Messy crying in the bathroom is not the ideal way to spend a Saturday evening with your best friend. But it's all too real when the words of Frank Ocean hit your soul. His lyrics are enough to make a grown man cry. We’ve all had our crazy cries to some of our best musical heart hitters, though none compare to the melodies of Frank Ocean. 

Frank Ocean's second studio album Blond catapulted him into the mainstream and invaded many of our playlist. However what goes overlooked is his first official album, Channel Orange. Channel Orange provides a more realistic outlook as the listeners go through a journey not just through sound but our own lives. I believe this trumps the heart pullers of Blond which is a more emotion based album, emphasizing that we as humans can become our emotions.

Born in Long Beach California, Frank Ocean would later move to New Orleans and spend the larger part of his adolescence being exposed to the jazz scene and listening to his moms old r&b cds. Ocean made his debut with the mixtape nostalgia,ULTRA, riding off of that success he would later release Channel Orange but not before sharing his bisexuality on twitter in a heartfelt letter on Tumblr. He would later release Channel Orange making him a two time grammy winning artist for best Urban Contemporary album and Melodic Rap performance.

“You don't know how little you matter until you're all alone.” These are the leading words to one of the most arbitrarily named tracks in pop history:”Crack Rock”.This song is one of my favorites on the album dealing with race,addiction, and mental health. In the song he tells the story of someone who grows addicted to crack, all the things they used to have, to the present.“You hit them stones and broke your home” saying that now with this introduction of drugs they ruined their life even touching later in the song “Your family stopped inviting you to things, won't let you hold their infant”.This addiction has ruined this person affecting the way they treat their family that they are no longer trusted to be around them. Ocean even adds a controversial historical piece “ crooked cop dead cop. How much dope can you push to me ?” This references the government flooding black communities with crack in the 80s. “Crack Rock” like the rest of Channel Orange gives us a different perspective on a situation we mainly see on the outside.

Ocean follows the start of his album (yes the first song is actually called “Start”) with a song most are already familiar with. “Thinkin Bout You” captivated millions when it came out, a hit single that could easily and has so far stood the test of time. In it he speaks on the effects of past relationships on new relationships referencing this turmoil with his first line in the song “a tornado flew around my room before you came” suggesting that he is a mess and it's because of all his past experiences in maybe not just relationships but life.We can all relate to how the trauma we’ve gone through in life has affected the way we act and perceive things in our future. His trauma ruined his chance of an actual relationship and “Thinkin Bout You" is his reminiscing on what he lost. Relationships are not so black and white, most heartbreak songs absolve the writer of the guilt or don’t so discreetly hide the complexity of their relationships.While this song is a masterpiece and deserves the pedestal it stands on it is not the only gem on the album.

In “Super Rich Kids” he talks about the lonely overlooked life of privileged children. Having many resources but not having the love of family and connection, an experience most are not all too familiar with. Ocean provides an interesting take on the thrills of privileged teens who go about life almost completely unchecked but offers a rather offputting take, emphasizing the loneliness and the lack of care they get on a day to day basis. In the song he uses the term latchkey kid, referring to a child that is left alone for extended periods of time, because their parents work frequently. In the song the kids  spend most of their time with maids who are paid by their parents leaving them to still emotionally fend for themselves. Because of their rich life they have “nothing but fake friends” and “nothing but loose ends” in Ocean's words. “Super rich kids” shows us the destruction of leading a life where you have too many material things but no things with actual sources of feeling attached to them.

From a lover in heart break to the life of affluenza kids and a story about the unfortunate dissension of a struggling drug addict. Frank Ocean speaks for millions in his first studio album. Showing us the different avenues that life can take us down and how simply being a victim of circumstance can change your entire story. There are many other gems in Channel Orange, sharing different experiences for every listener. We can all relate to the common feelings of displacement and regret in this album making it a timeless contender for your playlist of life. If you haven’t heard this album before it's definitely worth checking out.