Frank Ocean‘s was bound to be one of the most-talked about performances from last night’s MTV Video Music Awards, with the out rapper/singer appearing before his largest audience to date. Though it was less on the production-heavy side of things compared to other buzzworthy performances by the likes of Pink, Rihanna and Green Day, Ocean turned out a heartfelt rendition of “Thinkin Bout You” — which got the seal of approval from none other than the Mother of All Monsters herself:
And Gaga doesn’t roll over and die for just anyone.
QJ201
Channeling Simon Cowell: Self Indulgent
I still don’t get the contradiction of “hyper masculine posing” among black male singers…and singing in falsetto like you’ve been kicked in the balls.
Avenger
I was waiting for the gay media to start overhyping his dull performance, just because. His was no where near being a showstopper and was forgettable.
ScaryRussianHeather
OMG. Songwriter yes, singer, no. While I stipulate he likely still has vocal damage from his little tour he had to cancel (like Adele) he needs some serious vocal coaching ASAP.
PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID
fuck you cunts he’s an amazing singer…youtube bitches: YOUTUBE.
no one sensible has claimed he has THE greatest voice of his peers (although it’s still top drawer); even his famously affecting falsetto isn’t a match for usher’s smoother effortless one. but effortless is exactly the antithesis of ocean’s appeal — you feel that every single note, every sung personal revelation costs him but he has to do it anyway regardless of what the world will think of him. what his voice has is honesty and integrity, eschewing all the unnecessary vocal pyrotechnics in favour of the most direct route to a heart; and this makes up for any slight (uncharacteristic) pitchy-ness during an unforgiving stripped down performance which nevertheless in places still managed to make me shiver.
frank on a bad day is worth a million slick polished performers with their trapezes, thrones, bells and whistles.
but contrarian bitches always wanna be the first to pull back the curtain and reveal it’s just a man after all. sit down..we know.
PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID
fuck you c*nts he’s an amazing singer…youtube bitches: YOUTUBE.
no one sensible has claimed he has THE greatest voice of his peers (although it’s still top drawer); even his famously affecting falsetto isn’t a match for usher’s smoother effortless one. but effortless is exactly the antithesis of ocean’s appeal — you feel that every single note, every sung personal revelation costs him but he has to do it anyway regardless of what the world will think of him. what his voice has is honesty and integrity, eschewing all the unnecessary vocal pyrotechnics in favour of the most direct route to a heart; and this makes up for any slight (uncharacteristic) pitchy-ness during an unforgiving stripped down performance which nevertheless in places still managed to make me shiver.
frank on a bad day is worth a million slick polished performers with their trapezes, thrones, bells and whistles.
but contrarian bitches always wanna be the first to pull back the curtain and reveal it’s just a man after all. sit down…we know.
generalmonty
@PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID: word
RomanHans
@PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID: Whoa! I totally, totally agree. “Channel Orange” is by far the record of the year, and Frank Ocean is clearly the performer of the year. Amazing talent, and we should be profoundly thankful he’s gay, out, and proud.
strangefruit
@PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID: Damn. ++++++
algae
I just don’t get the hype surrounding this guy. It seems like people only care about him because he came out. I find his music really underwhelming.
Avenger
@algae: Agreed. It’s all smoke and mirrors. Try finding a pre-coming out articles about Frank Ocean here at Queerty. I’ll wait. No one cared about him or his music then and no one cares about his music now. People just wanna use him as a seat filler and mouthpiece for “Team Gay”, while occasionally mentioning his “talent” as an afterthought when it becomes especially obvious how shallow and agenda-based their support of him actually is.
RomanHans
@Avenger: Uh, “Channel Orange” is his DEBUT CD. Tough question: could this possibly be why Queerty never wrote about him before? On a totally different note: Queerty’s change in the comment system hasn’t gotten rid of the idiots, huh?
@algae: Listen to “Think About You,” “Sweet Life,” and “Super Rich Kids.” A few times over. I don’t care if Scooby Doo sang these songs, they’d still be classic R&B tracks.
PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID
@Avenger: “Try finding a pre-coming out articles about Frank Ocean here at Queerty”
child, that’s weak. this is a site for lgbt related stuff and before he came out he wasn’t lgbt related stuff, and besides he was still fairly new and queerty is, well, queerty and not The Fader.
“NO ONE cared about him or his music then …”
actually, plenty of people “in the know” had him on their radar; you don’t get to appear on a jay z/kanye record, or write for the biggest stars in the world like bieber or beyonce without being in receipt of the goods and then some.
“…and NO ONE cares about his music now.”
*sigh* well, try this simple trick: google the fuck outta the reviews for channel orange AND the (pre-coming out) mixtape, and his recent live tour. that really oughta settle the matter for you… or is it a conspiracy to make you look like a provincial idiot? also ask yourself how such an understated relatively publicity averse artist managed to SUSTAIN such a buzz? much of this before his revelation (hip magazine articles etc)
“People just wanna use him as a seat filler and mouthpiece for “Team Gay”, while occasionally mentioning his “talent” as an afterthought when it becomes especially obvious how shallow and agenda-based their support of him actually is.”
again, the OVERWHELMING consensus of critics and music aficionados is, and has ALWAYS BEEN, that he is a major future talent.
he’s never been a mouthpiece for anything other than his own artistic vision. i don’t require anything from a serious artist than to be true to his own vision and to fuck the consequences. frank ocean has delivered so far. you do a major disservice to lgbt consumers of culture by suggesting they are just sheep with no independent aesthetic judgement of their own. if it’s just a “team gay” thing how is one to account for the enormous lack of ricky martin, mika, adam lambert melissa etheridge in mine and my friends collections, whilst simultaneously being appreciative of these artists advocacy roles.
feeling left out like all the kool kids have the started the party without you? aww bless.
Kev C
I don’t know why people think he’s a good singer. When he’s not falsettoing embarrasingly, he sounds like Elvis Costello. Go ahead, compare the two. He really does.
journey91
But if he was white you motherfuckers would be falling all over yourselves to call him the greatest of all things great. SMH.