The musician hasn’t released a single since 2020
Frank Ocean, one of music’s most elusive songwriters, has shared a snippet of a new song on his Instagram Stories. The minute-long clip sees Ocean singing along to an emotionally-wrought melody.
Ocean’s last release was in 2020, which he debuted two singles, “Dear April” and “Cayendo.” He has since teased new music a few times on his Blonded Radio Apple Music 1 radio show. In December 2021, Ocean showcased a nine-minute untitled song on the show as a Christmas special, but didn’t officially release it.
Ocean’s most recent LP, Blonde, dropped in 2016. Fans have been anxiously awaiting its follow-up for years, and although Ocean has hinted at a new album a few times nothing has materialized.
Earlier this year, Ocean headlined Coachella, marking his first live performance since 2017. The opening weekend set, which Rolling Stone described as “sometimes emotional and sometimes baffling,” was delayed for more than an hour, leading many to fear that Ocean might not show up, since he has canceled numerous appearances and tour performances in the past. He also cut the show short, exiting after performing a cover of “At Your Best (You Are Love).”
Trending
Ocean was originally slated to co-headline the 2020 festival with Rage Against the Machine and Travis Scott, but after Coachella was rescheduled to the spring of 2022 due to Covid-19, Ocean was not available for the new dates. For the second weekend of Coachella, Blink-182 replaced Ocean to close the festival on the main stage, leaving many fans devastated.
It later emerged that the performance faced production issues and delays that led to a last-minute “scramble,” and that Ocean was derailed by an ankle injury. The day after his set, a rep for Ocean told Rolling Stone that the singer sustained two fractures in his left leg in the days leading up to the show during a biking incident, which caused unexpected changes to the concert’s production and led to Weekend Two’s cancellation.