Frank Ocean is one of the most well-known artists in music despite not having put out a new album in over seven years. Outside of a handful of red-carpet appearances, the occasional Instagram story and a disastrous Coachella performance, Ocean hasn’t given his longing fans much to look forward to, but why? Is there reason to believe Ocean has more in store than he’s letting on?
Before the release of “Blonde,” Ocean was signed to a two-album deal with Def Jam, and Ocean said he had little relationship with. Ocean’s debut mixtape, “Nostalgia, Ultra” was a massive hit despite not receiving any help from Def Jam. However, following the mixtape’s success, Ocean and Def Jam began to work on his first full-length album under the label’s guidance.
From then, “Channel Orange” was released July 10, 2012, and became an immediate hit with songs like “Super Rich Kids,” “Pyramids” and “Pink Matter.” The artist-label relationship still wasn’t perfect if Ocean is to be believed, and that’s likely part of the reason why it took another four years for Ocean to come out with his second album in the two-album deal.
Through a 140-hour livestream on Ocean’s website, which ended up being the visual album “Endless,” he was able to get out of his deal with Def Jam and was able to secure the full profits for the real album he wanted to put out, which was rumored to be around $20 million.
The next day, Ocean released the lead single for “Blonde” titled “Nikes” along with the full album as an Apple Music exclusive. While the album was a critically acclaimed hit, Ocean has not released a project since.
However, it’s not as if Ocean has gone completely off the grid since the release of his most recent album. Over the last year, Ocean’s physical and online presence has started to creep back onto the scene. He updated his website, released new merchandise, restocked vinyl for “Blonde” and even put an untitled snippet of a song on his Instagram story back in November.
Most notably, Ocean closed the famous music festival Coachella last year. The performance, if it can even be called that, went down in infamy, being dubbed “shambolic” by Variety. The performance was Ocean’s first in six years, garnering great excitement as the seemingly inevitable possibility of there being new music on the horizon. Unfortunately, things quickly fell apart. The monumental event was no longer expected to be livestreamed and started late.
There have been conflicting reports as to why the performance was so dysfunctional, but the general sentiment following it was disappointment with Ocean for his performance and alleged attitude regarding the act. However, fans were left with a quote from Ocean that seemed a bit promising. Supposedly Ocean has an album coming, but “not right now.”
So, what should fans expect from Ocean in the new-ish year? The answer is probably not much. That’s not to say that music from the acclaimed artist is impossible, but after the events of the disastrous Coachella performance, it doesn’t seem as though Ocean is reliable enough to deserve expectations. If new music were to come out, I’d happily listen to it countless times from beginning to end. However, as it currently stands, there’s not much to expect.
Logan Adams is a sophomore studying journalism. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. Want to talk more about it? Let Logan know by tweeting him @LoganA_NBA.
