Flea – Thinkin Bout You (Frank Ocean Cover)
“Thinkin Bout You” is the third single from Honora, Flea’s debut solo album out March 27 via Nonesuch, and the most straightforward thing on it: a cover of Frank Ocean’s 2012 Channel Orange opener, reimagined as an orchestral instrumental ballad. Flea plays trumpet and electric bass, Anna Butterss adds upright bass, and Bright Eyes’ Nate Walcott wrote and orchestrated the strings. No percussion, no vocals — just the melody, kept intact.
The song was co-written by Ocean and Shea Taylor, originally recorded for R&B singer Bridget Kelly before Ocean claimed it for Channel Orange, where it became his first and only Top 40 US pop hit. Flea’s been playing it privately for a while — when he launched his YouTube channel last fall, the first post was a video of him playing “Thinkin Bout You” on trumpet for his son Darius. On why it made the album: “Channel Orange! When that record came out, it really blew me away. I listened to it ten million times. It was something I just couldn’t stop listening to. I loved it so much and still do. Just one of those real watershed moment records for me. ‘Thinkin Bout You’ is one of the many great songs on that record, and I thought it would be fun to play on trumpet”. On Walcott’s contribution: “He stepped up to the plate and really did something beautiful. I just wanted to get the honest beauty of the melody because it’s a great song”.
We’ve covered the Honora rollout from the start — “A Plea” (W49 2025) showed Flea’s spoken-word punk side, and “Traffic Lights” (W03 2026) leaned into smooth mid-tempo groove with Thom Yorke. “Thinkin Bout You” is quieter and more exposed than either — a test of whether the melody alone can carry the weight. It does. The cover sits alongside Flea originals and further interpretations of Funkadelic’s “Maggot Brain”, Jimmy Webb’s “Wichita Lineman” (with Nick Cave on vocals), and Ann Ronell’s “Willow Weep for Me” on the full record.
The Honora tour in May plays intimate venues across North America and Europe — all dates already sold out.
Tour Dates:
North America:
- 7 May — Chicago, IL — Thalia Hall (SOLD OUT)
- 9 May — Toronto, ON — The Opera House (SOLD OUT)
- 10 May — Montreal, QC — Théâtre Beanfield (SOLD OUT)
- 12 May — New York, NY — Webster Hall (SOLD OUT)
- 13 May — Washington, DC — Black Cat (SOLD OUT)
- 16 May — Los Angeles, CA — The Fonda Theatre (SOLD OUT)
Europe:
- 21 May — Berlin, Germany — Heimathafen (SOLD OUT)
- 22 May — Amsterdam, Netherlands — Paradiso (SOLD OUT)
- 26 May — London, UK — Koko (SOLD OUT)
- 28 May — Paris, France — Alhambra (SOLD OUT)
