Skip to content
News

Channel OSCAR: Frank Ocean Wrote a Song for ‘Django Unchained’

Frank Ocean

In July, during a panel on the upcoming Quentin Tarantino film Django Unchained, co-stars Jamie Foxx and Kerry Washington happened to find themselves talking about Frank Ocean. “At the end of the day, his music is for everybody,” Foxx told MTV News. Now, tucked away at the end of an expansive GQ interview comes word that Ocean has written a song for the project, potentially putting him in an Academy Awards race for Best Song with one of his album of the year rivals, Fiona Apple.

Ocean also discussed the moving letter he published on July 4 revealing he once loved a man. “The night I posted it, I cried like a fucking baby,” he said, explaining that his tears were tears of a happiness he hadn’t felt in a while. But he declined to answer a question about whether he considers himself bisexual, giving an answer as rich, nuanced, and emotionally resonant as his latest album, channel ORANGE. In short: “People should pay attention to that in the letter: I didn’t need to label it for it to have impact.”

Django Unchained isn’t the only possible source of new Ocean music on the horizon. According to GQ, he’s also crafting songs for a follow-up to channel ORANGE, as well as songs for Beyoncé and Alicia Keys (if his song for Bey is anything like 4‘s heart-rending “I Miss You,” well, look out). A European tour based on Pink Floyd’s The Wall tour. An arcade. Ocean has no shortage of plans.

What he isn’t planning is to feign humility — or to feign anything at all, for that matter. You really should read the whole interview, but here he is again, expanding on his reasons for not labeling his sexuality: “As a writer, as a creator, I’m giving you my experiences,” he says. “I’m giving you what I feel like you can feel. The other shit, you can’t feel. You can’t feel a box. You can’t feel a label. Don’t get caught up in that shit. There’s so much something in life. Don’t get caught up in the nothing. That shit is nothing, you know? It’s nothing.” He says not to be afraid. He speaks from experience.

Also Read

GAY RAP