Anyone who knows me knows my appreciation for Frank Ocean. I, along with millions of others, have been following his career since his debut mixtape Nostalgia, Ultra dropped way back in 2011. Fast-forward five years and Ocean is just as mysterious, now even more so; his actions are constantly scrutinized and studied by the media for clues. So, when I read that he purposefully chose not to submit Endless or Blond for Grammy consideration and that he wore Vans to the President's final White House State Dinner, I wasn't surprised.
I believe that Ocean chose to skip the Grammys because Endless and Blond were intended for his fans. With both works already receiving overwhelmingly positive reviews and critical acclaim, submitting the works for additional accolades would cheapen the experience. Usually, Ocean does things in his own time, so his decision to forego awards consideration makes perfect sense.
As to why he chose to wear sneakers to a formal event, Ocean's response when asked why suffices: "First time doing it, probably because it’s my first time here.”
And when asked if the Vans were meant as a statement of any kind, Ocean had the best response: "You can't think, you just have to do things."
To some, Ocean's response and or reasoning behind his recent actions may seem odd, but they follow a pattern. I call them Frank-isms; things the artist does and says that may seem odd at first, but have logical explanations. For example, following the massive success of Channel Orange, Ocean disappeared from social media over night only to re-appear on Tumblr and briefly through Snapchat. Naturally, fans were perplexed and although Ocean has never publicly acknowledged this, there's a simple explanation behind his disappearance.
After a whirlwind of media attention, appearances, performances, interviews and a tour, all leading up to the Grammy Awards, Ocean decided to take a break from all of the attention, hence his disappearance from social media. During this hiatus, he began working on his sophomore album, Channel Orange's follow up, originally titled Boys Don't Cry. We all know what happened next in this timeline, but that's another story.
If you look closely, Ocean's actions and behavior aren't odd at all. He's thoughtful and chooses his actions and words carefully.
Billboard writes,"For Ocean, words are his greatest weapon. He’s not a vocal powerhouse like Miguel. He’s not a dancing machine like Chris Brown." He's different and that's okay.
