Frank Ocean: "(At Your Best) You Are Love" (Aaliyah/The Isley Brothers Cover)
Photo by Nabil
Frank Ocean is too cool for the room, too cool for Twitter, too cool to let us know if he’s done with his album, or just kinda working on his album, or maybe just chilling with his dog in L.A. listening to Aaliyah. His remove is not an icy pose as much as a distinguishing feature. It’s modern; when everything is too-much, not-enough can be refreshing. It can also be frustrating. We look to our best artists to articulate what we’re feeling in times of outrage and unrest—to point a way forward—and Frank’s perspective has been sorely missed as of late. I mean, even D’Angelo ventured out of his cave and reacted to the moment. But not Frank.
Maybe he’s just waiting for his gut to subside and give way to some sort of clarity. Released through his Tumblr on what would have been Aaliyah’s 36th birthday, his take on “(At Your Best) You Are Love” could be heard as a balm for today. The 1976 Isley Brothers ballad, which Aaliyah covered on her 1994 debut, is an offering: of love, compassion, empathy. Its eternal goodness plays into this idea of Frank as a kind of saint, observing the world’s ills with a careful eye and sound judgement. But while it’s thematically on target, the song is a bit more starkly vulnerable than what we’re used to from Frank; it doesn’t allow for much distance.
So instead of hanging back, the song requires him to step forward. Which he does. Brilliantly. Accompanied by spacious keys and nothing else, “(At Your Best) You Are Love” boasts this singer’s most affecting vocal to date. It’s technically virtuosic without being technical; it scratches the sky while whispering in your ear. Due to their uplifting universality, many Isley Brothers songs have been, as the critic Eric Weisbard recently put it, “preserved in African American memory as totems of peacefulness and healing.” Frank Ocean extends that tradition here, providing a shoulder for leaning, and a heart for bleeding.
[Listen at Tumblr]
Recent Comments