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
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
The true artistry in Endless and Blonde lies in the little amount of information which was made public. Frank Ocean vanished from the face of the Earth to the rainy pavilions of London where he’d spend much of his time writing and driving. He’d walk down Shibuya just soaking in the culture and mastery of the Japanese. A little hard-drive housed the album the world was waiting for and Frank, well Frank didn’t care what the world was waiting for. He was going to move at his own pace, at his own will. It was said that he’d wake up in the middle of the night full of panic, knocking on his neighbor’s door and inviting them to listen to his music to hear their comments. Frank was on a mission to create the best possible project he could. To Frank, Blonde was more than just an album, it was a chance to relive the 29 years of his life. From experiencing his first love to the acceptance of letting them go, Frank steers Blonde in a direction that’s rich with content, honesty, and vulnerability. Blonde feels authentic, it’s dreamy and spacey. A project that’s built on the foundations of tragedy and backed by real emotions.
1 year later, Blonde has pushed the boundaries. It has reminded us that sometimes, less is more.
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