Complex.com interviewed Frank Ocean’s co-writer and producer Malay about working on “Channel Orange” the past year. 

Malay touches on a handful of topics in the interview including Frank Ocean changing his naem (from Christopher Breaux), working with Andre 3000, Kanye West and Pharell, as well as how the album came together. Check out a few excerpts below and head to Complex to read the full interview. 

Name Change: At that point he had changed his name to Frank Ocean and it really felt like he was ready to get out there. Even to the point where I was like, “Why did you change your name?” And he said, “I just can’t picture my name ‘Lonny Breaux’ on the cover of a magazine whereas I can picture “Frank Ocean.”

How did all the collaborations come about? As [Frank’s] name was blowing up he was getting calls to work with everybody. Pharrell is one of his personal favorite idols of all time. Frank had the opportunity to go in and make songs and they came out great. So we just kind of worked them in sonically for the record and it came out great.

Read: Full Interview With Frank Ocean’s Co-Writer & Producer Malay