Frank Ocean's problem isn't his falsetto, his falsetto is fine, but it is his normal singing voice, where he seems completely incapable of carrying a melody.
Let me put it this way: he sounds like fucking Drake on the otherwise excellent "Thinking About You" -another West Coast stayed in bed all morning, in never rains in Southern California.
I love it, but I wish it was maybe ten percent better. I can imagine Prince killing it, but Frank Ocean sure can't: Frank, doesn't dig deep enough to nail it down. There is a reticence to his vocals, and I mentioned Drake because like Drake it is played in a minor key: there is a somberness and not just here but how about "White" or "She"? He is a moody singer, unwilling to give it all up and because of that his melodies feel a little incomplete.
"Thinkin About You" is another in an inspiring collection, but he needs to do something else as well. He needs that one undeniable song, and he hasn't written it yet. then he needs somebody to sick it for him. Get it right, and we have a Babyface for the 21st century.
