At 70, Billy Ocean wants new album to ‘lift you up’

Billy Ocean is angry, but you won’t hear it in his music.

Now 70, he is frustrated by structural racism and by Black people being shot by police. He is fed up with hatred and thinks society often is going backward.

Yet none of that is unleashed in his mix of soul, reggae, R&B and pop infused with the warmth of the Caribbean. It’s the way he has always done it, from his 1984 hit “Caribbean Queen (No More Love On the Run)” to his bright new album, “One World.”

“If I was an angry man, I wouldn’t be able to make the sort of music I’m trying to make,” he said. “It’s a gift to inspire people. I like to think it’s a gift to lift you up. It shouldn’t bring you down. What is the benefit of everybody trying to bring people down?”

For his first studio album in a decade, Ocean returns to the theme of uplift. Three songs alone, for example, have the word “love” in the title. He sings in the title track: “What we need is a love revolution.”

“We need a love revolution because there’s too much hatred around and there’s too much misunderstanding around,” he said from his home in the United Kingdom.

“I mean, for God’s sake: How long are we going to go on with this sort of climate?” he asked. “For me as a Black person, how long are we going be shot down by the police?”

To make the album, Ocean co-wrote 19 songs last summer and settled on 12, going into the mix three times to get the balance right between slow tunes and

safe to go on that physically distant walk with my friend outside? Do I have to wear a mask?” Wright said.

Something such as going to the grocery store — a task Wright notes we previously would not have given much mental space — now feels laden with risks and worries. And even within that errand are multiple decisions: which store to go to, how long to stay inside, whether groceries should be ordered online and delivered, and whether to sanitize items at home.

Even though some people might be less likely to tolerate uncertainty, she said, “I don’t think anybody’s immune to the stress that’s happening right now.”

So what do you do about it?

First, Wright suggests sharing decision-making when possible.

“In a lot of households, mothers or women are still disproportionately making decisions,” she said. “Partners can work together and either make decisions together or divide and conquer.”

The key is to not second guess, she said. That maintains a level of hyper-vigilance and keeps your mind rotating.

Accept what is in your control. Right now, that might be recognizing that the virus is not going away anytime soon, and people will need to balance how to be physically safe while creating a life that retains joy, she said.

Finally, she said, “I think it’s really important that we don’t judge ourselves or judge others right now for the decisions that we’re making. We really need to be approaching all of this right now as a sense of community and with empathy.”