Our Burning Up artist Frank Ocean hopped out the closet with a bang earlier this week and now he’s singing about the happier side of life on a new song. ‘Sweet Life’ will appear on the singer-songwriter’s upcoming ‘Channel Orange’ album, which is due for release on July 17th.
Reminiscent of John Legend, Ocean glides through his lower baritone as his voice floats over a mix of drums and keys on ‘Sweet Life’. Listen to the song below:
The key to Ocean’s singing is his control of his pitch and tone, particularly in his lower registers. He is quite comfortable while maneuvering in baritone but stumbles a bit when he climbs to his higher range.
What I really want to hear from Ocean is his take on a fun, uptempo song. We all know he is a good songwriter but his music will be even more interesting if he came out of his comfort zone more often. Clever metaphors can only take him so far.