Frank Ocean's "Channel Orange" is the summer album of 2012 — a low-key stroke of genius from the Los Angeles-via-New Orleans R&B singer-songwriter, making headlines for bringing man/man romance into pop R&B. But it's deeper than that. I'm blogging about each song individually, in order. Sorry but Internet Explorer does not support the full album stream below.

Ah, "Super Rich Kids" (feat. Earl Sweatshirt). Now this is the cut — the people's choice at Frank Ocean's tour kick-off concert at the Showbox in Seattle, a striding, thumping piano anthem. After intriguing verses about sexy soirees, recreational Xanax and rooftop suicide flirtations, and Ocean's issues with class and money carrying over from "Sweet Life," it's really all about the simple, closing singalong tribute to Mary J. Blige circa 1992. After all that drama Ocean offers no finale or emotional resolution, just Mary's searching refrain: "Real love — I'm searching for a real love." The end of no ends is classic Ocean. And the way he flips the context of the lyric to make it seem like a personal thing but also an overarching hymn for a generation of wayward children — brilliant.

See also:

Summer of Frank Ocean: "Thinkin Bout You"
Summer of Frank Ocean: "Fertilizer"
Summer of Frank Ocean: "Sierra Leone"
Summer of Frank Ocean: "Sweet Life"