R&B singer Frank Ocean has finally released his long-awaited new studio album.
His 17-track record Blonde arrived on Apple Music just days after Ocean released a 45-minute visual album called Endless.
#BLONDE from Frank Ocean.
Exclusively on Apple Music.https://t.co/bk5j3bWsja pic.twitter.com/AHOHnbCPJJ— Apple Music (@AppleMusic) August 20, 2016
It marks the follow-up to his 2012 debut Channel Orange, which scored two Grammy Awards and huge critical success.
âENDLESSâ
A film by Frank Ocean.
Now on Apple Music. #ENDLESShttps://t.co/IKMm2PNsUH pic.twitter.com/nlLxXoQ296— Apple Music (@AppleMusic) August 19, 2016
The album has been anticipated by fans since late July when news of the impending release was revealed in the New York Times, shortly after Apple Music hosted a livestream on Frank’s website.
It was further teased when Frank posted a picture of a library book slip showing a range of potential “due dates” and a video of him constructing a spiral staircase.
The album has been released with an accompanying glossy magazine, Boys Don’t Cry, available from a pop-up shop on London’s Charlotte Street, as well as locations in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.
The #FrankOcean pop up shop queue #London. pic.twitter.com/DLME79FCb9
— Jacob (@OhHeyJacob) August 21, 2016
The magazine contains a hard copy of Blonde, according to Billboard, as well as a spread of fashion photographs, poems by Ocean, short stories, an outline for a television show and interviews with his collaborators Lil B and Om’Mas Keith.
Rapper Kanye West, who also has a pop-up shop in London, has contributed a poem about McDonald’s to the magazine.
Apparently Kanye West wrote a poem about #McDonalds fries in Frank's #BoysDontCry mag. #ninja pic.twitter.com/3FvHAB80ld
— Ninjas for Health (@ninjasforhealth) August 21, 2016
Credits on the album include the Beatles, Beyonce, Brian Eno, David Bowie, Jamie xx, Kanye, Kendrick Lamar and Pharrell Williams.
