boys don't cry

 The Aphex Effect

Half way across the world from the jazzy filled streets of Frank Ocean’s hometown of New Orleans, is the small town of Cornwall, United Kingdom, home to Richard D. James better known as Aphex Twin. An electronic artist who would go on to leave a massive trail in the music scene, often regarded as the greatest electronic producer of all time. Richard would synthesize his vision and ear for melodies, resulting in some of the most abstract, bizarre and otherworldly pieces of music to date. 

(track titles are underlined & will take you to the track being spoken about)

Decades later, Richard’s influence can be seen peppered throughout Frank Ocean’s career. From wearing his merchandise, mimicking drum patterns to literal shoutouts, here’s a look at the Aphex effect on Frank Ocean.

Frank wearing an Aphex Twin “Come to Daddy” shirt, New York, 2015

                                         The Use of Birds

Listed among the 360 paged “Boys Don’t Cry” magazine are some of Frank’s favourite songs, one of them being “Aisatsana” by Aphex Twin. A serene, melodic piano piece with sounds of nature and bird chirpings blended in the back. The use of birds have become a mini-staple within Richard’s music and can be traced back much further than 2015′s Syro.

In 1992, Richard released an EP titled “Digeridoo”. The first track “Digeridoo” featured a swift drum line, heavy bass syntheziers using a Roland TB-303 which gets tied by the constant twittering of birds.

In May, 1992, Richard debuted an untitled track on BBC Radio 1 during the John Peel session. In 2015, he released a cleaned up version and dubbed it “Slo Bird Whistle[peel Sesh]”. It begins with a high pitch bird chriping which continues throughout. 

 In 1994, Richard released his fourth EP, titled “Analogue Bubblebath 4″ under the alias AFX. The project features a track called “Cuckoo”, an almost arcadey-esque track with slapping percussions, rapid drum patterns and naturist sounds. The use of grasshoppers and owl’s smoothly intermix with the sonic environment resulting in a totally discrete sound. 

In 2017, Richard released his “London 03.06.17″ under the alias AFX. Track 5, “em2500 M253X” has a vintage soft piano melody littered with bird chirpings evoking a relaxing sonic atmosphere.

Richard’s use of birds and animals are often used as a source that provide a layer of tranquility. They’re present in both of his electronic based and relaxing tunes. In tracks like “Aisatsana” and “em2500″, the use of birds transport the listener and paint an image of serenity. 

Frank Ocean’s summery tales of his first love told in 2012′s “channel ORANGE” introduced a fresh wave of lucious and silky production paired with creative and cinematic songwriting.

On track 8, “Pilot Jones”, a bass heavy tale about the effects of drug use on his relationship, Frank sings: 

“In the sky up above, the birds, I saw the sky like I never seen before”

The production here transitions from the darkside of drugs into a different realm, one with sunny skies and birds chirping. Frank also changes up his cadence here, choosing to sing the verse softly. Much like Richard, the birds are used as a drop of calmness. 

In 2016′s “Blonde”, Frank Ocean had the vision to rebrand the entire blueprint and foundation of how an urban contemporary album should sound. Forming a super-team of producers, the critically acclaimed album housed inspiration from all aspects of art. The production was innovative, avant-garde and idiosyncratic with tracks like “White Ferrari” and “Seigfried” pushing the boundaries of normality. 

Birds have a minimal yet major role on Blonde. Just as in Aphex Twin’s music, they’re used as a film of peace in the atmosphere. On Blonde, they’re also used to demonstrate the important day and night split (discussed in-depth here). They can be heard during the “day” half, on the “Pink + White”, “Be Yourself”, “Skyline To” and “Self Control”. 

On “Pink + White” they’re heard throughout all throughout the track, most notable as the quick strings commence at the beginning of the track. They’re also isolated at the very end of the track.

The birds from “Pink + White” are smoothly transitioned into “Be Yourself” and can be heard until 8 seconds.  

“Skyline To”, a dreamy ballad of long drives and forbidden sex features quietly chirping birds under the melancholic production. The birds complement the laid-back vibe as Frank recalls his most memorable summers.  There’s also a high pitch sound stretched out at the back end of the track that is similar to what Aphex Twin had used throughout in his track “Slo Bird”. It also sounds similar to a Termenvox, an instrument Frank learned how to play very early in his career however it is not listed in credits.

On “Self Control”, birds can be heard in the opening seconds of the track. It is the last time birds are heard on the album as the focus heads into the night half. 

On 2016′s “Endless”, Frank channelled Richard’s use of drum and beat programming. He mainly took inspiration from  1996′s “Richard D. James Album” and 2015′s “Syro” focusing on swift drum patterns, abbrasive percussion and quick rythyms. 

                             Drum & Beat Programming

On the 6th track of “Syro” titled “CIRCLONT6A”, Richard implements a glitched/warped technique throughout the song making it sound as if it’s being split very quickly. The same technique is used on “Sideways”. 

On “Rushes To”, Frank replicates a similar yet slower percussion and drum pattern heard on Aphex Twin’s “Girl/Boy Song “

The final track on “Endless” titled “Mitsubishi Sony” ends off in an epic electronic instrumental that sounds alike to “Carn Marth” off of the “Richard D. James Album”

                                                Shoutouts 

On “Provider”, Frank sings “stiff smile just like I’m Aphex Twin (yeah come to daddy)”

Synonymous with the Aphex Twin image is the smile seen plastered across some of his biggest albums. Frank’s suppressed adlib of “yeah come to daddy” is a nod to one of Aphex Twin’s most popular tracks titled “Come To Daddy” off of his 1997 EP of the same name. 

Among the 50 tracks Frank listed as his favourite, Richard’s music is listed twice. One is the previously mentioned “Aisatsana” and the other is “The Garden Of Linmiri” by Caustic Window, an experimental acid house track produced under a different alias.

In an interview with John Doran on BBC Radio, Vegyn shares a brief story about listening to “Alberto Balsalm” in the studio with Frank.

Frank also added “IZ-US” from the 1997 album “Come to Daddy” on “blonded Los Santos 97.8 FM”

During the Christmas season, Frank showcased an Aphex Twin Christmas ornament and was also wearing the logo on a mask while going through the airport.

Inside Frank Ocean’s Vault

In today’s age of social obsession, Frank Ocean has managed to deconstruct the complex structure that powers the music industry. He has glided his way through on his terms whilst maintaining a rarity of pop mystery. Frank’s elusiveness has made him one of the most secretive artists in modern music and an enigma whose next step is unpredictable yet most notably calculated. Amongst the minimal output he’s officially released, there’s even more content locked away in his personal vault. Here’s everything we know regarding the unreleased content:

July 26, 2011: nostalgia, LITE

After releasing his debut project ‘nostalgia, ULTRA’ to critical and commercial success, Def Jam set their sights on young Frank Ocean and decided to re-release a refined version of the mixtape as a full-fledged extended play titled ‘nostalgia, LITE’. The EP was announced by Frank in May 2011 but on July 26th, he confirmed that the plan was officially scrapped. 

The EP was slated to have seven tracks. Sampled songs like Strawberry Swing’ ‘American Wedding’ and ‘Nature Feels’ were to be replaced by ‘Acura Integurl’ and ‘Whip Appeal’ due to clearance issues.

In-a-now deleted post, Frank doubled down on his statement a year later and released ‘Whip Appeal’ on March 17th, 2012. 

November 6th, 2011: "Journey:

Frank performed an unreleased track called 'Journey' in New Orleans. 

November 12, 2011: “Disillusioned”

Frank debuted a funky and hypnotic song titled “Disillusioned” to a London crowd. The CDQ has never been released.

November 16th, 2011: “Acura Integurl” (Extended)

In mid-November, Frank debuted an extended version of ‘Acura Integurl’ in Los Angeles, featuring an extra verse. The original ‘Acura Integurl’ was still in setlists during his 2013 European tour but didn’t make the cut during the Blonded tour. Frank was asked if he’d ever finish the song to which he replied “I don’t know, I try not to force it, if that’s how it turned out, that’s how it turned out”

May 21st, 2012: “Summer Remains”

With just months away from his highly anticipated album, Frank shared a video on his Tumblr of him playing “Summer Remains”, a soft melodic track detailing a memorable summer fling and what it left in him. It was expected to be on ‘Channel Orange’ but was ended up being cut. However, the song was occasionally performed throughout the ‘Channel Orange’ tour.

July 4th, 2012: “No Such Thing as White Jesus” (feat. Nas)

Frank first met producer Hit-Boy in 2006 with Miguel and Dom Kennedy and built a working relationship with him from there. After the success of ‘Niggas in Paris’, Frank met up with Hit-Boy and laid down the chorus for “No Such Thing as White Jesus”. Nas loved the track and asked for it to be on his forthcoming album, ‘Life is Good’. Unfortunately, the hard-drive was misplaced but was recovered two years later. Hit-Boy then posted a short snippet of the track before losing the hard-drive once again. The producer has slashed any hope of the track ever being released due to the original vocals and sessions being lost. In a red carpet interview before the release of his album, Nas said he’d love to work with Frank again.

February 21st, 2013: "Solo" Demo by Depeche Mode

Frank Ocean, Martin Gore and Christoffer Berg in Jungle City Studios, New York City

Frank began working on his sophomore album right after the 55th annual Grammy’s had concluded. As he worked with Alicia Keys, he got word that Depeche Mode was also recording in the same studio in the floor below. At the end of his session, he went and asked their engineer if he could come in and play some music to which they happily agreed to. Frank played them a track and asked if Martin Gore could add some electronics and modular synthesizers. Martin spent the day working on the track which turned out to be "Solo" although the band are not credited. It is presumed they worked on a demo version of Solo which was eventually vaulted. Frank is known for making multiple versions of tracks.

June 25th, 2013: “Feel California”

On May 30th, 2013, Frank announced the date for his highly anticipated European tour titled “You’re Not Dead”. 

On June 25th, 2013, at the Auditorium der BMW Welt in Munich, Germany, Frank debuted a new solo track for the first time in a year. It was titled “Feel California” and remained the tour’s opening track for the remainder of its run. Backed with thumping drums and tropical vibes, Frank praised the waviness of the sunny state, it’s kaleidoscopic drugs and hinted at his future hiatus from social media. 

“I’m signing off the network now, hope you’re down to try too”

Unlike the two new tracks (’Seigfried’ and ‘Ivy’) that were performed, ‘Feel California’ ended up in Frank’s vault. 

July 11th, 2013: “Hotel” Music Video Directed by Francis Soriano

Frank had completed writing and recording “Hotel” and listed upon his long-time friend and trusted director, Francis Soriano to shoot the single, “Hotel”. The track and video remain unreleased to this day.

July 24th, 2013: “Versace” Remix

Frank posted lyrics for his version of Migo's 'Versace' with the caption "no audio."

March 24th, 2014: “Pure Imagination”

Frank was scheduled to release a remake of “Pure Imagination” for a Chipotle commercial but backed out once he saw the Chipotle logo at the end of the commercial. He was eventually sued for $212,500 and the destiny of the song remains a mystery. It is not known whether or not Frank recorded the song. 

September 23rd, 2014: Maiham Media Video

Frank was spotted in Tokyo having dinner with RWB founder Akira Nakai and Luke Huxam of Maiham Media

Frank borrowed some cars from Akira Nakai when he was in Tokyo during the writing phase of Blonde. Luke Huxham, founder of Maiham Media specializes in car commercials and has directed videos for Bugatti, Volkswagen, BMW, Porsche & Subaru. As an individual deep within Japanese car culture, Frank hired Luke as a tour guide who took him to the best car spots in Japan. They went to the Tsukuba circuit with old school BMW’s and drove, visited deserted stores in Shimotsuma and discussed RWB. Frank searched the shelves of abandoned stores trying to find old clothes or stickers and souvenirs he could bring back with him. He then visited Ebisu circuit with his cousin in Nihonmatsu where he Luke taught him how to drift. Frank’s personal media crew filmed the entire spectacle although the content has never been released

April 14th, 2015: Nikes Vinyl

Finished in April 2015, ‘Nikes’ was intended to be a stand-alone track that was not connected to Blonde. It would’ve been accompanied by a vinyl and a music video in the summer of 2015. However, Frank changed his mind and shelved the video for another year but sadly, never decided to release the vinyl. 

In the second page of the ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ magazine, a folder titled ‘nikesvinyl’ can be seen on the top right of Frank’s desktop.

July 1st, 2015: Merchandise

On the newly created site “boysdontcry.co”, an image was found in the source code of unreleased merchandise. 

Frank was seen wearing the hoodie and t-shirt throughout his hiatus. The sk8-hi Vans were listed as a collaboration with Japanese designer Yohji Yamamoto but considering their listed price of $50, it was most likely an error.

August 20th, 2015: Photoshoot in London

Frank was photographed in London at a photoshoot for the ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ magazine. He is seen wearing unreleased merch, a longsleeve with the text “N1″, the same text and logo that appears on the silver wrap cover of the magazine.

September 11th, 2015: Playboi Carti Feature 

Ian Connor was the first to report on the Carti and Frank meeting. Carti was also present when ‘Nights’ was being made, in New York. As an artist whose notorious for having his music leaked, the track with Frank has yet to be made public.

October 30th, 2015: “Jealous Guy” 

Frank was recorded by longtime friend Alycia Bellamy singing a cover of ‘Jelous Guy’ by John Lennon in the studio. Frank has been vocal about his love for The Beatles stating they were the reason he got out of writers block. The cover has yet to see the light of day. 

November 10th, 2015: Kushi Sessions

Frank worked with electronic producer Kushi in London. Kushi was not credited on either Blonde or Endless and their work has yet to be released.

December 9th, 2015: Hudson Mohawk Leaked Beats

Hudson Mohawk had made some beats for Frank which happened to get leaked online. They surfaced on Reddit in a file called “frank o0000oocean”. Eventually, Hudson later used these in elsewhere.

The tracklist that was intended to be for Frank Ocean

December 11th, 2015: “Drive In”

In December, a new track appeared on a producer’s resume with the title "Drive In”. It was directed by Frank himself and was produced by Somesuch & Co, a video production company run by Tyrone Lebon, the director of “Nikes”.

Possible behind the scenes pictures were included in the ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ magazine as the location matches up with the title of the track.

January 7th, 2016: Rich The Kid Session

Rich the Kidd posted a screenshot of a FaceTime conversation with Frank in early January. He also said the two linked up at a studio to make some music.

“I reached out to him. I called him on FaceTime and I was like “Where you at?” and he was like, “I’m in L.A. at the studio and it’s time to cook.”

Rich has hinted at the song being released multiple times on his debut project however it has never flourished. It is highly unlikely that the track will ever be released and if so, Frank would be the one making that decision.

January 30th, 2016: Vocals on ”Glory” by Hodgy

Hodgy posted a video of what seemed like Frank harmonizing over a track. It was eventually added onto his debut solo album “Fireplace:TheNotTheOtherSide” although Frank’s vocals were removed.

April 4th, 2016: Arena Homme+ Cover Story

Frank was due to be the cover story for the Arena Homme SS 16 edition which was being released on April 14th, 2016. 

Designer Rhuigi Villaseñor posted this picture on his story suggesting a music video to go along with the cover story.

Shortly after, a model had posted an email from Frank’s stylist:

The video is most likely being reffered to ‘Endless’ which was eventually released in August 2016, however, the Arena Homme+ story has yet to be publically revealed.

July 9th, 2016: Frank’s Novel 

When Frank was announced as a new face of Calvin Klein for its fall collections, a special 30-second commercial directed by Tyrone Lebon marked his return to the public eye. A message found in Calvin Klein’s source code on Frank’s page suggested a multi-media release.

"Frank Ocean is one of the most artistic and enigmatic musicians working today. Though it has been more than four years since he released his debut studio album, Channel Orange, interest in Ocean hasn’t waned. Instead, it’s increased.

He is known for being a perfectionist, and a pursuant of creativity in all forms. He resists pressure and follows his own vision. He has published a magazine and worked on a novel while continuing to perfect his highly anticipated second album.

Ocean shuns interviews and social media, and prefers instead to speak through his work. He has said that when it comes to understanding music, the most important thing is to just press play.

Ocean is a powerful storyteller, using his own openness and honesty to create an emotionally intimate world in each of his songs. With his craft, his aim is not money, power, or fame, but to grow, progress, evolve and eventually be the absolute best.

So while he continues to work on that, we’ll continue to wait, as long as it takes, because when Frank Ocean does something, he does it right. The wait will be worth it."

Frank first spoke about a novel back in 2012 on his Tumblr stating: 

I wanna write a novel about twins, some type of nature versus nurture tale..

August 8th, 2016: Digital Version of ‘Boys Don’t Cry’

A Tumblr user by the name of “urbantapwater” leaked pages from the magazines weeks before it’s initial release.  It was revealed in the format of GIF’s leading fans to believe the magazine would also be availible digitally. 

Whether or not a digital and functional copy of the magazine exists is known by those who’ve worked on it, and if it’ll ever be released remains to be seen. All the above images were included in the final spread. 

August 20th, 2016: “Easy”

With the release of the ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ magazine, an in-depth look at what Frank had been up to during his time away could be seen. From dirt biking, visiting Tokyo and living in London amongst others. One notable piece was in the lyrics section for Blonde. An unreleased track “Easy” had been listed with the lyrics: 

“I saw you, Chinese birthday With a strawberry icee Channeling Morrissey Were we at the rave, dancing horribly Pulse went through my face and my clear backpack Sonic sound you made me I know you're in here somewhere You came with someone There's something you need Hope you don't think I'm easy What starts inside these hallways Always comes and goes I come from nothing Like you come from nothing Light like a laser cut from the navel”

Blonde was originally going to be 12 tracks with Easy being track #6.

September 9th, 2016: “Booty Club”

After weeks of teasing, Malay sent out a tweet officially announcing ‘Booty Club’, taking fans to a website allowing them to insert digits resulting in a video, a snippet of instrumental for the song and a voicemail by an elderly Asian women saying “Hello..booty club? No booty club!”.

Once the right digits were entered, a video played backed by an instrumental and ended with the assumed released date.

October 28th is Frank’s birthday which led many fans to believe he’d be featured. As the date loomed and went, there were no updates nor a release until November 8th, 2016, when Malay played a snippet of the track. It was indeed a feature with Frank and had a gorgeous 80′s baseline with silky synths. 

This artwork was posted on Malay’s instagram with the caption “BOOTY CLUB FEAT. FRANK OCEAN”

Malay continued to post snippets of the track on social media but has stopped. According to an interview with Pitchfork Magazine, Malay was set to release his debut project in early 2017 but has yet to update fans. Both, ‘Booty Club’ and Malay’s debut project have yet to be released.

August 13, 2018: Blonded Summer Tour Video

As Frank exited his last ‘Blonded World Tour’ in Helsinki, Finland, questions arose about whether or not the visuals directed by Spike Jonze would ever be released.

Spike shared his vision behind the visuals saying:

"The main idea was to turn huge festival shows into intimate concerts, where everything was done by hand.”

It’s possible the intention was to never release the visuals but rather use them solely as a tool to enhance the overall experience, nothing more or less.

April 1st, 2017: Music Video in Paris

Very little is known about this video. A trusted source who leaked information about ‘Nikes’, before public knowledge - shared that a music video was going to be shot in Paris in the coming weeks although they were not sure which song it’d be on at the time. It can be inferred that it was a ‘Chanel’ video as the song had just been released several weeks prior. 

August 17th, 2017: Break Down

Music Mafia teased a 25-second snippet on what seemed like a very old Frank demo. The full version has yet to be released.

“Lost”, a Homage to Quentin Taraninto’s “Jackie Brown”

Frank Ocean took to Quentin Tarantino’s 1997 classic Jackie Brown and Elmore Leonard’s 1992 novel “Rum Punch” to cultivate his most straightforward pop song, yet one with a rich and deep layer of substance. A tempestuous relationship between a dealer and his mule fuels a story which sees them submerged in the world of crime and lust. Lost hypnotizes the listener with its tropical lush beat as it magically infuses the dark twisted reality of life for a mule who can’t dig themsleves out of the underground world.

Jackie Brown on the other hand works for a low level Mexican airline as a flight attendant who smuggles illegal money, and cocaine for small-time boss Ordell Robbie (Samuel L. Jackson) to Mexico. As she gets caught up in the heated life of crime, Jackie contemplates doing a last set of runs to finally get out. 

Frank doesn’t state whether his mule is a flight attendant but it’s implied as he sings “A short plane ride / through the sky / You and I”

Jackie Brown is listed as one of the 100 movies Frank loves in his Boys Don’t Cry magazine

The track opens up with Frank describing his female protagonist “(Double D /Big full breasts on my baby)” presenting her as someone who’s capable for the job. 

It’s followed by an adlib “(Yo we going to Florida)” which is a direct reference to the novel “Rum Punch” which Quentin Tarantino adapted for his movie. Although the movie takes place in Los Angeles, Rum Punch is set in West Palm Beach and Miami which are later mentioned in the chorus. Miami was also once the cocaine capital of the world as in the 70′s and 80′s. It was also home to a series of drug wars between the DEA and the Medellin Cartel therefore Florida was a hot spot for Frank and his mule to visit.

Both the protagonists in Lost and Jackie Brown are working day jobs in which they’re not seeing the kind of money they wish to see. Jackie Brown is doing small flights to Mexico and Frank’s muel’s work is unkown but is implied she’s unhappy “(Boss ain't working you like this / He can't take care of you like this)”

As Lost progresses, Frank and his mule have been successful in smuggling all around the world (Miami, Amsterdam, Tokyo, Spain, Los Angeles, India) but as the mule begins to feel overwhelmed by the lifestyle, she pleads to live a normal life which Frank promises “(I promise she'll be whipping meals up for a family of her own some day”). A promise which the mule uses as fuel to keep going, one more time. This is mirrored with Jackie Brown as she’s fed up and wants to live a normal life without the constant fear of death and lack of closure. Jackie promises herself this final job for Ordell is definitely her last.

Frank references the movie here once again when he sings “(Nothing wrong, with another short plane ride / through the sky”) The flight duration from Mexico to Los Angeles is roughly 3 Hours and 30 minutes which is the primary destination Jackie flies to in the movie. 

The track ends on a open-ended note, as we hear channels flip, there’s a quick snippet of a man saying “Manos Ariba!” which translates to “hands up!” in Spanish. A common phrase used by police to suspects upon arrival of a crime scene, which may imply that Frank and his mule were finally caught. In the movie, Jackie Brown is caught smuggling money and cocaine by detective Mark Dargus and ends up serving time. 

By the end, both Jackie and Frank’s mule find themselves in a world run by greed, hypocrisy and selfishness. They entered and left the world on the same terms, alone and without love. 

 Frank Ocean’s Blonded Summer | The Art & Visuals   

Frank Ocean’s “2017 Blonded World Tour” was billed to be one of the biggest shows of the year. With massive screens, a customized catwalk and Academy Award-winning director Spike Jonze shadowing his every step, the 8 stop tour was nothing short of spectacular. However, prior to Blonded, Frank opted for an austere look when it came to his performances, here’s how he returned with a blueprint to change that once and for all.  

Fresh off his two Grammy wins in 2013, Frank embarked on his “You’re Not Dead” summer tour covering Europe, Canada and Australia for a total of 16 shows. The tour would debut four new tracks “Siegfried”, “Ivy”, “California” and “Loving You” along with a tropical interlude. The first two tracks titled “Brave” and “It’s All Good” at the time ended up on Blonde three years later. 

Frank’s year finished off at the “Odd Future Carnival” where he headlined and performed classics tracks like “Pyramids” and “She” with Tyler, The Creator. Draped in a ocean blue scarf, Frank had his band tucked behind a large LED screen which displayed simple visuals such as palm trees and coloured backgrounds.

Apart from the popular tracks, Frank played some deep cuts such as “Whip Appeal” and “Acura Integurl” 

In 2014, Frank performed at the Met Gala with a live band. He sang “Thinkin Bout You”, “Super Rich Kids” and “Wiseman”.

Frank’s interview on the red carpet would mark his last official on video interview until a leaked interview about the making of Blonde was accidentally left public by the editor on Vimeo.

In July, Frank took the stage at Bonnaroo, alone, sporting a soft pink hoodie and coming to a scene that mimicked an 80′s prom night. With littered balloons on the ground and a turntable sitting behind him, Frank ran through fan favourite tracks like “Lost” and “Thinkin Bout You”, often times letting the crowd take over, “y’all sound like a f***ing choir!” he yelled out. Throughout the show, Frank used tracks he was featured on in the previous years such as “New Slaves” and “Superpower” as interludes. As customary as it was during the 2013/14 run, he closed the show with the emotionally sitrring “Wiseman” before thanking the fans and walking out.

Frank went with a very simple stage set-up channelling classic 80′s vibes

A month later near the chilly mountains of Pemberton village. Frank performed at the Pemberton festival in British Columbia, Canada.

Outkast was originally intended to close the festival but due to a scheduling mix up, it was up to the 26 year old to follow a legendary performance with one of his own. Pemberton would mark the last time Frank Ocean took the stage until his return in June of 2017.

Up until that point in his career, Pemberton was the most monumental performance in Frank’s career regarding visuals. The massive screens of the festival allowed Francisco Soriano’s visuals to soar in full effect. Each track had it’s own feel, during certain tracks, a psyhedelic filter was applied to Frank’s gold wrapped E30 which resulted in a gorgeous output.

Pemberton was the final “channel ORANGE” show and served as a catalyst to enhance Frank’s visuals in the future. The show debuted new unreleased visuals and effects yet remained true to Frank’s previous shows, minimal.

Unlike the lush and exuberant projects, Frank was performing, the visuals and presentation of his performances were kept minimal as he opted to display burning palm trees, Jenny Holzer quotes and a lonely BMW E30 riding through Utah. 

Frank ordered 6 BMW’s to be customized before the start of the 2013 shows, here is one of the gold wrapped E30′s used to film the tour visuals

Jenny Holzer’s work would make a return in the ‘Nikes’ video in 2016

The visuals for Frank’s 2013-2014 performances can be watched here

As he walked off the stage of Pemberton in 2014, the promising and flourishing rise of his career flushed with it. Unbeknownst to the world, he was now commencing his now-notorious hiatus. An unconventional absence for an artist at the height of their fame propelled Frank into another stratosphere. The reclusivness resulted in a fervid curiosity from fans and peers alike and generated a cult-like following for the musician within the community.

Following the Grammys, Frank moved to London which provided him with a form of nourishment from the previously culture obsessed world of Hollywood. He was now pensivly working with Wendi Morris, Thomas Mastorakas, Hans Ulrich Obrist and Zak Group going deep into the world of art and formulating ideas for his magazines and artwork. 

In London, he enjoyed visiting record stores. He gained inspiration by studying the works of Cosey Fanni Tutti, David Greene of Archigram and visiting local theatres and watching movies. 

One of the books Frank read was “Serpentine Gallery Manifesto Marathon” which explores artists from the world of literature, design, science, philosophy, music and film. It features Marina Abramović (one of the people who convinced Frank to deactivate his Twitter) and Vivienne Westwood amongst others.

Frank at the premiere of the “Skepta: Top Boy” documentary in London, 2015 (fourth row on the right)

As both of the albums and magazine were now completed, (click here to see how) Frank’s team turned their attention to the artistic side, taking in how the projects were to be presented and creating early drafts of the stage setup and performance lighting. 

The blueprint for Frank’s return was slowly being crafted and well underway. 

Swiss graphic designer Michel Egger was hired to create the artwork for ‘Endless’ 

This concept art was used as the foundation for the project’s marketing

Image used by Apple Music on iTunes the day of release

Kia Tasbihgou, a London based graphic designer was hired to design the artwork for some of Blonde’s tracks:

Each of these works by Kia have been labelled from “S1″ to “S6″ which may have been the original idea for the rollout. “Nikes” did happen to be the first singe for the project but following that, both Frank and his team went radio-silence regarding any further singles, videos or promotions. The only other promoting tactics that have been displayed are the use of the tracks on “blonded RADIO” and “blonded Los Santos”.

The main artwork for Blonde was shot in the early mornings of January 2016 in Wolfgang Tillmans studio. Frank drove from London to Berlin through the night to meet with Wolfgang to complete the shoot. He had to once cancel it because the hair stylist couldn’t complete the job on time.

The Stage

With Blonde and Endless released, the focus was all on the stage set up and for that, Frank’s team hired veteran designer Willo Peron. 

Early sketches by Willo Peron & Assosiates 

The challenge was to have fans connect and feel intimate with Frank as if they were watching him craft the music in the studio. Everything from the lighting to the cameras chosen by Spike Jonze was taken into consideration. Unlike Frank’s past performances, the overall grandoise of the stage was paramount to ensure the right feel was experienced. 

The final look of the set-up seen here at Lovebox. The towering pole served as a source of light and also projected LED lazers, smoke and atmospheric projections as the set went on

Camera Equipment

For the stunning movie tier quality visuals displayed onto the screens, Spike Jonze pulled out an array of cameras, from vintage camcorder-style visuals to professional movie looks. Spike wanted to create an evolution of picture, 4 cameras with 4 different looks.  

They ranged from a black and white security camera with infrared illumination, a Sony VX-1000, popular for skate videos in the 90's - and an Ikonoskop, a digital video camera which produces a specific, thick colour picture. The last camera was an “Alexa Mini" with an anamorphic lens, which provided large depth and the cinematic look.

Spike Jonze filming Frank with a Sony VX-1000 at Panorama

 Frank’s team had full control over what cameras were being projected at what time. Here, Spike transitions from shooting the Alexia Mini to another Blonded crew member who’s carrying the Ikonoskop. The transitions were done seamlessly. Spike and Frank agreed that all footage shot would be in real time therefore no pre-recorded visuals were ever used. If they needed a blue background, Spike would place a blue paper beforehand and zoom in. 

Here Frank is playing the Wurlitzer as Spike films with the black and white security camera

The Furniture

While visiting Tom Sachs studio in New York City, Frank liked the chairs Tom was building at the time and had him make some for the upcoming tour.

With a plywood base and clear polycarbonate back, Tom made this for each of the band members  

Along with the chairs, Tom remade the “Endless” boombox into a smaller size to fit the stage

The boombox featured an axe and Koss 4aa headphones

The Catwalk

The last element of the stage was a customized runway made just for Frank’s performances. The stage would be constructed as the regular scheduled festivals carried on and would be completed an hour before Frank’s slotted time. It featured graphics designs, doodles and drawings from Frank’s friends, collaborators and tour staff. The designs provided a glimpse at Frank’s subconcious with nods at fashion, brands, manufactures and personal quotes. 

Frank Ocean for i-D Magazine

Ben Reed, Ed Hayes, Vegyn, Alex G and Buddy Ross sit on the Blonded platform

Behind The Scenes of ‘Nikes’ 

The ‘Nikes’ video seemed like a phantom project within the music industry. From rumours to reality, Tyrone Lebon’s masterful vision finally came to frution byway of Frank greenlighting the release. Here are some behind-the-scenes pictures of the only ‘Blonde’ visual to date:

The first look at ‘Nikes’ came through this leaked image in April 2015.

This party in central London was primarily used in the final cut of the video

Frank spent a lot of time with the A$AP Mob during his stay in London. 

Frank & Rocky at the Boiler room in London, 2015

A$AP Ferg & Frank for Faces + Places, 2015

Frank had his customized BMW E30 imported from Los Angeles for the video

Amongst the cars includes the $16 Million McLaren F1 GTR and an Aston Martin DBR9

Frame by frame, the video trickles in the yearning of something, whether it’s a person, materialistic object or just acceptance.  

The yearning for another person and love

An exterior shot of a mermaid trapped in a box. A reference to ‘The Little Mermaid’ where the main character desires to be free and explore the land so she can meet her lover

A direct reference to the Heavens Gate cult. Cult members members feel included because they’re accepted into the group and finally desired. 

Frank wearing eyeliner while surrounding by million dollar cars is clever social commentary

Tyrone Lebon and Frank managed to visualize the vanity and need of lust in the modern world through ‘Nikes’. The video exposes the underbelly of the new age, of how society functions. From it’s obsession with consumerism, hedonism to its infirm stance on masculinity. 

Timothée Chalamet on Frank Ocean seeing “Call Me By Your Name”

Luca Guadanino’s sumptuous romantic love story, set in 1983 Italy has the camera wandering through the narrow streets of Crema passing cafe’s and corn fieds as Elio and Oliver steadily fall in love. The two, played by Timothée Chalamet and Armie Hammer bond and helplessly become fond of each other as the long sultry days pass and ethereal summer nights end.  For 6 weeks, the Italian city of Crema provides the backdrop for the swooning tale as both Elio and Oliver leave a trace of their fondest memories.

Chalamet, a big Frank Ocean has tweeted several lyrics of his:

Timothée tweeting the lyrics for Nikes 

Timothée tweeting the lyrics for Nights 

In an interview with Vulture Magazine in November 2017, Timothée was told that there’s a possibility his idol would see the movie in which Chalamet grasped and smiled at the thought. 

A month later, Frank Ocean would post on Tumblr giving a nod to the beautiful and compassionate speech given by Michael Stuhlbarg.

Here’s Timothée’s reaction:

A History of Video Games In Frank Ocean’s Career

In a career filled with sinous decisions and a knack for deconstructing social barriers, there’s been an innocent variable throughout Frank Ocean’s music,  his love for video games. From galactic backdrops on “Saturday Night Live” to project openers, video games have become a staple in a career that’s virtually unpredictable. 

Frank’s love for video games dates back to the days of the Dreamcast playing Street Fighter and have developed into having a fully fledged radio show in one of the biggest titles of all time. 

As a big Street Fighter fan, Frank paid homage in his Twitter bio to “Yoga Flame”, a special attack used by the character Dhalsim in Street Fighter II.

Frank’s Tumblr is filled with pictures of Street Fighter, Playstation logos, Pacman and Nintendo pictures. 

Frank’s first project, “nostalgia, ULTRA” is a “labour of love” as he calls it, filled with days of romance he’ll never get back. He stitches the project together using classic video games and cassette player sounds to accurately reflect a period of time in his life filled with discovery and wonder. 

From the sun orange M3 E30 (he found on a BMW forum) hugging the lush greenery to the vibrant cover of Coldplay’s “Strawberry Swing”, Frank creates an atmosphere which oozes out the sentimentality of his boyhood. 

The project starts off with the track “street fighter”, just one of the few 1990s video games references. 

Track 8 “goldeneye” references the 1997 video game released for the Nintendo 64.

Track 13: “soul calibur” references the legendary game referenced in 1995 by Namco for the Dreamcast.

On the first track of 2012′s “channel ORANGE” “Start”, Frank begins the album off in a smokey atmosphere as the Playstation 1 startup sound smoothly chimes in. Just as as he did with nostalgia, ULTRA, he references Street Fighter, this time sampling sounds from the game’s character selection menu.

Frank wearing a Street Fighter II shirt at a Terry Richardson photoshoot in 2012.

Hosted by Seth McFarlane, Frank Ocean made his Saturday Night Live debut on September 15th, 2012. Appearing through cyberpunk lights and a backdrop of vintage arcade games, Ocean took stage with guitarist John Mayer and played ‘Thinkin Bout You’ and ‘Pyramids’.

Some of the games present were Galaga and Street Fighter. Frank also mentioned Galaga on Odd Future’s “Oldie” rapping “get me a Persian rug where the centere looks like Galaga”.

2016′s Blonde is a burgeoning freedom of self-discovery. A forest full of narratives telling Frank’s trip from adolescence into adulthood. Frank steers away from Hollywood like stories as he did with Channel Orange tracks like “Lost”, “Monks” and “Pyramids” and chose to bleed his personal experiences into the project. This artistic choice resulted in less cultural references to movies, video games and entertainment unlike his previous projects. Instead, Blonde focus more on lanmdark moments,  and an overall rumination on identity.

Track 15 on the project is titled “Seigfried”. Frank debuted this track in the summer of 2013 in the midst of a German crowd in Munich. As the guitar strummed and the lyrics were sung for the first time, the world came to be know this as ‘Brave’. 4 years later, it appeared on Blonde and was noticeably stripped of the soulful guitar and thumping drums. An artistic choice that allowed the track to be much more minimalistic and cinematic. Frank spent much of his time in Germany visiting Berghain and creating with composer Wolfgang Tillmans, the photograher of the album cover. As previously mentioned, he also debuted the song in Germany and the name Siegfried means “Victory” in German. Siegfried is also considered as one of the heroes in the German poem titled “The Song of the Nibelungs”. 

It also may be a homage to the Soul Calibur series as its main character is named Siegfried. In his debut, Siegfried appeared as a young German man with short blond hair. 

In December 2017, Rockstar Games updated “Grand Theft Auto Online” with Frank’s Beats1 radio show. In the Los Santos universe, Frank’s show is titled “blonded Los Santos 97.8 FM” and features tracks from several artists including Burial, Aphex Twin and Jay-Z.

How Frank Ocean & Miguel Rose Together 

Frank Ocean and Miguel are the modern day faces of Alt-R&B and have trickled their creative visions and styles which have produced classics such as ‘channel Orange’ and ‘Kaleidiscope Dream’.  

However, their journeys saw them meeting long before the two covered glossy magazine pages and won Grammys. 

After 2005′s Hurricane Katrina destroyed his local studio, Frank Ocean left New Orleans in order to pursue a career in the music industry. When Frank moved to Los Angeles, he and Miguel met and began working with producer Brian Kennedy and Troy Noka. In an interview with MTV, Miguel recalled talking to Frank over the phone while he was still in Louisiana and how, when Frank came to L.A. they became great friends.

At that time, Miguel was struggling to get recognition from his label and his debut album was shelved multiple times leading him to stay working with Frank, Brian and Troy.

Miguel pictured with Troy Noka, Frank Ocean, Keri Hilson, Rich King and Brain Kennedy (far right)

Frank, who went as Lonny Breaux at the time, focused on writing songs for other artists at the time such as Brandy, Beyonce, John Legend and later for Justin Beiber.

As Frank worked behind the scenes, Miguel's manager at the time submitted several songs to music tycoon Mark Pitts. Upon hearing a song titled "Sure Thing", Pitts was convinced of Miguel’s potential and in November 2007, signed him to a recording contract with Jive Records.

In 2008, Lonny was working a placement job for Troy Noka who was teaching him how to produce and through that, he got a chance to sell his first song to Noel Gourdin titled “I Fell”. 

Troy Noka recalled how he first met Frank and how they all looked at each other as brothers:

Miguel, Rich King, Frank Ocean, Brian Kennedy and Troy Noka, 2007

In 2009, Lonny met well-known producer Tricky Stewart who helped cultivate career highs with Mariah Carey, Beyonce and Rihanna. Tricky had just created a label called RedZone which was in partnership with UMG’s “Def Jam Records” and immediately signed Lonny Breaux. It was at that time that Lonny came to Tricky and told him he’d be changing his name to Frank Ocean.

In 2010, after multiple delays, Miguel would finally release his debut album “All I Want Is You”. Although the album sold poorly first week (11,000), the album was well received and the singles “Sure Thing” and “All I Want Is You” peaked at 36 and 58  on the US Billboard Hot 100. Miguel believed the label messed up by marketing him as a typical R&B singer and to further promote the album, joined Usher and Trey Songz on tour.

As Miguel enjoyed the success of his first two singles. Frank Ocean would officially arrive in the industry and it came with two features. The first came on Bishop Lamont’s  2010 track “Get my Gun” which was produced by Troy Noka. The second was, Kent M$ney’s “Gotta Be”. 

As Tricky Stewart worked on Frank’s debut project, nostalgia ULTRA, he also wanted to introduce Frank to Def Jam and that’s when it all went south between the two. Tricky speaks about Def Jam’s initial thoughts about Frank:

This ultimately led to the downfall of Frank’s relationship with Tricky since he couldn’t deliver on his inital promise. With Def Jam ignoring Frank and shelving Nostalgia Ultra, he felt like he wasn’t wanted or needed and decided to release it himself in order to get his career moving. Essentially, Frank felt abandoned by his label and believed Tricky couldn’t or wouldn’t do anything about it, leaving him helpless. 

On February 16th, 2011, Frank Ocean released “nostaliga, ULTRA” for free online through Odd Future. Following the success of Nostalgia Ultra, Frank wrote “I Miss You” for Beyonce’s album “4″ and appeared on Kanye West & Jay-Z’s “Watch The Throne”.

With the eyes of the music industry waiting for his next step, Frank demanded $1 million from Def Jam if they wanted his debut album. Subsequently, Def Jam set him up in a mansion in California and funded what is now known as “channel ORANGE”. On July 4th, Frank revealed his first love was with another man and a 6 days later, would release his album to critical and commercial success selling 130,000 copies in it’s first week. The album was regarded as one of the best projects in recent years and critics praised the idiosyncratic vibe and storytelling.

3 Months later, In October 2012, Miguel would release his sophomore album; Kaleidoscope Dream, now funded by a new marketing team and label selling 71,000 to critical acclaim. Miguel returned with a brand new eccentric and lush style wowing fans and critics alike.

In November 2012, Miguel gave an interview with FADER magazine in which he may hint at a falling out with Frank:

3 Months later, The 55th annual Grammys (2013) would mark the first time Frank and Miguel would be seen together in public. Both projects were amongst the best of the years and would go head to head in the “Best Urban Contemporary Album” category with Frank winning. Miguel’s “Kaleidoscope Dream” was nominated for 3 Grammys whilst Frank Ocean’s “Channel Orange” was nominated for 5 (Frank had 6 including a nomination for his work on Watch the Throne)

During Frank’s time away from the spotlight, Miguel would release his third album, Wildheart (2015) but not before stating that he believed he made better music than Frank. Miguel once again negates at any possible relationship with Frank:

During summer 2015, Miguel was in London doing an interview at a hotel bar for Wildheart when Frank Ocean walked by. Frank, who had moved from Los Angeles to London in 2013 was living in hotels and coincidently ran into a peer he had started out in the industry with almost 10 years prior.  

In October 2017, Miguel said that he regretted making the comments:

Lastly, Miguel liked a “Genius” Instagram post about Frank Ocean’s Endless merch.

Troy Noka, who played a major role in finding Frank (and producing Endless) is still working with him and most recently was seen in the studio with him:

“Still grinding with my day ones #NostalgiaUltra, October 29th, 2017″

Frank Ocean on Magazine Covers

Although rare, Frank has appeared on some of the biggest fashion and entertainment magazines. Here’s a visual history of every time the reclusive singer has been on glossy covers.

"Billboard" (2011)

"Fader" (2011)

Soundvenue (2012)

Wax Poetics (2012)

The Guardian Guide (2012)

Snatch (2012)

Spin (2012)

The New York Times (2013)

Garagisme (2013)

Oyster (2013)

Boys Don’t Cry (2016)

i-D (2017)

 Homophones in Frank’s Music

Definition: Words with a similar sound, but with different spelling and meaning.

Frank has used homophones several times in his music and it creates a deeper layer of meaning and multi-values the entire idea. At times he chooses to use it in the song titles and other times, he’ll wrap the words off his tongue in such a way where it’s hard to distinguish what he said creating the effect.

In the Nike’s music video, the ad-libs, in the beginning, narrate the infamous phrase “I got two versions, I got two versions” however, at the third time,  Tyrone Lebon cuts to two females sitting in Frank’s E30 with an ad-lib that sounds like Frank’s saying “I got two virgins”

On “Self Control”, Frank sings "Noses on the rail, little virgin wears the white" however this can also be interpreted as Frank singing "Noses on the rail, little virgin, where's the white?. The former has Frank playing with the idea of how someone as pure as a virgin wears white (cocaine) on their face. He uses this concept to demonstrate that if an innocent and pristine virgin can lose their self control and do something as careless as cocaine, he may lose his self control when he sees his former lover. In the latter (“little virgin, where's the white?”) Frank mocks this person asking where the cocaine is. He then sings “You cut your hair, but you used to live a blonded/blinded” life which symbolizes that this person has changed morally and physically. They’re no longer the wholesome person they were because they’ve finally lost their self control.

On Solo, Frank sings “Inhale, Inhale, there’s heaven” and “Inhale, in hell there’s heaven”

Track 10 on Endless, Wither, is a homophone as it plays with the words “wither” and “with her”. To wither means to fade away and Frank would like to live long enough to wither away naturally his partner (with her).

On Track 5 on Endless, U-N-I-T-Y, Frank says “U-N-I-T, U-N-I” both which signify a group. A nod to the title of the track. 

In Forrest Gump, Frank sings “I’m nervous Forrest” which sounds like he’s saying “I’m nervous for us”. Two songs prior, on Bad Religion, Frank uses the first male pronoun on the album and officially addresses his sexual orientation. He admits to a taxi driver about his love for another man. The production of the song is extremely glum, the strings and keys are jarring and the vulnerability in Frank’s voice is painful. 

Forrest Gump is the exact opposite. It’s an upbeat track with lush production and It presents Frank’s spirit in a totally different way about his sexuality. On Forrest Gump, Frank has accepted who he is and he’s not afraid to show support and love for this man. Although he’s nervous about what the future may hold, he thanks his lover for allowing him to know what true love feels like. The track ends with Frank whistling, an act that illustrates that he’s now comfortable with his sexuality (hence why he stopped running). In the Grammys performance, this sequence is played out exactly as mentioned (Frank running for the entire song then stopping to finally whistle).

During the song

During the end (whistling sequence beings)

On Odd Future’s “Oldie”, Frank said “I’m high and bye / bi, wait I mean i’m straight”. An obvious nod to his sexuality, however it wasn’t until Frank came out that fans pieced the two together.

The Boy’s Don't Cry Logo

Frank Ocean 360 paged project was created autonomously within his time away from the light. It led to him visiting Tokyo, Senegal, London, Los Angeles and Germany. Work from Kanye West, Wolfgang Tillmans, Tyrone Lebon, Viviane Sassen and Tom Sachs among others was then meticulously pressed onto high-gloss finished paper in London.

One of the visual standouts from the project is the foil-wrapped cover and logo.

Frank Ocean decided to work with London based designers Zak Group because he loved their design work on the architectural book “Serpentine Gallery Manifesto Marathon”

The actual “Boys Don’t Cry” logo is a hand-distorted version of the sans serif “Union” font. The typography was made by scanning originals on a large-format scanner. The distortions were then created by moving the original typography while the lamp moves across the bed of the scanner.

The inspiration for the typographic design came from sources like Wade Guyton, Bob Cobbing and 1968′s The Xerox Book published by Seth Siegelaub. The Xerox Book was one of the first projects to use the then-new photocopy technology.

However there have been multiiple artists whose work may have further influenced Frank:

Bob Cobbing’s work was created in various mediums and through several sources. Here the scan art technique is evident as the text flows in an unconventional flow and pattern just as the “Boys Don’t Cry” logo.

The “Boys Don’t Cry” logo is also similar to Japanese designer Tsuguya Inoue’s work for Japanese band “Yellow Magic Orchestra’” This visual piece was created for YMO’s 1983 tour.

The last prominent artist to use this technique is Sergey Sorokin. He uses scan photography extensively in his work and is the closest one that resembles the final “Boys Don’t Cry” logo.

Frank Ocean’s Nod to Prince

In Frank’s visual essay for “i-D Magazine”, he showcased the summer of 2017 through the lens of an analog camera. Touring across Europe and North America, the lens captured band members, tour merch and Frank in the midst of it all. 

This picture in particular references the legendary Prince, who Frank adores. This picture is a direct nod to Prince’s backstage pass to the Rick James tour in 1980. 

History of “Orange” in Frank Ocean’s Music

The colour orange is an integral element in Frank’s career. It’s reappeared in music videos, album covers and promotional artwork. It goes back to a rare condition Frank has called synesthesia, a condition that heightens and joins senses together. It allows a person to see colour when they smell, listen or touch. When Frank first fell in love at the age of 19, he saw the colour orange during the summer he spent with his lover.

On the cover of “nostalgia, ULTRA” and “channel ORANGE”, the colour code for the orange is #FF7E30 and the car on the cover is a BMW E30.

Frank drove an orange Lincoln Town car for the ‘Swim Good’ video. The video was heavily tinited with shades of orange from Frank’s outfits to indiviudal frames.

In the “Acura Integurl” video seen below, he drove an orange NSX.

In June 2012, Frank released the trailer for his debut album “channel Orange” which featured a BMW Station Wagon backed with an orangey-smokey atmosphere.

On June 22, 2012, Frank released the cover for “channel ORANGE”

The album was heavily inspired by the summer in which Frank fell in love. It contained lush instruments, summer vibes and a brand of etherealism all founded by the warmth of the colour orange. Orange was the heart of Frank’s movement and the album. 

The fruit was referenced on “Golden Girl” when Frank sang:

“She peels an orange for us in the morning, she woke me up to give me half”

Orange is used here to illustrate Frank’s relationship with his girl & how lovely their bond is together. It shows that his signifigant other cares for him in such a caring and unselfish way, something Frank had hopes that the man he fell in love would. 

When Frank returned to the music industry 4 years later, he did so with an extensive plan and gorgeous promotional work. The night “Blonde” dropped, iTunes was filled with pictures from Frank’s 360-page magazine “Boys Don’t Cry”. The artwork was all in orange text.

The alternate cover to the album was also in orange text:

On February 24th, 2017, Frank debuted his new show on Apple Music titled “blonded RADIO” which featured mixes made by him and his friends. It was also the platform where he released new singles. The artwork for the radio show contained shades of orange as well. 

Frank’s Time Away 

The above picture is shot at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Tokyo, Japan in 2015 when Frank was visiting to put the final touches on the “Boys Don’t Cry Magazine”. It was after the 2013 Grammys that Frank Ocean decided to take time away and move to London sparking one of the most anticipated returns in modern music. The events that transpired within his hiatus are a mystery for most, but here are some short stories and trvia that occured in the 4 years Frank was away.

 The Nikes video was first drafted back in September 2014. Frank took a trip with his friend Emily. Frank wanted to visit several car shops and borrow some RWBs for a shoot. He was connected with Toshi Ichiraku, who is the director of RWB Worldwide. They talked and later met with Akira Nakai, the founder of RWB and ended up letting Frank borrow some Porsches.

The “Boys Don’t Cry” magazine started in 2014 and as the magazine was being produced, Frank was conflicted over the official font. He really loved the concept of the “Berlin Biennale “ and asked his project manager Wendy to contact the establishment behind the piece. That’s when he met Zak Group  and together with his creative director Thomas Mastorakos  they agreed upon the “3D Scanning” design seen in the final draft.

Frank went to a party in London and heard The Isley Brothers ‘At Your Best’ and fell in love with the track. He said to himself that he “had to cover this” and eventually did. The original track contained drums but after showing it to producer Jordan Ascher; who suggested that Frank remove the drums to let the track breathe more, Several months later, ‘You Are Luhh’ was released without the drums.

A year before releasing the ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ magazine, Frank had Daniel Freeman’s paintings of Lil B, Christophe Chassol and Om’mas Keith plastered all over London. These paintings ended up in the final edition of the magazine

Frank and ‘Nikes’ director Tyrone Lebon took acid while filming filming the music video to make the overall atmosphere more kaleidoscopic. The video was all shot in London and Frank had one his E30’s imported from Los Angeles after it was finished being wrapped by Ghost Motorsport.

During his time in London, Frank would visit local record stores and spend hours there listening to Fleetwood Mac and The Beatles.

Frank worked on an unreleased project in Japan with Luke Huxham who specializes in making car commercials. Luke also works with RWB / RAUH-Welt BEGRIFF, the same company that rented Frank Porchses during his stay in Japan.

Frank’s current car collection includes an Acura NSX, Porsche 911 GT3, Tesla Model X S.U.V. and a supercharged S54-powered E30 sedan.

Deception in Frank Ocean’s ‘Provider’

Backed by simple piano chords, ‘Provider’ presents a glimmer of hope for the lost variable in Frank’s life, a partner. In ‘Provider’, Frank can finally see someone he’s willing to spend the rest of his life with but he’s cautious and hoping this person is as pure as Frank envisions them to be.

Throughout ‘Provider’, Frank repeatedly questions the true intentions and authenticity of his partner as he’s naturally accustomed to heartbreak and love loss.

He begins by asking this person:

“Is you a natural blondie like Goku?“

Goku is a character from the Dragon Ball series, a series Frank is a big fan of. Goku naturally has black hair but it transforms into blonde once he gets into super sayan form. Here, Frank is questioning whether or not this person is pretending to be someone they naturally aren’t. He’s weary that this person is masquerading in order to get with him.

This is why Frank says “Tonight I might change my life for you” He’s not entirely sure and convinced that this person has pure intentions with him. Although, if Frank’s convinced then he’s willing to change his life if he feels that this person is not deceiving him.

The second question Frank asks:

“You had you some birthdays, could you prove it? Show me the wisdom in your movement“

Frank is asking this person to show him how they’ve changed mentally, sexually and spirtually since the last time they met. Frank knows they’ve gotten older but he’s still skeptical on whether they’ve matured. Wisdom is gained through age and experience. The use of “movement” suggests Frank wants to know how this person carries themselves. 

There’s a common theme in ‘Provider’ which is the concept of truth and proof. Throughout the song, Frank asks this person to prove to him that they’re what they claim to be. Before Frank changes his life for and provides for them, he needs to be sure.

The last metaphor to truth and lies is in the chorus itself. Frank sings: 

“Moonwalking, R.I.P Stanley Kubkrick” 

On the surface it seems like a genuine nod to one of cinema’s finest but deep down, Frank is comparing the infamous “1969 Apollo Moon Landing Conspiracy Theory” to honesty. In 1968, Kubrick released “2001: A Space Odessey” which was lauded for his visuals and accurate portration of zero gravity in Space. It was so ambitious that many conspiracy theorists believe that NASA hired Stanley Kubrick to fake the 1969 Moon landings because of how improbable it was to get to the moon. 

Blonde, 1 Year Later

August 20th, 2017 will mark the first anniversary of the album the world was yearning for. An album which saw Frank Ocean, tucked away in London at Abbey Road Studios working 16-hour shifts. Away from the spotlight and music industry, Frank was quietly crafting his sophomore album, Blonde.

Production started after the Grammys where Frank flew in high-profile producers, artists and sound engineers from all over the world to work on the record. These names included French movie composer, Christophe Chassol; multi-instrumentalist Jon Brion and Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood. The album was recorded internationally in New York, London, Tokyo and Paris and costing over $2 million to create. Every element of the project was meticulously crafted to meet its creator's vision. 

Movie composer, Christophe Chassol on reccording with Frank:

"The guy is smart. He’s really smart. The way he works in the studio is really cool. He has a printer, he has a lot of pictures of architecture, contemporary art, a lot of pictures of different kinds of things. So we start to work on a track and he says, this track is this—that car that you can see. He makes me work on a song, and I’m like, ‘oh this sounds like Pino Donaggio’s score for 'Blow Out', by Brian Depalma. I start to work on a song and five minutes later on the pro-tools screen you have the movie, the score, stretched to fit the song—just to try. I’ve never worked with that much money in music. It's good sometimes to have money because you can try things." - BBC Radio 6 Music

More than anything, Frank is an artist and at the core of his personality, the only medium he presents himself through is his art and occasional Tumblr posts. A single hard drive, located in his backpack carried Blonde for 4 years. From the sunny mornings of Los Angeles to the gloomy nights of London, Frank went from driving customized BMW E30's to riding electric bikes to quietly navigate through the city. As everyone waited for his return, Frank would mind his own business. He'd travel to Tokyo and meet RWB founder Akira Nakai and work with Maiham Media, play music in underground clubs in Tokyo, visit the slums of Senegal, visit art exhibitions in LA & Paris, go clubbing in Berlin and attend Boiler Room sessions with A$AP Mob in London.

If Frank's word was as pure and honest as his music then there'd be a lot less anger and confusion from his fans who were sitting on the edge for years. Multiple updates were briefly given throughout 2014 and a summer release was widely expected but nothing ever flourished:

Frank hinting at a Summer 2014 release, Fall 2013

Swim Good director, Nabil Elderkin, gave the first update in months, Spring 2014

A since-deleted post, Summer 2014

Frank made his first public appearance since the 2013 Grammys at the Time 100 event as well as the 2014 Met Gala where he performed 'Super Rich Kids' and 'Thinkin Bout You'. The rest of the year consisted of two festivals, Bonnaroo & Pemberton as well as Camp Flog Gnaw which would be his last live appearance until 2017. In November 2014, after appearing on Converse's 'Hero' and John Mayer’s 'Wildfire' Frank would release his first solo song in 2 years on Tumblr titled 'Memrise' and would appear on Lil B's Instagram a month later.

RARE photo of LIL B x FRANK OCEAN IN THE STUDIO TOGETHER!! NEW MUSIC COMING SOON! Collect this! - Lil B

In December 2014, Frank's 2013 'You're Not Dead' tour's visuals were found.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoHEH0ip-0w

On January 17th, Frank uploaded a cover of the Isley Brothers 'At Your Best' titled 'You Are Luhh to commemorate Aaliyah. Frank heard the song at a party in London and fell in love. The original song featured an acoustic guitar but was removed to allow the song to breathe and be more cinematic. After 4 months of silence, Frank returned to Tumblr on April 6th, 2015 to announce an upcoming project. In what's now - a notorious picture, he sat on a stool with stacks of magazines and captioned it with " #ISSUE1 #ALBUM 3 #BOYSDONTCRY" leading media blogs and fans to believe his album was called Boys Don't Cry. When Frank realized the public misunderstood the caption and thought the album was called Boys Don't Cry, he altered it. Unbeknownst to the majority, the caption was changed to "#BOYSDONTCRYMAGAZINE". Frank's team made a  brief statement regarding the name, however, media & fans didn't pick up on it and still referred to the album as Boys Don't Cry. In reality, Blonde was unnamed until weeks prior to release.

“I got two versions. I got twooo versions…”

A week later would mark the first time the world came to know about 'Nikes'. A behind-the-scenes picture was leaked online.

Much of 'Nikes' has scenes at a party. That party was in London.

As weeks went on, information about the music video slowly started to unravel. From the director of the video to one of the models.

The 'Nikes' music video was found listed in director Tyrone Lebon's resume.

Model Vasilla Forbes confirmed her involvement on Instagram

In April of that month, James Blake caused a stir when he announced that Frank would be going on tour with him and 1-800-Dinosaur in London. As the event began, Frank was indeed in attendance however he was only there to document the London night-life rather than play music which upset many people.

James later cleared the air

In May 2015, Frank created Snapchat. His account name is 'arealglitterboy'

This would be his first and only post

Later that month, a mysterious playlist was found on his SoundCloud titled 'states'

Nothing would ever come out of this

As July 2015 approached, neither the album or the magazine came to fruition. However, merch was discovered hidden in Frank's websites code. It featured hoodies, shirts and shoes. Neither the shoes or clothes have been released.

As the eyes of the world were trying to find Frank, he was across the world in Japan still working, without a single update, interview or a comment from his representatives. Frank spent much of the year in Tokyo living in hotels and driving Porsches. The alternate cover of Blonde, as well as much of the writing, was completed in Tokyo (Production mostly in London and New York).

Frank pictured with photographer Michael Mayren, Tokyo, 2015

Frank pictured at the Fuji Speedway shooting the album cover, Oyama, 2015

Blonde’s alternate cover

One of Frank's favorite movie is Sofia Coppola's 'Lost in Translation' which took place in Tokyo. Both Bill Murray and Scarlett Johannson's characters stayed at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Tokyo. Much like Bill and Scarlett, Frank stayed at the Park Hyatt during his time in Tokyo.

Frank at the Park Hyatt Tokyo hotel, Tokyo, 2015

In August of 2015, Frank was spotted at a photoshoot most likely for the Boys Don't Cry magazine.

Frank is seen wearing unreleased merch here

Near the end of 2015, Frank moved back to London and spent a lot of time with A$AP Mob. Frank would frequently visit underground clubs and became a local favorite amongst the town.

Frank at the Boiler Room, London, 2015

In November, Frank was spotted working with London-based electronic singer-songwriter Khushi

Kushi was not credited on either Blonde or Endless

As 2015 neared its end, a tweet by producer A-Trak caught the attention of media and fans.

With Frank's love for cars well known, many thought that this would be a Frank song (correctly). The song title was linked back to a picture Frank posted on Tumblr a year prior. 

Fans noted the "RARI" near Frank's shoulder to surely indicate the song being his.

In December, a track named 'Drive In' was found on producers resume:

The video is yet to be released. The company that made 'Drive In' is the same one that made 'Nikes'. Somesuch & co is Tyrone Lebon's company.

In January 2016, a Snapchat leaked which showed Frank in the middle of a photo shoot:

Private photo shoot, New York, 2016

After months of reclusiveness, Frank appeared at Kanye West's listening party in Madison Square Garden in February 2016.

Frank would also feature on The Life of Pablo in his first feature since Beyonce's track 'Superpower'

The first peek of new music came in February 2016 when music from a secret listening party was leaked online. This would mark the first time anyone would hear new original music since 2014's 'Memrise'. All the tracks heard would be featured on 'Endless' 6 months later. These tracks were 'U-N-I-T-Y' 'Comme Des Garcons' and 'Higgs'.

In March 2016, Malay gives an update to Pitchfork:

In April 2016, producer Malay Ho went on Periscope to give an update stating:

"Frank is coming back soon, real soon..He's coming back real soon, and when he does, shit will get wild..."

Frank, James Gadson and Malay, Los Angeles, 2016

A couple weeks later, a model uploaded this picture to their Instagram which appeared to be an email from Frank's stylist to them.

The email confirmed that Frank would be featured in the F/W cover story for Arena Homme. The video in New York is referencing to 'Endless' and it's interesting to note that the stylist does not refer to it as an album but rather a "short film / extended song"

This was screenshotted from a model's Snapchat. The Arena Homme project has yet to be released. 

In May 2016, James Blake released his album 'The Colour in Anything' and stated that Frank was a major influence. In the liner notes, it was revealed that James had interpolated an unreleased Frank Ocean track named 'Godspeed'.

Godspeed was eventually featured on Blonde

“It’s an interpolation of a song that he wrote that hasn’t come out yet,” Blake notes. “It was nice of him to let me use it.” Credits for the album identify the track as “Godspeed,” which Ocean hasn’t released and which Blake says “may or may not” appear on the singer’s next album. “We did” work on other music together, adds Blake, “but I can’t [share any details] because I don’t know any. Nobody knows. You could probably talk to almost anybody involved in that record and I’m not sure anybody would be able to tell you what’s happening.” But he says what Ocean has played him sounds phenomenal: “He is going to make people very happy.” - James Blake, Entertainment Weekly

In June 2016, Frank was spotted with A$AP Ferg

This was included in the 'Places + Faces Magazine', London, 2016

Frank was a part of the Calvin Klein SS16 collection and on July 5th, he was featured in his first video appearance since the 2014 Met Gala Interview.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6r7a17NBSI

Frank at the Calvin Klein after party, Los Angeles, 2016

The code found on Frank's CK profile hinted at an upcoming album and novel

In July 2016, Frank's site 'Boysdontcry.co' (now blonded.co) was updated after one year and featured a library card with the title 'Due Date'.

July went by with no announcements or updates.

On August 1st, Frank's website was updated and featured a black and white warehouse. An Apple logo was seen on the top right.

Apple Music tweeted to confirm their involvement.

To fully recap the lead up to Endless, I suggest watching this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srP6nOjK1kc

On August 5th, pages from the magazine were leaked online by a Tumblr user:

What felt like an eternity, 19 days later, Frank Ocean was done the staircase and decided it was time to release his visual project Endless on Apple Music exclusively.

Apple tweeted out the link to the 45 mintue visual album

Many were confused whether or not this was the long awaited follow up to Channel ORANGE but a rep from Apple Music confirmed that there'd be more Frank content over the weekend. At 3 am EST, the long awaited 'Nikes' music video was finally released on Apple Music.

The video directed by Tyrone Lebon was released 1 year and 4 months after the initial BTS picture.

Nikes VIdeo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fshgBDgtfRg

As the sun rose on August 20th Frank posted a picture highlighting the 4 cities where a pop-up store would open:

LA, New York, Chicago & London

4 shops in 4 cities were filled with Boys Don't Cry posters and magazines

The pop-up shops gave away Frank's Boys Don't Cry magazine for free. The 3 covers included acid, helmet and a pop-up exclusive, shower cover.

The magazines included a copy Blonde.

At approximately 5 PM EST, the long awaited album by Frank Ocean, Blonde, was released through Apple Music.

The album was critically acclaimed and appeared on many year-end lists. The music industry responded to the release immediately with many artists in total awe. Here are some of the reactions:

A year later, the amount of influence Blonde has had on the industry is apparent in some of the biggest releases since it came out.

James Blake talks about the influence 'Blonde' had on his album

Lorde Says Frank Ocean's 'Blonde' Inspired Her Album 'Melodrama'

Kendrick Lamar on how 'Blonde' inspired 'DAMN'.

Lil Yachty on what albums influence him:

Tyler, The Creator talks about the beauty of Blonde:

Frank Ocean with Michael Mayren, Tokyo, 2016