Frank Ocean has been toying with fans, keeping plans for his Boys Don't Cry album infuriatingly vague. But on Friday (August 19) at midnight, the R&B auteur dropped a surprise Apple-exclusive visual album titled Endless. He's followed that up with another new full-length album titled Blonde, which is available on iTunes now.
At the time of the Endless launch, an Apple representative told fans to "Keep an eye out this weekend for more from Frank," and rumours began to circulate that the Boys Don't Cry title had been scrapped entirely. Eager Ocean devotees were treated to a video for a brand new track titled "Nikes" earlier this morning (August 20), and now the record formerly known as Boys Don't Cry has been released as Blonde.
"Nikes" marks the first song on the 17-song tracklisting, which you can see in its entirety down below. The album artwork is pictured above.
The old name hasn't been entirely abandoned, though. Ocean previously hinted at a zine project called Boys Don't Cry, and that publication will be released today (August 20) at a series of pop-up shops in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and London. He announced the news on his Boys Don't Cry website. Pitchfork reports that copies will be handed out, one per person for free.
UPDATE (8/20, 7:45 p.m. EDT): A fan has uploaded a page from the zine that lists the full credits for Blonde. The crazy list of contributors includes André 3000, Beyoncé, David Bowie, Brian Eno, Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar, Jamie xx, Elliot Smith [sic], Rostam Batmanglij, Pharrell Williams, Rick Rubin, Tyler the Creator and more.
It has yet to be revealed which artists appear directly on the album, and which are getting credit for sampled work. Find a photo of the page via Twitter below.
Prior to Endless, Ocean's last proper full-length release arrived with Channel Orange all the way back in 2012.
Blonde:
1. Nikes
2. Ivy
3. Pink + White
4. Be Yourself
5. Solo
6. Skyline To
7. Self Control
8. Good Guy
9. Nights
10. Solo (Reprise)
11. Pretty Sweet
12. Facebook Story
13. Close to You
14. White Ferrari
15. Seigfried
16. Godspeed
17. Futura Free
At the time of the Endless launch, an Apple representative told fans to "Keep an eye out this weekend for more from Frank," and rumours began to circulate that the Boys Don't Cry title had been scrapped entirely. Eager Ocean devotees were treated to a video for a brand new track titled "Nikes" earlier this morning (August 20), and now the record formerly known as Boys Don't Cry has been released as Blonde.
"Nikes" marks the first song on the 17-song tracklisting, which you can see in its entirety down below. The album artwork is pictured above.
The old name hasn't been entirely abandoned, though. Ocean previously hinted at a zine project called Boys Don't Cry, and that publication will be released today (August 20) at a series of pop-up shops in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and London. He announced the news on his Boys Don't Cry website. Pitchfork reports that copies will be handed out, one per person for free.
UPDATE (8/20, 7:45 p.m. EDT): A fan has uploaded a page from the zine that lists the full credits for Blonde. The crazy list of contributors includes André 3000, Beyoncé, David Bowie, Brian Eno, Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar, Jamie xx, Elliot Smith [sic], Rostam Batmanglij, Pharrell Williams, Rick Rubin, Tyler the Creator and more.
It has yet to be revealed which artists appear directly on the album, and which are getting credit for sampled work. Find a photo of the page via Twitter below.
Album contributors pic.twitter.com/XLNOXTZEIS
— steven j. horowitz (@speriod) August 20, 2016
Prior to Endless, Ocean's last proper full-length release arrived with Channel Orange all the way back in 2012.
Blonde:
1. Nikes
2. Ivy
3. Pink + White
4. Be Yourself
5. Solo
6. Skyline To
7. Self Control
8. Good Guy
9. Nights
10. Solo (Reprise)
11. Pretty Sweet
12. Facebook Story
13. Close to You
14. White Ferrari
15. Seigfried
16. Godspeed
17. Futura Free
