If you're like me, Blood Orange's "Champagne Coast" has been making rounds on your For You page. My first encounter with the British artist was watching Palo Alto in my freshman year of high school, as God intended. (I have the Letterboxd diary entry from 3 years ago and Apple Music rewind from 2021 to conserve my superiority complex over TikTok discoverers.) Palo Alto is a teen-coming-of-age film full of angst and imagery reminiscent of The Virgin Suicides that became formative for me. One of the party scenes spoke to me in particular. In the scene, April, played by Emma Roberts, embodies an inexplicable void, a loneliness within a crowd of people. The song that paired with this picture was "Champagne Coast" by Blood Orange. 

Since then, I’ve gladly been fed Blood Orange propaganda through films. I found him in Challengers, Fresh, and Insecure, where he is credited as Dev Hynes, but most importantly in works that depict that oh-so-formative age, including Euphoria, We Are Who We Are, and Skins. His alternative R&B compositions fill the teens’ craving for a different sound. He has a knack for creating infectious dance tracks while lyrics delve into melancholic topics. 

In production, Blood Orange creates a unique sound that is on par with the 4-beat producer tag of Pharrell. His influences span collaborations like "Losing You" by Solange, "Everything is Embarrassing" by Sky Ferreira, and "We Fall" by Emile Haynie. But his magnum opus is his 2018 album, Negro Swan. 

Our journey, which touches on chosen families, acceptance, and community, is guided by transgender rights activist Janet Monk. Though they are just snippets of a recorded conversation, in Negro Swan, Blood Orange transforms the beautiful voice of Janet into interludes that have served to me as mantras and daily affirmations. 

The standout tracks of Negro Swan are "Jewelry," "Family," and "Charcoal Baby," in the respective order that they were curated to be listened to. 

"Jewelry" opens with dialogue from Janet that has become spoken poetry. Janet points out the commencement of welcoming marginalized people into new spaces with conditions. Her least favorite comment to receive is that someone is either doing too much or is being too extra. She’s gone so far as to make it her New Year’s Resolution to do the most. 

Blood Orange seeks to tackle systematic expectations for people of marginalized groups to conform, lessen, or make themselves smaller to survive. The next track, "Family," provides more insight from Janet. 

“And I think of family as community 

I think of the spaces where you don't have to shrink yourself 

Where you don't have to pretend or to perform 

You can fully show up and be vulnerable 

And in silence, completely empty, and… 

That's completely enough 

You show up, as you are, without judgment, without ridicule 

Without fear or violence, or policing, or containment.”

While the next track, "Charcoal Baby," was the first single off the Negro Swan rollout, it ties together his message conceptually. He draws parallels to the rarity of black swans and the minority population of people of color within the United States. By being in the minority, there is a spotlight that draws attention. It creates a stage in which people are presented as a spectacle, in which merely existing has become a performance. 

Listening to Blood Orange in my freshman year of high school planted a seed that wouldn’t fully blossom until my freshman year of college. When enrolling at a predominantly white school, I was warned by my parents to not start arguments, to be docile, to be someone I was not to survive. There's a bravery that comes with stepping out of line, risking societal acceptance to exist in your truest form. But a society that forces you to minimize yourself into someone you're not is one in which you don’t belong. For many who have been outcasted, especially by their biological family, they have to invent a family: a community, a place to which they belong. Negro Swan has become my mantra to not be embarrassed to be loud, to show pride in my culture, and to be too much. 

If you are unfamiliar with Blood Orange, are looking to discover more of their music, or are curious what tracks they have helped produce, check out these playlists for both Spotify and Apple Music!

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6Jy4Y9VwhkYdPOO5nN5EkU?si=DdGNns4bTtWkhCHmN8MEKw

https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/blood-orange/pl.u-76oNlvMtvkBv7Ra

Photo Credits (In Order of Appearance):

"Blood Orange Shacklewell Arms 001" by isnt_this_it is licensed under CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/?ref=openverse. 

"Blood Orange Shacklewell Arms 002" by isnt_this_it is licensed under CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/?ref=openverse. 

"Blood Orange Shacklewell Arms 3" by Adam Shoesmith is licensed under CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/?ref=openverse