Frank Ocean’s new single “Chanel” encompasses all of what Frank is, in a song. The song’s chorus says it all with Frank repeating “I see both sides like Chanel” referencing the Chanel logo which is a c overlapping a backwards c, hence seeing both sides, and that’s exactly what Frank does. He’s capable of seeing into the perspective of the feminine and masculine energy of music.

The song starts with somber piano chords over a hip hop drum beat, the beat evolves as Frank starts to sing the chorus which I believe to be a musical embodiment of exactly what he is saying, a perfect combination of his masculine and feminine side perceiving as one, or “seeing both sides”. The structure and transitions of the song are so fluent it’s hard to tell where the chorus ends and the verse starts, but as the rapping begins it’s obvious this is the beginning of Frank showing off his masculinity. Frank is not known for his rapping but still pulls it off like he is. I wouldn’t say it’s true “rap,” it’s somewhere in between rap and talk singing but nevertheless it fits seamlessly into the song. As the bridge is introduced it’s clear this is the section where Frank is using his feminine energy to create, this can be seen from the drastic topic change going from talking down to cops and drinking cough syrup to revealing someone is truly on his mind. As the song comes to a close he begins to celebrate his new found money and ends the song with his masculinity in the forefront via an intricate melody that has his name written all over it.

Frank is truly a great and unpredictable genre bending artist, and I can’t wait to see what he has in store for his next release.