Frank Ocean recently resurfaced for an intimate interview to discuss all things going on in his world since his last album, Blonde.
In a rare move for the modern hip-hop and R&B crooner, he let his fans inside his world for the cover story of Gayletter's 10th issue. The publication, which began as a newsletter, is dedicated to sharing queer art and stories. The choice is rather significant, given that Ocean is a fairly private artist and could have chosen any publication from Vogue to Complex.
The singer who "came out" in 2012 following his sophomore debut, Channel Orange, as reported by the Huffington Post, has been rather vocal about his LGBTQ allegiance in recent years. In 2016, he penned a letter that detailed his relationship with God, religion and transphobia and sent his sincere condolences and solidarity with those who lost family and friends during the Orlando nightclub massacre that killed 49 people, as Blavity reported.
In an interview with Tom Jackson, the 31-year-old revealed that he's been making new music and talked in depth about everything from his steady relationship to his favorite TV shows.
First and foremost, Ocean says he does not identify as a recluse.
"I always thought that was a misconception," he told the publication. "I think the whole idea of me as a recluse is absurd ’cause I’m in the streets like all the time. I’m outside all the time, I’m traveling the world all the time. It’s funny to me that that’s the perception, but I understand what people mean by it in this new paradigm."
"I think the social media thing is kind of amped up," said the newly public Instagram user. "One could argue that people don’t actually get information more than half the time. They browse information. I don’t know if they really ingest it.
Besides Chef’s Table, Handmaid’s Tale and Grown-ish, the "Slide" singer says he watches RuPaul's Drag Race on occasion.
"I’ll say this," he adds in consideration of being a judge on the award-winning show, "Of all the talent shows on TV, that would be the most likely."
The artist, formerly known as Christopher Edwin Breaux, legally changed his name to Christopher Francis Ocean in April 2015, a process that took nearly a year, according to Bustle. During a conversation about RuPaul's famous “We’re all born naked, and the rest is drag" quote, he revealed the epitome of why he made the name change.
"For me, the genesis of that name change came from me trying to make a project without my label knowing about it," said the singer-songwriter. "It was born from a need. It came about in such a way that I didn’t think about whether it was armor for me. I hear certain people say that about their name, their look, even their sound, that it’s a form of armor or a shield from whatever pain they might not want to feel."
"I don’t think that was it, though," he continued. "I was just trying to be slick, so I could do what I was doing without people knowing. And it worked. I kept with it. I’m such a part of the generation that’s influenced by rap and hip-hop. For me, those sorts of names are so commonplace in the genre and in the culture, so it felt correct."
As far as his love life, the talented artist revealed he's been taken for three years now.
"I don’t use dating apps," he said, admitting he hasn't used Tinder or any of the sort recently. "I’ve been in a relationship for three years. I definitely wasn’t using dating apps before then. I don’t think I would use dating apps now. I f**k with Marc Jacobs’ philosophy on that, so I wouldn’t rule it out, but it is a little hectic being a famous person on dating apps."
Ocean also shared other tidbits such as being taller than most people believe he is, wishing he had taken more candid photos while "hanging out with the president — the old president, not the new president" and shared a few choice words about intuition.
"It’s hard to see what somebody else sees sometimes. That’s all it boils down to," he said about using his intuition as a tool for success.
"Sometimes the vision you have is only yours until you can really bring it into the world as a real thing, a real force; then people can see it and celebrate it and get onboard with it. I think that’s maybe just about trust, to give others the benefit of the doubt when they’re still in progress."
Read the intimate interview in full here.
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