Frank Ocean Opens Up About Sexuality, Reveals His First Love Was a Man

“What I’m about to post is for anyone who cares to read,” wrote Odd Future member Frank Ocean in a recently published Tumblr post. “It was intended to fill the thank you’s section in my album credits, but with all the rumors going around … I figured it’d be good to clarify.”

The rumors Ocean referred to started swirling yesterday (July 3), after critics invited to a private listening party for his upcoming album ‘Channel Orange’ noticed lyrics that caused some to question whether the singer was alluding to his own bisexuality.

As Choice FM host Max noted in her review at This Is Max: “We think it’s brave and admire him for being so honest and sharing such a personal aspect of his life through his music … On the songs ‘Bad Religion,’ ‘Pink Matter and ‘Forrest Gump’ you can hear him sing about being in love and there are quite obvious words used like ‘him’ and not ‘her.’”

Ocean was even more bracingly honest in his Tumblr post, writing, “Four summers ago, I met somebody. I was 19 years old. He was too. We spent that summer, and the summer after, together. Every day almost, and on the day we were together, time would glide. Most of the day I’d see him, and his smile. By the time I realized I was in love, it was malignant. It was hopeless.”

“There was no escaping,” he continues. “No negotiating with the feeling. No choice. It was my first love. It changed my life.”

That’s only the beginning of a long and moving story about falling in love with someone who can’t or doesn’t return your feelings, and ends with Ocean sitting on an airplane last December concluding, “I feel like a free man. If I listen closely … I can hear the sky falling too.”

Ocean’s letter will no doubt complicate the controversy surrounding Odd Future, whose music has been criticized for its homophobic lyrics. Group member Tyler the Creator tweeted a message of support after the post went up, saying, “My Big Brother Finally F—ing Did That. Proud Of That N—a Cause I KNow That S— Is Difficult Or Whatever.”