Frank Ocean Transforms on Boundary-Breaking “DHL” and “Cayendo (Sango Remix)”

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Frank Ocean Transforms on Boundary-Breaking “DHL” and “Cayendo (Sango Remix)”

Frank Ocean debuted new music on blonded RADIO. (Courtesy of Instagram)

Frank Ocean debuted new music on blonded RADIO. (Courtesy of Instagram)

Frank Ocean debuted new music on blonded RADIO. (Courtesy of Instagram)

Frank Ocean debuted new music on blonded RADIO. (Courtesy of Instagram)

Sam Hadelman, Contributing Writer

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Late Saturday night, Frank Ocean delivered his first solo music since early 2017.

Ocean has always been enigmatic. He notoriously took four years to drop the follow-up to his breakthrough LP “Channel Orange,” and is rarely seen in public. This veil of anonymity is the crux of Ocean’s career. Unlike other artists, especially in the streaming era, Ocean limits his output. This creates an immense thirst among fans who, as a result, find true value in his music. His little communication with the outside world consists of short, abstract Instagram captions and dissertation-level Tumblr sermons. When he released his two new tracks, “DHL” and “Cayendo (Sango Remix),” supporters reacted with a near-apocalyptic level of glee.

“DHL” mixes the spirit of his visual album “Endless” with hip-hop’s current style. While slightly out of line with what he’s known for, the quality perfectly matches what I anticipated. In previous singles, Ocean stuck to an R&B, soulful style that fit his angelic voice. On this record, though, Ocean restricts himself to an abstract, cloud rap-esque dimension, drawing from rappers like A$AP Rocky and Playboi Carti. The production is mellow and dark, which compliments the way Ocean tweaks his vocals. Lyrically, it is one of his more surface-level tracks, which means it doesn’t require an in-depth understanding of his ideas, as some of his other music requires. Still, even though this single may not be the most interesting or fruitful incarnation of Ocean’s talent, I found it a diverse addition to his musical palette — it shows that Ocean can delve into any genre or style with consistent quality. Ocean is in a new phase now, and even in the midst of this transformation, he is still at his best.

“Cayendo (Sango Remix)” is one of the best records I’ve heard all year. It employs the best aspects of Ocean’s old music while setting a more traditional stage for him to demonstrate his new chapter: club music. His tweaked vocals are reminiscent of past tracks like “Chanel,” yet given a new life over Sango’s fast and addicting rhythm. Every aspect of the record has Ocean in unfamiliar territory, but his raw ability makes it seem elementary. Even during the bilingual moments of the track, Ocean sounds natural and unforced. It makes me curious about how many other creative choices we’ll see from him on his newest album, and if he will continue to pull them off as well as he does here. It will be interesting to see whether he actually releases this song as a single (is it currently not streaming) and if the nightlife crowd will accept a track from a more traditionally-intimate artist like Ocean.

Overall, the two tracks excited me and left me wanting more. I am curious to see if this boundary-pushing will set the tone for the whole record or if it was it just a moment of ingenuity.