Ranking the Best Songs on Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange

There was something in the water during the month of July.

For the next few weeks here at Soul In Stereo, we’re going to look back at six incredible rap and R&B releases that are celebrating milestone anniversaries this month. Stay tuned, you’re gonna love this nostalgia trip.

First up is Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange, an album that marks 10 years today. Though it has its detractors over the years, you can’t hate on its legacy – it’s become one of the defining R&B releases in recent memory. For a generation of music fans, this is their My Life, their II, their Songs in the Key of Life.

Whew, y’all are gonna massacre my DMs after that statement. But truth is truth.

My boy William Clarke, AKA OG WILL stops by to revisit this trendsetting R&B release. First, Will and I rank every song on Channel Orange, minus interludes (because most of them just sound like ambient noise anyway). But we did slide in “White” with John Mayer cuz I know y’all would wild out if we excluded it.

The best song on Channel Orange is…

William: “Sweet Life”

This song is a prime example of when the producer and singer are in sync. Frank Ocean and Pharrell make such a great pairing. I like how he talks about rich people not paying attention to the world around them as they focus on their lavish lifestyle. Some great Frank lines are here: “Why see the world when you got the beach?; My TV ain’t HD/That’s too real;The best song wasn’t a single, but you weren’t either.” The last line is often factual. He also sounds so great over this lush beat that sounds like something from the 1970s. Also, this song is a jam! They should’ve promoted it more on the radio.

Edd: “Pyramids”

Obviously the homie William strongly disagrees with me, but it’s no contest in my eyes. The way the song progresses in both production and storytelling is so well done. In fact, this track sets an eerie precedent of the evolution of R&B in the next decade, morphing from electronic club anthems to dark stripper weirdness. Y’all know I love a song that delivers a great story, and “Pyramids” does that on so many levels.

Which track showcases the best production?

William: “Pyramids”

The first beat does have a feeling of Prince as it sounds like something he could’ve been on. I liked how it has a cinematic feel in the first half, as it sounds like something from a movie score. The second half sounds like it could’ve been something that could’ve been in the clubs in the 2000s. We got to give Frank’s co-producer Malay more credit as he’s the unsung hero of his work. 

Edd: “Pyramids”

Hard to say anything more here than my last entry. I’m a sucker for unexpected beat transitions and it delivered on this one.

Name this album’s most underrated track

William: “Golden Girl”

I admit I was not a big fan of Tyler, The Creator pre-Flower Boy. I wasn’t big on his production style and thought he could be too silly on some songs. I’ve come around to him and this song. He and Frank Ocean have always made a great pairing. I loved Frank’s verses and chorus. I’m sure you’ve sung that chorus to the wife. As for Tyler’s verse, I liked his take on the song, and that’s probably why the people changed the station at the end. He spelled the title out for the females out there (laughs). Also, I wouldn’t tell a girl she’s a bucket of bleach even if he meant it as a compliment.

Edd: “Golden Girl”

I. LOVE. THIS. SONG. It’s my personal favorite Frank track of all time. True to its name, it’s such a breezy, gentle love song in an era where that type of vulnerability was quickly becoming outdated. And Will is right, shout out to Tyler, as this is one of the songs that showed me that he’s much more than a shock-jock meme rapper. The lines about the bucket of bleach and turning his neck green are so wild yet so brilliant. I guess I understand why Frank buried this one as a “secret” track – it doesn’t quite fit the album’s tone – but at least put it on streaming playa, come on! And yes, Will, I may or may not have sung this hook to my spouse. You’ll never know.

And which song is the most overrated?

William: “Pyramids”

I know. I know. “Pyramids” is the centerpiece of the album, and understandably so. It’s epic with its story and length, but I never felt the urge to relisten to it. Maybe it’s due to it being close to 10 minutes. It takes a lot to fully hold my interest with a long song (same thing with a 3-hour movie!!). His friend/cohort Tyler, The Creator, showed how it’s done with “Sweet/I Thought You Wanted to Dance” on his last album. Credit when it’s due: The lyrics on “Pyramids” are very compelling, and it is a well-made song.

Edd: “Pink Matter”

I’m giving Will the most furious Playa Please face for his response, but I’m sure most of you are returning the favor after mine. Listen, “Pink Matter” is a good song – you can tell from my rankings that I respect it. But it’s a little too drowsy for my tastes and Andre 3000 does a LOT of heavy lifting on it. Without his verse it would slip much further down my list. It’s a fan favorite, sure, and not at all a TERRIBLE song – I just think it’s legacy is a bit overblown. The Majin Boo line is cute though.

Which track should have been a single?

William: “Golden Girl”

I could see this song being on R&B stations. The main thing you could do is take out Tyler’s verse. I can see people turning it off like the people on the song. You got a catchy chorus and compelling lyrics from Frank on here. It won’t make you dance, but you might be nodding to this.

Edd: “Golden Girl”

“Golden Girl” all day. Frank often catches a lot of flack from fans of more traditional R&B and I get it – his music isn’t very soulful, at least not in the classic R&B sense. But this song proves that he can absolutely hold his own in that lane. Will is right – put this on R&B radio and he would have had a hit on his hands. It’s been 20 years and I’m STILL annoyed this was merely a hidden track! Frank’s just leaving money on the table!

Is this Frank’s best album?

William: I was going back and forth between this and Blond(e). I love these albums as they’re some of my favorite albums of the 2010s. Channel Orange is definitely the more enjoyable album, but Blond(e) has Frank pushing himself more as an artist. I appreciate Frank for not limiting himself to just R&B while also challenging it. Blond(e) was more abstract as he incorporated different genres (indie rock, psychedelia and electronica) and was drawn from influences like The Beatles and Brian Wilson. Channel Orange blends genres too, but not the way Blond(e) does it. I understand that abstractness isn’t for everyone. I’ll give the slight edge to Blond(e) but ask me again another day, and I’ll give a different answer.

Edd: I’m not as conflicted on this one as Will is – Channel Orange is definitely Frank’s best album. Before the Blonde Brigade rampages at my doorstep (they’re still mad I only gave it mere 4 stars in my 2016 review instead of 400 stars), that’s not a slight against that album. It’s very good in its own right. But Channel Orange isn’t just a good album, it was Frank’s declarative statement. It was a major factor in the reimagining of R&B for the 2010s (more on that later) and conceptually and creatively, it’s Frank at his peak. Also, Blonde didn’t have “Golden Girl,” so there. Blonde was a very good pop album, Channel Orange is one of the best R&B albums of the decade.

Looking back on its legacy, how influential is this album to music and pop culture?

William: One of the main reasons this album was influential was the use of storytelling. Frank’s songwriting is universal: he draws from his life but finds a way to make it relatable to people. We hear artists like SZA & Khalid try to reach Ocean’s level of conceptual songwriting that can paint pictures with great use of metaphors and cultural references. It’s no wonder before this album, artists like Beyonce, Jay-Z & Kanye West were working with him. I don’t think I heard anyone before him bring that much imagination to R&B. Lastly and this can’t be forgotten how much this opened the door for queer artists. Frank made it okay for artists like Lil Nas X, Janelle Monae, and his friends Tyler, The Creator and Syd to embrace queerness and let it be a part of their art. Also, don’t you feel we’re watching this album on television? I can picture “Fertilizer” being a commercial or “Pyramids “as a short movie. He ties the album together with a great concept throughout.

Edd: Oh this one was VERY influential. Will already talked about the cultural importance of the album, but let’s talk about how it helped reshape R&B going forward. This album, along with Weeknd’s trilogy of mixtapes, shoved R&B into its alt-era, essentially replacing melodic soul with darker, more electronic sounds. While Weeknd’s sound would go on to truly be the blueprint for 2010s R&B, I think Channel Orange was an overall better blend of old and new. Again, look no further than “Pyramids,” a song that encapsulates the darker, stronger sexual overtones with shifting production that would become commonplace over the next decade. Alt-R&B has gotten a LOT of criticism over the years – and I get it, I’ve been one of the loudest critics – but Channel Orange did it better than anyone else. We didn’t know it in 2012 but this album was the future of R&B, like it or not.

Who are you riding with, William or Edd? Let us know what you think about “Pyramids,” “Golden Girl” and the rest below.