I really, really want to love Channel Orange but I can’t get into it for the life of me. I loved “White” from the OF Tape Vol. 2 but something feels off with Channel Orange. It feels like Ocean’s voice is too loud or something and it just feels too experimental, if that makes sense. Can someone explain?
…guess not…lol
I’ve had trouble getting into the album myself, though I think it’s because I don’t listen to much R&B/soul music. And it’s a long one (17 songs, around an hour of music), which can be daunting, so I’ve just focused on a few songs. Hopefully I can get into it that way.
And I really want to get into it, because the songs I have focused on (Thinkin Bout You and Bad Religion) are straight up brilliant.
It being too experimental is what I like about it. The beats are really off kilter. Nothing to get into a groove with. They are unsettling. The vocals are mixed way high (He has an amazing voice though.) None of the melodies are really catchy either. None of these things bother me per se. As negative as that description is the experience works well. It really sounds cool.
To me it suffers from the same issues Kanye’s albums suffer from: Dreadful lyrics. Or at least the ones that stand out are (Except Bad Religion and a few other songs.)
Thats exactly what’s throwing me off about it. EVERYTHING just seems off.
To my hears, that is a prevalent style in indie Hip-Hop, R&B, etc. Frank Ocean wrote the best album of that discordant hip-hop style.