After early previews of Frank Ocean's debut album, Channel Orange, journalists began to question whether some of the lyrics on this and other tracks were addressing a male object of love. Ocean responded by blogging an open letter recounting his unrequited feelings for a man when he was 19 years old, citing it as his first true love. Ocean's revelation of his past relationship with a man shed new light on this tale of adolescent love with lyrics like, "You're so buff and strong."
The song title references the titular hero of the 1994 movie Forrest Gump, played by Tom Hanks. Ocean plays on Forrest's love of running when he sings of his love interest, "You're running on my mind boy."
Asked by the UK newspaper The Guardian why he used the word "boy" to describe his love interest rather than falling back on the generic "you," Ocean replied, shrugging: "When you write a song like 'Forrest Gump,' the subject can't be androgynous. It requires an unnecessary amount of effort. I don't fear anybody at all. So, to answer your question, yes, I could have easily changed the words. But for what? I just feel like it's just another time now. I have no interest in contributing to that, especially with my art. It's the one thing that I know will outlive me and outlive my feelings. It will outlive my depressive seasons."
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