Whenever “stunning” details come out about a political scandal or any kind of shocking event, the cynics say they saw it coming. I don’t doubt them either. Have you ever seen the classic HBO series The Wire? Well, if you haven’t, the show is praised for its authenticity and dedication to realism, and it portrays some serious corruption and ignorance by police and government. So naturally, after watching The Wire, I’ve tended to doubt the sincerity of “heartfelt apologies” or “firm denials” when they get shoved in my face. Of course, thinking with that frame of mind doesn’t exactly make you a beacon of joy and positivity. It’s as Rust Cohle (played by the phenomenal Matthew McConaughey) in another HBO hit, True Detective, when defining pessimism: “It means I’m bad at parties.” Now, pessimism isn’t the same as cynicism, but the quote works either way.
This may contradict what I let on about myself in the above paragraph, but I truly don’t consider myself a cynic (and no, I don’t believe that all cynical thinkers are bad at parties). Yeah, I may be a skeptic when it comes to believing every word that comes out of a politician’s mouth, but who does take everything a government official says as fact? I do, however, adamantly dislike those who automatically dismiss any attempt by a public figure at a sincere or lighthearted gesture as a publicity stunt, PR move, or “covering his/her own behind”. Though I’m sure there are plenty of instances where this has been the case (I’m looking at you, Lance Armstrong), I just don’t see the point in greeting any humanizing action by a public figure with suspicion of an ulterior motive.
Frank Ocean could very well be the most talented singer-songwriter actively making music right now. That’s not just my unfounded opinion, either. The 26-year-old artist from New Orleans has released two albums, nostalgia, ULTRA and channel ORANGE, to widespread critical acclaim, won a Grammy for Best Urban Contemporary Album (as well as Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for his part in the Jay-Z/Kanye West song “No Church in the Wild”), and can claim near-universal respect among his peers (Don Henley of the Eagles despises Ocean after the latter stole the entire “Hotel California” track for the scintillating “American Wedding”, which is on nostalgia, ULTRA, and Chris Brown got into an altercation with Ocean over a parking spot. Yes, you read that right. A parking spot). Ocean possesses one of the sweetest-sounding voices in R&B (he describes himself as “a baritone, with tenor moments”, if that helps at all), was the primary musical composer for his most recent album, channel ORANGE, and he’s basically the Pablo Picasso of songwriting. I’m not just name-dropping a famous painter just for the sake of metaphor either. Ocean’s lyrics may surpass the abstract genius of Picasso’s art in that he often utilizes vivid, unusual imagery and intensely sensual phrases (“her pink skies will keep me warm”) in his songs.
Why did I go into great detail about the brilliance of Frank Ocean immediately following two paragraphs that explain my opinions on cynicism? I’m getting there, be patient. You see, on July 4, 2012, about a week prior to the release of channel ORANGE, Ocean published an open letter on his Tumblr account in which he confessed to his first love being a male. He was 19, and he spent an entire summer developing an extremely close, platonic relationship with another young man. He also revealed that the love was unrequited, as the man had a girlfriend and was not interested in progressing his and Ocean’s relationship any further. Ocean concluded the letter by saying "I don't know what happens now, and that's alrite. I don't have any secrets I need kept anymore...I feel like a free man.” The entire letter was dripping with a level of emotional vulnerability and candidness that is rarely seen from artists within the hip-hop/R&B community, a notoriously homophobic environment.
Reactions from people around the music industry were overwhelmingly positive, with Russell Simmons, brother of hip-hop group Run DMC’s Rev Run and co-founder of Def Jam Recordings, congratulating Ocean on his courage with this statement: "Today is a big day for hip-hop. It is a day that will define who we really are. How compassionate will we be? How loving can we be? How inclusive are we? [...] Your decision to go public about your sexual orientation gives hope and light to so many young people still living in fear.” Beyonce, Jay-Z, Tyler, the Creator (Ocean’s friend and an alleged homophobe), and others also publicly expressed their support.
You knew it wasn’t going to be all positive though. As expected, Internet trolls and stuck-in-their-ways conservatives voiced their opinions wherever they could. However, I have no drawn-out qualms with those who simply disapprove of Frank Ocean’s bisexuality. If that’s what they believe, then that’s what they believe. There’s nothing I can do about that. That being said, I do have a bone to pick with those (probably few, but still enough) who point out the timing of the letter in relation to his new, major label/studio debut album. It’s those damn cynics (see, I told you I’d bring it all back) who just can’t fathom a famous musician being openly sentimental without having the “bottom line” in mind. This is an actual comment left on the bottom of a Gawker article about Frank's reluctance to assign labels to himself just because he admitted to having intimate feelings for a man:
"'You can move to the next question.' Right after I give you a much longer response to this one than I will for any of the others.Honestly, I find this guy incredibly obnoxious. What he did was a publicity stunt (did you see what it did for sales/attention around his album's release?) and if he's gay or bi or WHATEVER, he should just fucking come out and say it. I'm so sick of people who "aren't into labels," because they're actually just into talking shit and confusing people to get more publicity."
I’m fairly certain that most of those who think the letter was nothing more than an effort to sell albums are additionally homophobic. I’m also fairly certain that some of those same cynics don’t even factor Ocean’s sexual orientation into their criticisms of the letter. They’d rather simply bash him for what they perceive as a “well-timed sap story” or something insensitive like that. To that point, I would counter with: if the goal was to increase his notoriety in anticipation of the release of his album, then why would he choose to share something that extremely personal and controversial? Why wouldn’t he, instead, opt to just embellish some story about a failed relationship with an old girlfriend? That way, he can lock down some sympathy sales without creating a monumental stir.
Frank Ocean was certainly not the first musician to feel like an outsider in his field because of his sexuality. And I’m certainly glad he didn't harbor negative emotions about his hidden sexuality like Judas Priest lead singer Rob Halford did during his career. Halford came out publicly in 1998, but also admitted that prior to that, he struggled with depression and feelings of isolation, which in turn led to heavy drug and alcohol use. Would the cynics have poked their heads out if he made his announcement earlier, say while he was still making music with Judas Priest (he split from the band in 1991)? Who knows, but I’m sure the possibility of backlash like that was a concern of Halford’s while he privately lived in despair.
In the late 1960’s, Elton John was engaged to a woman named Linda Woodrow. In 1976, the singer came out as a bisexual. Eight years later, John married German recording engineer Renate Blauel, only to have the marriage be written off as a cover for his exclusive interest in men. Finally, in 1988, John divorced Blauel and described himself as “comfortable” being gay. Unlike Frank Ocean, John didn’t happen to align any of his major “announcements” with a big release or anything like that; the “bisexual” Rolling Stone article was actually published months after his live album Here and There dropped. Nonetheless, John was clearly relieved following his coming-out in 1988, as he didn’t have to feel insecure or shame over his sexuality.
Legendary Queen frontman Freddie Mercury never even took a route similar to Ocean or Elton John; Mercury was openly ambiguous about his sexuality. In other words, whenever confronted about if he was gay or not, Mercury would provide misleading, almost incomprehensible responses, like this one: “Let's put it this way; there were times when I was young and green. It's a thing schoolboys go through. I've had my share of schoolboy pranks. I'm not going to elaborate further." Elaborate further? You didn’t elaborate at all, Mr. Mercury! Anyway, the point is, Freddie Mercury never even let his sexuality become a public spectacle. He was who he was, and that part of his life had absolutely nothing to do with the quality of his (exceptional) music. There was never an opportunity for detractors to disparage the motives behind a “coming-out-of-the-closet” kind of move with him.
Honestly, I couldn’t even find an example of a musician intentionally revealing something controversial about him/herself just as his/her career was about to take off. It was that bold of a move by Ocean to do what he did. Possibly, former Amercian Idol star Adam Lambert can be mentioned alongside Ocean in that respect, but his decision to go public was essentially only a formality. Everyone was convinced he was gay before he even confirmed it. On the other hand, no one besides those who really knew him was aware that Frank was bisexual (aside from Wiz Khalifa, who apparently has 20/20 hindsight, as evidenced by his claim that he knew all along. Was that cynical of me to assume Wiz is lying? I’ll let you decide). Most homosexual musicians in the past delayed their outing until after they were finished being relevant. But not Frank. He bravely decided that his impending fame would not be worth it unless he was allowed to be who he truly was.
For someone so forthcoming about his personal life, especially in his music, Ocean is a shy and, quite frankly, awkward guy in person. He really only seems as confident and articulate as he really is when discussing music. As the conversation shifts to other topics, his demeanor tends to regress into one that you would see from a small child at his/her first day of school. This is on full display in his Grammy acceptance speech, where he fumbles through this seemingly impromptu opening to his speech, word-for-word:
“So I hear it’s a bit more, uh, the way you disarm an audience is imagining them naked, but I don’t, I don’t want to do that. I want to look at you all as kids in tuxedos and looking all fancy, and stuff like that.”
He says this all while having some sort of a half-joking, half-bewildered grin plastered on his face. As he’s talking, the atmosphere in the building is probably somewhere between confused and uncomfortable. The delivery of the entire thing, though, displays his innocence and harmlessness so much so that you’re pretty captivated despite the strangeness of what he’s saying.
Does this sound like someone who is interested in using his personal life solely as a vehicle to achieve greater professional achievement? In Frank Ocean, you have an emotionally vulnerable young man who happens to have an incredible gift to produce music in a genre that also happens to traditionally not be very accepting of homosexuals. As a result of this, Ocean unsurprisingly concealed the experiences he shared with the man known as the “Tumblr guy” during the early stages of his budding career. As his song-writing began to venture into that part of his life for channel ORANGE, Ocean made the difficult, but necessary, decision to out himself before anyone else could.
Given all that I’ve told you about him, and anything else you may also know, the cynics’ view of his open letter just doesn't add up. I can’t force the unimpressed cynic to commend him on his courage. All I can do is ask that his writing of the letter be looked at through Ocean’s eyes.
After you do that, now how does it look?
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