Channel Orange is Frank Ocean's first official album release from his first major label, Dej Jame Records.
It was released in the peak of Summer, on July 10th, 2012.
This album was praised for it's complex lyrics and story-telling, while still having a strong sense of RnB and pop.
During 2012, not many artists were doing what Ocean was doing, which was why this album was heavily praised.
On top of that, Ocean wrote and recorded the whole album within two weeks.

The album is a deep dive into his perspective on topics such as money, love, drugs, and sexuality.
The reason this album was named Channel Orange was because the color orange always gave him nostalgic memories of his younger days.
Throughout the album, he is constantly channeling memories of his young life and his first love, hence the name Channel Orange .
In his song Bad Religion, he talks about how it's a bad religion to be in love with someone who can't love you.
Although the album focuses on Ocean's life, complex stories about a variety of interesting topics were discussed as well.
In his song Pyramids, he takes the listener on a journey about Cleopatra running away from her fathers commands, while still tying it into the theme of the album.
Throughout the album, snippets of old games and synths are scattered through different songs to give a real nostalgic feeling.

Prior to this album's release, Ocean had been going through an uphill battle with his record label.
His label, Def Jam Records, wasn't giving him enough support because they didn't believe Ocean had the star-power to take over mainstream headlines.
In an act of frustration and freedom, Ocean released an independent album for free online and it gained much attention.
Def Jam Records noticed the popularity the album received and then funded Ocean to create his first official album, Channel Orange.

My favorite songs: Sierra Leone, Forrest Gump, and Pink Matter



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**Below is a picture of Frank winning a grammy for Channel Orange**