 Channel Orange received widespread acclaim from critics . At Metacritic , which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications , the album received an average score of 92 , based on 46 reviews . AllMusic 's Andy Kellman wrote that Ocean 's " descriptive and subtle storytelling is taken to a higher level " than on Nostalgia , Ultra , while Mike Powell of Spin found his tempered singing to be a sign of " exceptional wisdom and repose " . State journalist Fintan Walsh said Ocean captured " the modern youth " with his lyrics just as Brian Wilson had with the 1966 album Pet Sounds while calling Channel Orange " a masterful , dynamic and evocative collection of conversations between his inner @-@ self and the listener . " It was called " an expansive , slow @-@ burning classic that repays patience and close attention " by Killian Fox in The Observer , while musicOMH critic Laurence Green described the music as " a cherry @-@ picking of life 's cacophony repainted into the most enchanting of collages " . Slant Magazine 's Jesse Cataldo hailed it as a " mosaic work ... so textured , complex , and mature that Ocean 's recent coming out feels like a footnote " . Jody Rosen was less impressed in Rolling Stone , preferring the album 's more structured songs while arguing that Ocean sometimes seemed to be " less a songwriter than a purveyor of formless grooves " . Priya Elan of NME wrote that the " inventive and spirited " album 's music was occasionally overindulgent . Robert Christgau from MSN Music , on the other hand , felt Ocean 's musical compositions were more consistent here than on Nostalgia , Ultra but questioned his topical fascinations with the " haut @-@ monde demimonde " . 
