In July 2012, Frank Ocean released his debut album Channel Orange to critical acclaim and commercial success. It was the culmination of the hype that built from his 2011 appearances on Kanye West and Jay–Z’s Watch the Throne, his membership in the hip hop collective Odd Future, his openness about his sexuality, and his popular mixtape Nostalgia, Ultra. Everyone was ready for Ocean to take over the music industry. We all know what happened after.
Over the course of the next four years, it was like a cat–and–mouse game: Ocean would tease a snippet of some song, or hint at a release on his website, or make a surprise feature on another artist’s track, but he didn’t put out the record his fans clamored for. After a long wait, he released a video album, Endless, and his second studio album, Blonde, over the span of three days in August 2016. The long wait was over. Given all of the success and popularity, he couldn’t possibly do it to us again, right?
So far, that seems like a wrong assumption. Since Blonde’s release, Ocean has done the following: collaborate with Calvin Harris and Migos on the megahit single “Slide,” release numerous singles on his Beats 1 radio show, and suggest that a new record was already finished (!) on Tumblr in November. So where is it? If it’s completed, what’s the delay? Time to make conjectures.
There are two possible theories here. The first is relatively straightforward: the album may be “completed,” but Ocean is treating it carefully and constantly fine–tuning it until he is completely satisfied with his work. This is not an uncommon approach—fellow artists like Kanye West are known for perfectionist tendencies that involve reworking their music until the day of release. However, it’s also possible that Ocean is simply trying to replicate or surpass the massive hype surrounding Endless and Blonde—a fan frenzy unlike any other generated by growing impatience.
It’s possible the new album comes out tomorrow and this speculation looks ironic in hindsight, but empirical evidence indicates that it is just as likely that we might wait another two years. I’m excited regardless of the situation, but seriously, Frank, drop the damn album.
