Frank Ocean Teases New Album With Merch Poster

Frank Ocean hinted at releasing a new album in a story included on a poster from his latest merch drop. The piece focuses on a “fictitious Recording Artist,” who can be presumed to be Ocean.

“In the summer of 2019, Blonded produced a photo series shot on Thursday, August 8, 2019 by photographer Michael Marcelle. The photo series follows the story of a fictitious Recording Artist as he navigates the radio system,” the message begins.

He continues: “In one scene the actor Jeremy Strong plays a chairman of a major record label […] The Chairman is flanked by another figure. Both are dressed in suits, wearing ties, and are positioned behind a long boardroom table.”

From there, the story begins to clearly mirror that of Ocean’s own career over the last few years. He argues in favor of releasing singles as opposed to albums, something Ocean focused on from 2017 through 2020 with “Chanel,” “DHL,” “In My Room,” and more.

“The Recording Artist attempts to explain to the major music label the singles distribution model as opposed to the long-form album model,” Ocean adds. “The Recording Artist believes the latter to be outdated, and that releasing singles is more suited to modern consumption habits where people curate their own playlists which are then shared within private circles. The meeting does not appear to be productive.”

Ocean concludes by suggesting he “has since changed his mind about the singles model.” He adds that he’s once “again interested in more durational bodies of work.”

Check out the full story from Ocean’s foldout poster below.

[Via]