The elusive musician will feature as the cover star of Gayletter’s tenth issue.
R&B singer-songwriter Frank Ocean serves as the cover star of New York-based magazine Gayletter’s tenth issue.
The Odd Future expat has garnered a reputation for elusiveness over the past decade whilst shying from press interviews and bearing a minimal social media presence, however during the final months of 2018 made a decision to make his personal Instagram account available to the public. In the ensuing months thereafter Ocean has also chosen to begin speaking with publications that he feels he connects with personally. His collaboration with Gayletter was preceded by a GQ style feature in January.
In conversation with the popular queer culture magazine, Ocean discusses a range of topics including television shows, relationships, his creative processes and the label complications that surrounded the release of his albums Endless and Blonde. The musician also debunks any claims of him being a recluse and misinformation regarding his height.
Whilst the full interview is reserved for the magazine’s physical print, a consolidated feature is available to read on the Gayletter website now.
Scroll down to read a number of excerpts from the interview that feature our favourite of Ocean’s ruminations.
On claims of being a recluse:
“I always thought that was a misconception. 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.”
On rock climbing:
“I’ve been doing it for years. I’m not like a god of rocking climbing or anything, but I do enjoy it. The routes are like little problems. I like problem solving. It’s kind of a solo sport if you’re bouldering, so you don’t need to organise anything to go; you can just pull up and do something different than a classic day in the gym. It’s super relaxing. I mean, it wouldn’t be relaxing if I was coming at it like [rock climbing god] Alex Honnold, out here risking my life. [Laughs] But the way I approach it is pretty calm.”
On the creative process for Boys Don’t Cry:
“It was a couple of years for sure. There were a lot of on-location things, from Mississippi to China to Berlin, New York, Japan, Senegal. So many places. The opportunity to work with Ren Hang before he passed away, sadly. Going out to China for that.
It was at the same time the records [Endless and Blonde] were being worked on, and in the same timeframe I was trying to close out this label situation I had going on. And also my Apple deal, which all eventually happened. Some of those things — particularly the Universal thing [Universal owns Def Jam, his former label] — was taking forever. So we kept working on the magazine with everyone, all the graphic designers, all the photographers, the illustrators, the art directors, stylists and makeup artists, all their agents — love them too. [Laughs] I was so high-strung over the record and all the business shit around it, the magazine was a reprieve. It stopped me from feeling like my life was on pause because of those things. It made me feel like my life was very much being fully experienced.”
On collaboration during the songwriting process:
“It depends what I’m doing. If I’m working on lyrics, I might as well be in a vacuum-sealed container. [Laughs] I just need to be on my own. If I’m working out a vocal performance, I need to be on my own or with my engineer, Caleb. He’s been with me so long that he knows when to just be wallpaper. I’m comfortable with him, so I can sit there and write whatever.
On Rocky’s last LP [Testing], the song we did together [“Purity”] is a good example. I went to that session and he played me Lauryn Hill’s sample chopped up and the open space he wanted me at. I just started improvising that verse and putting it together, which is something I would do on my own, where you’re listening with your headphones on, listening to the beat over and over, and you’re piecing it together in your head and you blurt out the verse.
That’s kind of how it works. Maybe you’ll blurt out a few bars and you’ll loop it around and get your next bars and you’ll piece it all together, and that’ll be your verse. But sometimes the energy of having an audience, even if they don’t say shit, that adrenaline or whatever that is. Which is probably a good cocktail of performance-enhancing chemicals that make you a tiny amount more on point than when you’re totally relaxed and at ease.
After doing it for a long time, I can kind of work myself up into that place just off the excitement of the song, even if I’m on my own. Or just really being hyped off saying something I want to say, or a melody idea I want to get off. I can get hyped, but there’s something really special that I always noticed about doing it in front of a peer or, you know, for folks. It’s a little more risky; it’s like, Oh shit, what if I make a fool of myself? I gotta be on point.”
On dating apps and his current relationship:
“I don’t use dating apps. 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 fuck 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.”
On his height:
“Well, my Wikipedia says I’m 5’10”, but I’m 6’1”, so listen, we have to correct the kids on my height. [Laughs] It’s really affecting my future, blocking my shine.”
Pre-order the tenth issue of Gayletter here.
Words by Sam Wilkinson.
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