Yesterday (April 16), Frank Ocean headlined the final day of Coachella’s first weekend. It was a highly anticipated performance, but for a number of reasons, it did not go well at all. One attendee summarized, “I’ve never seen so many people walk out of a show so upset and confused. The amount of anticipation for this was extremely high, and I don’t think anyone was satisfied. Not even the diehard fans.”
If there was one silver lining to be had, though, it was that Ocean spoke about his next album.
Frank Ocean’s speech during his Coachella set.pic.twitter.com/GN8Ly4GaHN
— Odd Future (@OddFuturePage) April 17, 2023
At one point during the set, he took a couple minutes to give a short speech, which he started, “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 a new album. It’s because… not that there’s not a new album, just like… but there’s not right now.”
A new album would certainly be a big deal, as Ocean hasn’t released one since 2016’s Blonde, which topped the charts and was one of the year’s most acclaimed projects.
Back to Ocean’s speech: He went on to speak about how his life “changed so much” over the past few years following the 2020 death of his brother, Ryan Breaux, and about how much Coachella meant to them both and the memories he had of attending the fest with Breaux. He also thanked fans for their support over the years before resuming his set.