Channel Orange by Frank Ocean

Channel Orange (stylized as channel ORANGE) is the debut studio album by American R&B singer and songwriter Frank Ocean. It was released on July 10, 2012, by Def Jam Recordings. After releasing his mixtape Nostalgia, Ultra in 2011, Ocean began writing new songs with Malay, a producer and songwriter who assisted him with recording the album at EastWest Studios in Hollywood. Rather than rely on samples as he had with his mixtape, Ocean wanted to approach sound and song structure differently on Channel Orange. He titled the album as a reference to the neurological phenomenon grapheme-color synesthesia and the color he claimed to have perceived during the summer he first fell in love. Channel Orange has an unconventional musical style, film-inspired segue tracks, and songs that draw on electro-funk, pop-soul, jazz-funk, and psychedelic music. Ocean's songwriting touches on themes such as unrequited love, decadence, class, and drugs through the use of surrealistic imagery, conversational devices, and descriptive narratives depicting dark characters. His singing on the album exhibits free-form flow and alternating falsetto and tenor registers. The album features guest appearances from Odd Future artists Earl Sweatshirt and Tyler, the Creator, along with appearances from André 3000 and John Mayer. Production is handled by Ocean himself, Om'Mas Keith, Malay, and Pharrell Williams. To prevent Channel Orange from leaking onto the Internet, Ocean and Def Jam released the album digitally one week earlier than its publicly announced date. It was promoted with five singles, including Ocean's highest charting single "Thinkin Bout You"—number 32 on the US Billboard Hot 100—and a supporting concert tour in July 2012. Channel Orange debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 and sold 131,000 copies in its first week. It received widespread critical acclaim and was named the best album of 2012 by numerous publications. By September 2014, the album had sold 621,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.