Last night, singer-songwriter Frank Ocean, who has written songs for Justin Bieber, Bridget Kelly, and John Legend, to name a few, made his television debut on The Jimmy Fallon Show, performing “Bad Religion,” a track from his new Channel Orange album, and as Fallon noted, “with a little help from The Roots.”
Ocean, “a rising star in hip-hop— where perceptions of Black masculinity are dominated by hyper-sexuality, thug swagger and a deep homophobia” as Rod McCullom wrote at Ebony, came out last week, by announcing his first love was a man. Which is about as specific as he’s gotten, with the exception of the liner notes for Channel Orange, which Ocean posted on his blog.
Caling it “a stellar performance,” Gawker notes Ocean “sang the tale of unrequited love with a man (“I could never make him love me”), which seems to be modeled after the same relationship that he wrote about in his CD’s liner notes.”
Ocean’s coming out is huge, as so many have noted. He deserves credit for coming out — and for his amazing talent as well.
Watch:
http://www.nbc.com/assets/video/widget/widget.html?vid=1408858
Hat tip: Towleroad