'Forrest Gump' is perfect, perhaps the purest pop song here, a singalong that's impossible to dislodge from your head.

There's 'Sweet Life,' a Stevie Wonder impression par excellence filled with incredible turns of phrase ('my TV ain't HD that's too real). It's a rich, enveloping listen coming back to it years later, it's almost shocking how many great songs are here. Instead we feel deeply immersed in the characters' longing ('Thinkin Bout You') or their languor ('Super Rich Kids') or their anguish ('Bad Religion'). It's an album of characters and musical styles which almost seem built around their stories, but there's no detachment or distance in Frank's cinematic songwriting. This is lush, perfectly modulated R&B full of pellucid storytelling details. Here's what Rob Sperry-Fromm wrote about it when we included it at #16 on our list of the best albums of the 2010s:Ĭhannel Orange contains an embarrassment of riches.

The now-classic album was released ten years ago today (7/10). Appearances on Tyler, the Creator's Goblin and Jay-Z & Kanye West's Watch the Throne followed, and as the hype for Frank grew organically, Def Jam became more interested in his solo career, and they signed on to release his breakthrough album, 2012's Channel Orange. Frank Ocean probably needs no introduction, but in case he does, a quick refresher: he started his career as a songwriter signed to Def Jam penning for other artists (including Brandy, Beyoncé, Justin Bieber, and John Legend), and when the label seemed uninterested in Frank releasing his own music, he linked up with the revolutionary Odd Future and released his debut mixtape Nostalgia, Ultra for free online in 2011.

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