Frank Ocean fans have been waiting for an album announcement from the elusive singer for quite some time. The 35-year-old singer’s last full-length project, Blonde, was released nearly seven years ago, in 2016. Since then, his supporters have had to make do with sporadic singles and public appearances like his club night DJ set PrEP+. However, that may soon change, as Ocean is reportedly set to headline the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival this spring, which could be accompanied by another album — or so fans hope.
Intriguingly, the closest thing we have to confirmation of a new album came with his last one — or at least, the vinyl record version of Blonde that was reissued in December. According to fan accounts receiving their orders over the weekend, a foldout poster included with the vinyl hints at Frank’s future album plans through the story of a “fictitious Recording Artist” — an obvious stand-in for Frank himself.
Back sides of the posters from the recent Blonded merch sale tell a narrative that’s as close to an album announcement as we’ll ever get from Frank Ocean. pic.twitter.com/15nvU780No
— blonded.blog (@blondedblog) January 16, 2023
The gist of the story is that Frank — or the Recording Artist — had become disillusioned with the long-form release strategy and planned to pivot to solely releasing singles, a practice he believed better suited to modern listening habits. However, in the time since Blonde was released, and with COVID-19 derailing his DJ plans, “The Recording Artist has since changed his mind about the singles model, and is again interested in more durational bodies of work.”
Although he doesn’t reveal just what his album plans are, at least fans can take comfort in knowing that he does want to put one out.