4. #FrankOceanWatch
Last Monday 1st August, Frank Ocean damn near broke Twitter when a mysterious video stream appeared on his website (boysdontcry.co). The video was a black and white Apple Live video stream (viewable only on Safari or iOS) focused on a saw machine and table as pictured above for hours before Frank stepped into the frame and started to build something unknown with instrumental accompaniment. The video now plays on a loop on the website.
Given the note on Frank’s website that was taken to suggest a July album release and the subsequent non-appearance of any album, Twitter went into frenzy at the news of the stream, with the trending hashtag, #FrankOceanWatch. Twitter was ablaze with word of the imminence of an album release, with the New York Times reporting a release date of Friday 5 August. Friday came and went with no release and then came a flurry of articles on what Frank’s responsibility as an artist is to his fans. On the one hand, there are those of the view that Frank owes those that have supported his art an album pretty much asap, while others are adamant that it is wrong to pressurise artists to create.
Our view is that artists should be left to create at their own pace. Music is best when it reflects an artist’s state of mind and purpose for creating at the time of creating. This simply can’t happen if they are pushed to create when they don’t feel ready. We won’t get the best of Frank Ocean if we don’t allow him to be himself and create at the pace that is natural to him. In the meantime, there are several talented musicians out there creating music everyday. Yes, we’re sure when (and we do believe it’s about when, not if) we get a sophomore album from Ocean, it will be great and everything we’re all hoping for, but it seems quite frankly, unnecessary to demand it sooner than he’s prepared to give it. That kind of pressure probably makes for only worse music and unhappier fans.
Billboard has put together a helpful summary of everything we know about the sophomore album, believed to be titled, Boys Don’t Cry. Read it all here. Someone’s also gone through the effort of collecting the instrumentals playing on the video stream. Listen below.
