studios gave him the experience to create a piece as accomplished and varied as Channel Orange, which swings from Stevie-style keyboard breeziness to 1990s bap&B to mystic psych rock to crunching 8-bit funk without thinking twice. And while he's now primarily writing songs for himself, his time toiling in L.A. After languishing as a behind-the-scenes writer for pop stars including Brandy, John Legend, and Justin Bieber, with 'Thinkin Bout You' Ocean doubled down on the out-of-nowhere success of his unique and brilliant 2011 mixtape, Nostalgia, Ultra., marking his territory as a performer in his own right. The fact that Ocean's take dwarfs Kelly's both artistically as well as in terms of popularity is telling.

When Ocean dropped an early take of 'Thinkin Bout You' on his Tumblr last summer, it was quickly followed by a version from perfectly competent Roc Nation signee Bridget Kelly, who claimed Ocean originally wrote the song for her. He tells himself white lies in the verse before flipping to a falsetto that could make D'Angelo sweat for the endless wound of a chorus: 'Do you not think so far ahead?/ Cause I've been thinkin bout forever.' It's all there on proper opener 'Thinkin Bout You', where he battles his own brain while reminiscing about a first love. On Channel Orange, this serene deadpan is splashed with crackling emotion, as though he's alternately narrating and starring in his own Magnolia-style cross-wired-heartbreak epic. Along with Ocean's empathy for his characters is a sense of repose- he's been there, he's weathered it, and he's come away with his Zen-like calm intact.

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