Frank Ocean — New Album Release: TBA
Seven long years after the release of his second studio album, "Blonde," Frank Ocean returned in 2023 to headline at Coachella. While fans speculated the performance might indicate new music on the horizon, Coachella has come and gone without so much as a new single from Ocean.
"It's been so long but I have missed you."
Still, the singer did give fans one grain of hope during a monologue in between songs. "It's been so long. Everybody talks about how long its been," he said of his third studio album in a clip shared on Twitter. "It's been so long but I have missed you. I want to talk about why I'm here because it's not because of the new album. Not that there's not a new album or something." Amid the crowd's enthusiastic cheers, he added, "But there's not right now. No, chill chill chill. It's not right now."
Given the "Pink + White" singer's unpredictability when it comes to album releases, we can't be sure he plans to release new music in 2023, but he sparked a frenzy among fans in September 2022 when he wiped his Instagram account of all posts. While he hasn't shared any posts since, fans are hopeful that the cleanse is a sign of new music on the horizon.
In fact, the anticipation even inspired one Twitter user to create the fanpage @DidOceanDrop, which provides daily updates on whether or not Ocean has dropped a new album. The tweets to date have been a resounding mix of "no," "nahhh," and "no not at all" since 2018, but fans are poised to leap on any news regarding a new album as soon as it arrives.
In July 2022, Ocean also teased fans with an instrumental release on the first episode of "Blonded Radio" on Apple Music, during which he discussed psychedelics and working late nights in the studio.
On Jan. 17, Ocean had fans buzzing again when he released new merch. Ocean's team accompanied each merch order with a letter, according to Billboard. "The Recording Artist has since changed his mind about the singles model, and is again more interested in durational bodies of work," the letters read.
Since "Blonde," he's sporadically released a handful of singles and made feature appearances. In 2017, he appeared on JAY-Z's "Caught Their Eyes." He also collaborated with Calvin Harris on "Slide," A$AP Mob on "Raf," and Tyler, the Creator on "911 / Mr. Lonely." There was also his cover of "Moon River" released on Valentine's Day in 2018, and more recently, he shared the tracks "Dear April" and "Cayendo" in 2020.
