Welcome to our collection of quotes by Frank Ocean. We hope you enjoy pondering them and please share widely.
Wikipedia Summary for Frank Ocean
Frank Ocean (born October 28, 1987) is an American singer and songwriter. He is recognized for his idiosyncratic musical style, introspective and elliptical songwriting, and wide vocal range. Music critics have credited him with revitalizing jazz and funk influenced R&B, as well as advancing the genre through his experimental approach. He is considered a representative artist of alternative R&B.
Ocean began his musical career as a ghostwriter, prior to joining the hip hop collective Odd Future in 2010. In 2011, Ocean released his critically successful debut mixtape Nostalgia, Ultra and subsequently secured a recording contract with Def Jam Recordings. Drawing on electro-funk, pop-soul, jazz-funk, and psychedelia, Ocean's debut studio album Channel Orange (2012) was one of the most acclaimed albums of 2012. It was nominated for Album of the Year and won Best Urban Contemporary Album at the 2013 Grammy Awards, while the album's hit single "Thinkin Bout You" garnered Ocean a nomination for Record of the Year.
Following a four-year hiatus, Ocean released the visual project Endless in 2016 to fulfill contractual obligations with Def Jam before self-releasing his highly anticipated second album Blonde (2016) a day later. Blonde debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 and was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Encompassing experimental, soul, and psychedelic rock, the album was acclaimed by critics and Ocean was praised for challenging the conventions of contemporary R&B and pop music.
Among Ocean's awards are two Grammy Awards, a Brit Award for International Male Solo Artist in 2013 and an NME Award for Best International Male Artist in 2017. He was included in the 2013 edition of the Time's list of the 100 most influential people in the world and the 2017 edition of the Forbes 30 Under 30. Two of his studio albums have been listed in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2020). Both Insider and The Wall Street Journal regarded Ocean as the most dominant artist of the 2010s decade.
As a photographer, Ocean worked with Vogue at the annual Met Gala and the British fashion magazine i-D. Premiered in 2017, he also has his own Beats 1 radio show, Blonded Radio, that often premiers his new singles. In August 2021, Ocean announced the launch of Homer, a luxury jewellery company of his own design.
This has always been my life and no one else's, and that's how it's always been since the day I came in it.
When I did have some success, it further emboldens you to be like, 'No, I'm just going to write what I feel I should write.'
I've gotten used to being Frank Ocean.
Sometimes I'm fascinated with how famous my work could be while I'm not so famous.
I never think about myself as an artist working in this time. I think about it in macro.
Here's what I think about music and journalism: The most important thing is to just press play.
All in all, I just don't trust journalists -- and I don't think it's a good practice for me to trust journalists.
Of course awards matter.
I've always wanted to make a career in the arts, and I think that my only hope at doing that is to make it more about the work.
I might just write a novel next. I don't know!
I believe that I'm one of the best in the world at what I do, and that's all I've ever wanted to be.
I guess I'm just inspired to tell stories.
I worked my face off.
I'm not a centerfold.
The work is the work. The work is not me.
Longer Version:
The work is the work. The work is not me. I like the anonymity that directors can have about their films. Even though it's my voice, I'm a storyteller.
I can't usually stomach a project after I finish it, but for those days and weeks and months that it's new to me, I do listen to it, and it might change over time, but it's about function.
I make pop culture.
All the things I didn't mean to say I didn't mean to do There were things you didn't need to say You didn't need to.
We met for a reason, either you're a blessing or a lesson.
I believe a marriage isn't between a man and woman, but between love and love.
The Internet is just another experiment showing us more sides of us.
You can't think; you just gotta do things.
Because I'm not in a record deal, I don't have to operate in an album format.
I can operate in half-a-song format.
I'm in this business to be creative -- I'll even diminish it and say to be a content provider.
I hope not to define myself by suffering.
My music definitely comes from a place of experience. Everything connects to a truth.
I respect Drake not only as a creative person but as a business mind as well. I think Drake's important.
I booked my first studio at like 12 or 13. Somewhere in that season of my life, singing along with the radio became me wanting to be on radio, you know.
Longer Version:
I booked my first studio at like 12 or 13. Somewhere in that season of my life, singing along with the radio became me wanting to be on radio, you know. And writing Langston Hughes replica poems became me wanting to write like Stevie Wonder.
I had writer's block for almost a year.
I enjoy being involved in making the artwork for albums and stupid stuff like that.
It's hard to articulate how I think about myself as a public figure.
Art's everything we hope life would be, a lot of times.
When you write a song like 'Forrest Gump,' the subject can't be androgynous. It requires an unnecessary amount of effort.
The Internet made fame wack and anonymity cool.
I have no delusions about my likability in every scenario. I know that in order to get things done the way you want them, oftentimes your position will be unpopular.
Super-envious of the fact that Daft Punk can wear robot helmets and be one of the most famous bands in the world, while also understanding that will never be my situation.
With my art, it's the one thing that I know will outlive me and outlive my feelings. It will outlive my depressive seasons.
I don't intend to stop making music.
If you could see my thoughts, you could see our faces.
It started to weigh on me that I was responsible for the moves that had made me successful, but I wasn't reaping the lion's share of the profits, and that was problematic for me.
I won't touch on risky, because that's subjective. People are just afraid of things too much. Afraid of things that don't necessarily merit fear.
Some people focus more on sonics. Some people focus more on story. I focus on both sonics and story.
Longer Version:
Some people focus more on sonics. Some people focus more on story. I focus on both sonics and story, but music sometimes, just music itself, can turn into more of a maths problem. I guess everything in life is a math problem, but it can be more about an empirical route to getting the symmetry that you want, and this vibe, sonically.
It's not essential for me to have a big debut week; it's not essential for me to have big radio records.
How we experience memory sometimes, it's not linear. We're not telling the stories to ourselves. We know the story; we're just seeing it in flashes overlaid.
I'm extremely compassionate, loving, all of those warm fuzzy things, but the outer shell doesn't project that all the time.
I'm big on what's in good taste.
The worse part of being lied to is when you realize you believed it.
No, I don't like you, I just thought you were cute enough to kiss you.
I feel like I was writing as I was learning to talk. Writing was always a go-to form of communication.
Longer Version:
I feel like I was writing as I was learning to talk. Writing was always a go-to form of communication. And I knew I could sing from being in tune with the radio.
It's more interesting for me to figure out how to be superior in areas where I'm naive, where I'm a novice.
When you're happy, you enjoy the music but when you're sad, you undestand the lyrics.
Just remember; someone loves everything you hate about yourself.
My TV ain't HD, that's too real.
Once I catch you in one lie, it makes me question everything you said.
I've written some great things. That's a gift, but there's consequences. Yeah, you get this great work, but you suffer. You really, really suffer.
I want to thank The Beatles for almost single-handedly getting me out of writer's block.
It's about the stories. If I write 14 stories that I love, then the next step is to get the environment of music around it to best envelop the story, and all kinds of sonic goodness -- sonic goodies.
Boys do cry, but I don't think I shed a tear for a good chunk of my teenage years.
I wrote 'Channel Orange' in two weeks. The end product wasn't always that gritty, real-life depiction of the real struggle that happened.
When you are happy, you enjoy music, when you are sad, you understand lyrics.
I grew up in New Orleans. I had just moved into my dorm at the University of New Orleans, and I was doing laundry, and my mom called me, like, 'We've got to evacuate. There's a hurricane's coming.'
Don't ever play with someone's feelings, you could win the game but you could lose that person forever.
I think we all change each other's paths. I don't know which law idea that is in physics, but I don't think any of us can live without affecting one another.
If someone breaks your heart, just punch them in the face. Seriously. Punch them in the face and go get some ice cream.
Don't confuse my personality with my attitude. My personality is who I am, and my attitude depends on who you are.
I was a thug.
Don't feel sad over someone who gave up on you, feel sorry for them because they gave up on someone who would have never given up on them.
Those who are heartless, once cared too much.
Work hard in silence, let success be your noise.
Distance sometimes lets you know who's worth keeping and who's worth letting go.
As long as your intentions are solid and about growth and progression and being productive and not being idle, then you're doing good in my book.
I like the anonymity that directors can have about their films.
As a writer, as a creator, I'm giving you my experiences. But just take what I give you. You ain't got to pry beyond that.
The idea of recognising your strengths and using them in as versatile a way as you can is cool to me.
I don't have any secrets I need kept any more.
It's cool to be recognised by your peers.
I'm about being the best.
There's just some magic in truth and honesty and openness.
People are just afraid of things too much. Afraid of things that don't necessarily merit fear.
A friend of mine jokes that I have a painstaking royalty complex. Like maybe I was a duke in a past life.
As a lifestyle you always being the focal point is innately unhealthy.
I don't fear anybody... at all.
You just do what you can and you have as much fun as possible.
I play piano every day. I enjoy that.
In art, at a certain level, there is no 'better than.' It's just about trying to operate for yourself on the most supreme level, artistically, that you can and hoping that people get it.
Longer Version:
In art, at a certain level, there is no 'better than.' It's just about trying to operate for yourself on the most supreme level, artistically, that you can and hoping that people get it. Trusting that, just because of the way people are built and how interconnected we are, greatness will translate and symmetry will be recognised.
My grandfather was smart and had a whole lot of pride. He didn't speak a terrible amount, but you could tell there was a ton on his mind -- like a quiet acceptance of how life had turned out.
I enjoy singing my songs in front of people.
Longer Version:
I enjoy singing my songs in front of people. I enjoy being involved in making the artwork for albums and stupid stuff like that.
I don't ever want to be caught up in a system of thinking I can do one thing 'cos that's just... that's just telling yourself a lie.