Frank Ocean is one of those artists who has captivated the world’s attention from the start. Frank, who was born Christopher Breaux, became a celebrity almost immediately after the premiere of Channel Orange.
Yes, his earlier mixtape Nostalgia Ultra was a fan favorite, but with Def Jam’s backing and high-profile guests like Earl Sweatshirt, Andre 3000, and John Mayer on board, it was evident that this was an artist’s artist. Following in the footsteps of other rebels like Prince, Ocean’s brilliance in pulling the wool over his label’s eyes with Endless and promptly following it up with Blonde helped establish Ocean as a legacy artist a few years later. Fans are hopeful that some of the things Ocean has teased over the last five years will finally see the light of day now that it’s been over six years. Here’s all we know about what might happen next so far.
One thing we do know is that Frank is rumored to be scouting labels for a new album. When he shared both “DHL” and “In My Room” in 2019, it appeared that he was getting ready to start working on an album, but the pandemic is likely to have thwarted any plans for early 2020 releases. He did, however, release two new songs in March 2020, “Dear April” and “Cayendo,” and he also debuted another new nine-minute track during a recent Christmas episode of his Apple Music radio show, Blonded. Still, his reported headline position at Coachella 2023 is the best schedule we have for his upcoming album.
So, even if we get a few new singles this year and in early 2023, it’s most likely that the album will be released close to his presence at the world’s largest festival.