When we last saw Frank Ocean, he was still basking in the glow of his critically-acclaimed debut album Channel Orange*. That was three long years ago. I realize art takes time, but that didn’t stop me from chomping at the bit for some new music by this talented brother.
There have been small dribbles of new music from Frank since the Orange campaign ended in 2013. He appeared on albums by Jay Z, Beyonce and John Mayer. He collaborated with a couple of former Clash members and Diplo on a track. Most recently, he released a pretty cover of The Isley Brothers’ “At Your Best (You Are Love)” (as popularized by Aaliyah) on his Tumblr page.
In the past week, it’s been announced that Frank will be releasing a new album in July, as well as publishing the first issue of a magazine he calls Boys Don’t Cry. While I’ll admit to being mildly curious about Frank’s venture into publishing, my primary concern is the music. I originally thought the album was going to be called Boys Don’t Cry as well, but now it seems as though that might not be the case. Who the hell cares what it’s called, anyway? July can’t get here fast enough.
(and a cover of The Cure’s “Boys Don’t Cry” by Frank would actually be kind of dope…just saying).
*I guess Nostalgia, Ultra was his real debut album, but it wasn’t commercially released, so shouldn’t count.