Posted by Andrew Unterberger on 02/08/2013 at 9:07 AM News

The Popdust Files: frank ocean, magazine covers, thinking 'bout you

Guitarists may be infamous for making the guitarist face, but singers have something just as ridiculous in their facial-muscle arsenal—the falsetto face. We don’t know for a fact that Frank Ocean was hitting the highest of high notes, perhaps the “Or do you not think SOO FAAAAARRR aheeeaaad…” part from “Thinking ‘Bout You,” while posing for this New York TimesMagazine Cover, but it certainly seems like the most logical explanation. (Either that or the NYT photographer simultaneously shined a really bright light in Ocean’s face while feeding him something super-lemony.) Witness:

That’s a whole lot of squint for one magazine cover. There’s an article inside, too, in which he talks about truth being like heroin and about how he doesn’t trust music journalists (WELL WE DON’T TRUST SUPER-TALENTED SINGER DUDES WHO WEAR HEADBANDS SO THERE) but it’ll be impossible to read any of it without picturing Ocean make the Falsetto Face while answering every single question. “I got KIIIIICKED out of ev-ry school I WEEEEENT tooooo…they sent the folder IN A MANIIIILLLLA EEEEENVELOPE to my houuu-ouuuuse….” Must get exhausting.