Frank Ocean is officially the man of the hour, and thanks to his recent Tumblr post, in which he revealed that his first love was a man, all eyes and ears are on the Odd Future crooner as fans wait with baited breath for his first public appearance since the news of his sexuality surfaced. A recent interview with the New York Times hit the web on Independence Day, and in it Ocean discusses his “gloriously painful love life” and a ruined collaboration with Nas.
In talking about his tragic love life, Ocean reveals that two particular relationships (it’s safe to say one was with his first love) influenced both the subtle hope for love and the near tangible heartbreak that permeates his debut album, Channel Orange. In one relationship, Ocean says he was in complete control, and in the other Ocean says he had no control at all.
“I’m getting away from both,” he said, using his hands to gesture while imagining that his two lovers were in front of him: “You’ll say anything to keep me around. I’ll say anything to keep this one around.”
In his “coming out” story, Ocean claimed that the man he fell for, rejected his admission of love, but that he still kept him around as a “peculiar” friend for years after. But in this new article, Ocean reveals that he recently tried to break off his relationships with both of his former flames — cold turkey.
“I’ve given three and a half years of my life to that situation and situations like it,” said Ocean.
And to thoroughly put an end to the connection, Ocean says that he plans on moving from Los Angeles to Toronto.
“I’ve written some great things,” he added. “That’s a gift, but there’s consequences. Yeah, you get this great work, but you suffer. You really, really suffer.”
And Ocean’s love life isn’t the only thing that’s failed to come together perfectly. In the interview, Ocean also reveals that a collaboration with Nas, a song “No Such Thing as White Jesus,” was sadly lost due to a technical snafu. Unfortunately, Ocean didn’t have time to recreate it for his album.
Well, Ocean’s heart may still be yearning for a (healthy) love supreme, but his broken heart and unrequited love have made for some of the most soul-shaking songs music has heard in a while. And like him, here are some other singers who’ve channeled their heartbreak into musical gold. – nicholas robinson
