Frank Ocean debuts ‘Blonde,’ his 1st album in 4 years

The wait for Frank Ocean’s new album has been seemingly, well, endless. “I got two versions, I got two versions, I got two versions” says the deep voice as the track eases in, reinforcing his original promise on the new album from a year ago. Blonde features 17 new tracks with the album cover showing what appears to be a shirtless Ocean sporting green hair and covering his face with his arms.

The release will mark the second album from Ocean since 2012’s “Channel Orange”, which debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 to widespread critical acclaim. As you continue to digest Endless and patiently await what’s supposedly in store this weekend, here are six interesting facts about the mysterious musical guru that is Frank Ocean. It’s clear Frank Ocean reached far and wide to create this album, and the sound of Blonde displays this in spades.

The sophomore album from the artist is no longer called Boys Don’t Cry, the very title the musician was teasing his fans with.

According to the production credits for Endless, Frank Ocean enlisted the help of James Blake, Sampha, Jonny Greenwood (of Radiohead), and up-and-coming guitarist Alex G on the album’s instrumentation. During the verse, things get more surreal with Frank singing, “Gotta love passion, gotta love trade/Gotta keep the scales, a little mermaid/We out by the pool, some little mermaids/Female in jail/Twigs with the bed/Now that’s a real mermaid”. And if it’s too early for my definitive critique of a 45-minute audio-visual project that probably needs more time to wash over me, props to Frank Ocean for releasing the most freakish and artsy example of corporate-event pop ever. You won’t find a normal LP here in these 18 video tracks with music only complementing the visuals in Endless here.

What’s this I hear about another album coming out?