Frank Ocean Talks Early Album Release, Making of 'channel ORANGE'
Frank Ocean has shied away from interviews, but he called into Zane Lowe on BBC Radio 1 this week to discuss all things channel ORANGE. While he didn’t address his coming out letter, the R&B sensation did speak about the project’s early release, renting a house in Beverly Hills to record, playing the album for some of his heroes, and his tour, which kicks off tonight in Seattle.
On releasing his album early: “It was actually the plan all along. I kinda wanted to mirror what Jay and Kanye did with Watch the Throne, preventing the leak by staggering digital and physical dates. I wanted all the promotional elements to follow the album, with the videos and the tour, and do everything after and let the music speak for itself.”
On his goal with this album: “I wanted to do things that I hadn’t done before structurally with songs. I wanted to go different places sonically that I haven’t gone before.”
On his recording sessions: Instead of paying $1,600/day to rent a studio, Ocean rented a mansion in Beverly Hills, but only ended up making three songs there—”Lost,” “Pyramids,” and “Analog 2” featuring Tyler, the Creator. “I had the housekeeper daily. It was great, it was awesome,” laughed Frank.
On why he only collaborated with a few people: “It was important for me to do the project with a limited amount of people and I got the opportunity, which I value so greatly, to sit with some of my creative heroes and play them the songs in different stages of completion and get input and get feedback. I tried to make something that was true to what I heard in my head and true to what I thought the future should be for me music-wise.”
On touring: “I want to give the best show possible when I can and put myself in the position to just do my best. So if that means a lesser volume of appearances, then so be it. I’m in it for as long as I’m allowed to be. It’s not about let’s do a million things right now. It’s about let’s just do our best to do the best things right now.”