was played or recommended more people would begin to make it as popular as his others.’ Perez claims.
3) ‘Lovecrimes’ – ‘Murder, Murder, Murder she wrote. Lovecrimes. Lovecrimes.’
Appearing in the album nostalgia, ULTRA, ‘Lovecrimes’ samples a famous Women vs Men monologue from the Stanley Kubrick film ‘Eyes Wide Shut’. The tracks is short with a hooking piano riff loop starting off in the beginning. The song seems to never breathe and has multiple instruments and voices playing in the soundscape at once. It all comes off as quiet chaos. The song appears to have many interpretations from abortion to the dynamic relationship between a man and woman dealing with their desires and affairs. Towards the end of the song the piano then only gets slower and slower as the monologue in the background gains intensity making it very intriguing to listen. Definitely worth more listens.
4) ‘Nature feels’ – ‘Baby girl tell me how my nature feels’
‘Nature Feels’ the closing track of the album ‘Nostalgia, ULTRA’, takes a turn from Frank’s usual slow or lo-fi beat to an Electrical feel. In this song, Frank doesn’t hold back and comes off very blunt about his intention in the song.. which is not always appropriate. The song is about raw honesty and passion mixed with desire. Very in tune with emotions, and very underrated with the lack of listens it carries.
5) ‘Close To You’ – ‘Just like me, they long to be close to you’
‘Close To You’, which appeared in Frank Ocean’s album ‘Blond’, deserves more love and recognition than given. Frank is covering Stevie Wonders 1972 piece and presents his vocals in a far more reminiscent way. As Frank sings the audio of Wonders performance also plays, and sounds almost like a duet. Both are from two different periods, which when put together make a beautiful harmony. Frank’s twist on the piece uses more of ‘Blonds’ tone and comes off more as a heartbreaking piece. It makes you feel as if you’re listening to a letter being read to an ex. Despite this track only being 1 minute and 25 seconds it deserves more listen’s for its beautiful lyricism.
Without a doubt Frank Ocean’s songs never miss. Regardless, of popularity all his songs can be agreed as good in their own way. I made a public pole on social media which reached many Frank fans from different states to see what song from this list was their favorite and the answer was unanimous. With one of the options being ‘All 5 songs’ over 100% of voters chose that answer. So, give these songs a chance and give them a listen.
