Is there anyone more mysterious than Frank Ocean? Seriously, it’s bloody hard to surprise people these days (because we’re cynical and spend all our time hunting for clues and hidden meanings in celebrity tweets and music videos), but somehow he manages to keep doing it.
A more formulaic musician might tease their album announcement in a strategic social media drop, coordinated with a boring press release, but not Frank. Instead, the i-D cover star turned to his Tumblr last night to share a decidedly cryptic message: “Well, I made the album before 30. I JUST AIN’T PUT THAT BITCH OUT YET.” He casually described the message as “quotes from an interview I haven’t given haha”, and then presumably logged off, leaving the internet to fold in on itself from excitement and confusion.
To explain, Frank turned 30 a month ago, so many people have taken the Tumblr post as evidence that he’s secretly finished up another album for us to gorge ourselves on. And if that wasn’t enough to induce a collective Cyber Monday frenzy, Frank also chose to drop physical copies of his visual album Endless, including a vinyl, poster, CD and DVD and, presumably just because he can do that, VHS.
But then again, this is Frank Ocean, so just because it’s finished doesn’t it mean we’re going to get it any time soon. He’s going to make us wait until he’s finished with it, and that could take months, years, minutes. He really is impossible to predict. So mysterious.
Read: “It came to me in a dream” – Frank Ocean creates a visual essay and pens personal letter.