How Frank Ocean & Miguel Rose TogetherÂ
Frank Ocean and Miguel are the modern day faces of Alt-R&B and have trickled their creative visions and styles which have produced classics such as âchannel Orangeâ and âKaleidiscope Dreamâ. Â
However, their journeys saw them meeting long before the two covered glossy magazine pages and won Grammys.Â
After 2005âČs Hurricane Katrina destroyed his local studio, Frank Ocean left New Orleans in order to pursue a career in the music industry. When Frank moved to Los Angeles, he and Miguel met and began working with producer Brian Kennedy and Troy Noka. In an interview with MTV, Miguel recalled talking to Frank over the phone while he was still in Louisiana and how, when Frank came to L.A. they became great friends.
At that time, Miguel was struggling to get recognition from his label and his debut album was shelved multiple times leading him to stay working with Frank, Brian and Troy.
Miguel pictured with Troy Noka, Frank Ocean, Keri Hilson, Rich King and Brain Kennedy (far right)
Frank, who went as Lonny Breaux at the time, focused on writing songs for other artists at the time such as Brandy, Beyonce, John Legend and later for Justin Beiber.
As Frank worked behind the scenes, Miguelâs manager at the time submitted several songs to music tycoon Mark Pitts. Upon hearing a song titled âSure Thingâ, Pitts was convinced of Miguelâs potential and in November 2007, signed him to a recording contract with Jive Records.
In 2008, Lonny was working a placement job for Troy Noka who was teaching him how to produce and through that, he got a chance to sell his first song to Noel Gourdin titled âI Fellâ.Â
Troy Noka recalled how he first met Frank and how they all looked at each other as brothers:
Miguel, Rich King, Frank Ocean, Brian Kennedy and Troy Noka, 2007
In 2009, Lonny met well-known producer Tricky Stewart who helped cultivate career highs with Mariah Carey, Beyonce and Rihanna. Tricky had just created a label called RedZone which was in partnership with UMGâs âDef Jam Recordsâ and immediately signed Lonny Breaux. It was at that time that Lonny came to Tricky and told him heâd be changing his name to Frank Ocean.
In 2010, after multiple delays, Miguel would finally release his debut album âAll I Want Is Youâ. Although the album sold poorly first week (11,000), the album was well received and the singles âSure Thingâ and âAll I Want Is Youâ peaked at 36 and 58 on the US Billboard Hot 100. Miguel believed the label messed up by marketing him as a typical R&B singer and to further promote the album, joined Usher and Trey Songz on tour.
As Miguel enjoyed the success of his first two singles. Frank Ocean would officially arrive in the industry and it came with two features. The first came on Bishop Lamontâs 2010 track âGet my Gunâ which was produced by Troy Noka. The second was, Kent M$neyâs âGotta Beâ.Â
As Tricky Stewart worked on Frankâs debut project, nostalgia ULTRA, he also wanted to introduce Frank to Def Jam and thatâs when it all went south between the two. Tricky speaks about Def Jamâs initial thoughts about Frank:
This ultimately led to the downfall of Frankâs relationship with Tricky since he couldnât deliver on his inital promise. With Def Jam ignoring Frank and shelving Nostalgia Ultra, he felt like he wasnât wanted or needed and decided to release it himself in order to get his career moving. Essentially, Frank felt abandoned by his label and believed Tricky couldnât or wouldnât do anything about it, leaving him helpless.Â
On February 16th, 2011, Frank Ocean released ânostaliga, ULTRAâ for free online through Odd Future. Following the success of Nostalgia Ultra, Frank wrote âI Miss Youâ for Beyonceâs album â4âł and appeared on Kanye West & Jay-Zâs âWatch The Throneâ.
With the eyes of the music industry waiting for his next step, Frank demanded $1 million from Def Jam if they wanted his debut album. Subsequently, Def Jam set him up in a mansion in California and funded what is now known as âchannel ORANGEâ. On July 4th, Frank revealed his first love was with another man and a 6 days later, would release his album to critical and commercial success selling 130,000 copies in itâs first week. The album was regarded as one of the best projects in recent years and critics praised the idiosyncratic vibe and storytelling.
3 Months later, In October 2012, Miguel would release his sophomore album; Kaleidoscope Dream, now funded by a new marketing team and label selling 71,000 to critical acclaim. Miguel returned with a brand new eccentric and lush style wowing fans and critics alike.
In November 2012, Miguel gave an interview with FADER magazine in which he may hint at a falling out with Frank:
3 Months later, The 55th annual Grammys (2013) would mark the first time Frank and Miguel would be seen together in public. Both projects were amongst the best of the years and would go head to head in the âBest Urban Contemporary Albumâ category with Frank winning. Miguelâs âKaleidoscope Dreamâ was nominated for 3 Grammys whilst Frank Oceanâs âChannel Orangeâ was nominated for 5 (Frank had 6 including a nomination for his work on Watch the Throne)
During Frankâs time away from the spotlight, Miguel would release his third album, Wildheart (2015) but not before stating that he believed he made better music than Frank. Miguel once again negates at any possible relationship with Frank:
During summer 2015, Miguel was in London doing an interview at a hotel bar for Wildheart when Frank Ocean walked by. Frank, who had moved from Los Angeles to London in 2013 was living in hotels and coincidently ran into a peer he had started out in the industry with almost 10 years prior. Â
In October 2017, Miguel said that he regretted making the comments:
Lastly, Miguel liked a âGeniusâ Instagram post about Frank Oceanâs Endless merch.
Troy Noka, who played a major role in finding Frank (and producing Endless) is still working with him and most recently was seen in the studio with him:
âStill grinding with my day ones #NostalgiaUltra, October 29th, 2017âł
As of 2017, Frank Ocean has yet to acknowledge Miguel publicly and his comments and whatever happened between the two remains a mystery. The two started out together 10 years ago in sunny California crafting their art and now are simply musical peers without any hint of a reunion.
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