1001 Albums Summary

Noel basically wrote one song and they recorded it 12 different ways but its a banger so its alright

this album made me wish I was latino and also not depressed

If you want to understand Leonard Cohen you need to listen to this album.

I started exploring music and developing my own taste as an angsty eleven year old who was perennially angry at everyone and everything, but mostly at himself. At that age, I listened to music primarily as an exercise in coping – I didn’t care for the artistic qualities of the songs I enjoyed, only that they were overwhelmingly loud and served as vessels for me to express All Of These Anger That I Feel. Naturally, I was obsessed with heavier genres and my early favorites were mostly nu-metal bands (not to say that those bands or genres don’t have artistic merit – they undeniably do and I still adore many of them). When I was about thirteen, I become tired of being constantly aggrieved and instead tried my hand at being pathetically sad – an emotional state that catalyzed my teenaged journey of discovery; one fueled mostly by an obsession with YA novels that haven’t aged well and tumblrs run by other depressed teenagers who were much better at curating their melancholy than I was. I discovered Pink Matter as a background music on one such blog, and I recall, for the first time in my life, being amazed at how beautiful a song was. I instantly torrented the album, and it's still the oldest file in my itunes folder (sorry frank but I promise you I’ve paid my dues by buying your overpriced trash merch every time you restock blonded.co <3). I was a little too young and much too earnest in my sadness to relate to Frank’s heartbreak and cynicism, but I absolutely adored this album. It was not loud and instead of numbing me it tore me apart, and it completely changed the music I enjoyed and why I enjoyed it. Because of this album, I started listening to other RnB and hip-hop artists and became obsessed with the craft of music writing. My CO obsession was soon replaced by my obsession with MBDTF, and when Frank released blonde, it instantly became my favorite album of his and the piece I go back to whenever I’m craving his sound. I listen to a lot of songs from CO regularly but the album itself hasn’t been in my rotation for a while – I don’t think I’ve actually played it back to front since I was probably 15, until today. I’m back home at the moment, and I’m listening to this beautiful work of art on repeat, sitting in the same room where I heard it for the first time ten years ago, and I have to admit I’ve bawled a couple of times. Life is beautiful, Channel Orange is Beautiful, and Frank Ocean is Beautiful (Frank Ocean’s merch is unfortunately quite ugly). All this to say that Channel Orange is the first album I fell in love with for its own sake, and I’m still absolutely head over heels for it. Thank you Frank (restock endless please <3)

One of the things I'm most grateful for in life is that I was 17 and dumped by my first love the week this album came out. Even now, when I fall for someone new I get excited at the prospect of potential future heartbreak just so I can curl up under my blanket sobbing and experience Melodrama the way the Lorde meant it to be.