Frank Ocean dropped a Grammy Award-winning debut album, channel ORANGE, in 2012, and virtually left the music scene. He made appearances on albums by Beyonce, John Mayer, Earl Sweatshirt and Kanye West, but didn’t put out a single significant solo release, not counting the Soundcloud loosies he occasionally blessed fans with. Last year, Ocean teased the release of his sophomore album, Boys Don’t Cry, with a July 2015 due date, but when that time came and went without an explanation, folks began to get antsy.
After a year of wild speculation and exasperated cries for something, anything, indicating the continuation of a promising career, Frank Ocean appears ready to deliver, just a year later than his expected landing. Today, Frank Ocean’s website consisted of a cryptic live-stream that immediately began trending worldwide, thanks to the Apple Music watermarked logo that could be seen hovering in the top right of the screen.
Hours later, when the live stream provided nothing but an artsy, black-and-white view of some sort of music room, The New York Times swooped in and reported that Ocean’s sophomore album, Boys Don’t Cry, would indeed be released this Friday, August 5. The report also stated that along with the album, a complementary magazine would be distributed at Apple store locations, and BDC would be released exclusively through Apple Music. That news appears to explain this Instagram post from Apple’s head of music programming, Larry Jackson, who was certainly excited when the live stream went live this morning.
