Frank Ocean – “Chanel”

October 12, 2017

There’s something so fascinating with what Frank Ocean does rhythmically here. The beat of “Chanel” is a normal enough, shuffling 4/4 beat. But the way that his voice comes and goes and pulses in and out and stretches at its own whim, cutting himself off and crescendoing at unexpected moments, he pivots what could could be a simple song into something that’s challenging for reasons you can’t quite put your finger on. There’s also no real linear construction. The chorus, the clever lyric—”I see both sides like Chanel”—only arrives twice in the song between two verses of completely different length. Like Ocean always does, he leaves you wanting more, and he makes you come back for answers.