Have you ever waited so long for something that it’s made you feel sick? Because sickness is exactly what I feel about Frank Ocean’s new album. For the last two years I’ve obsessed over excrutiatingly minute details (for example: looking far too deeply into the subtle changes in the code on his website) and revved my insides up for what ultimately ends in another round of disappointment. I’m still excited for the album to be released. But a greater part of me wants this period in my life to be over.
I’m not alone in searching for details regarding his new album. On the forums, subreddits, and Tumblr pages of the internet, there are hundreds of hype-beasts wasting far too many hours looking for information on Boys Don’t Cry. Just last night the /r/frankocean subreddit was a tapestry of broken and desperate dreams, as thousands of teenagers tried to work out the location of the Boys Don’t Cry livestream. It’s pretty gnarly out there right now, yet deep within this boulevard of yearning, there is one new information leak regarding the album that we can almost ascertain to be true. So what is it, then? Well, someone appears to have leaked images from the magazine that will accompany the album. Take a look via @teamfrankdaily below.
Videos by VICE
To the untrained eye, these images could have been put together by anyone with a cracked copy of Photoshop. But to the eye of someone who has spent an unhealthy amount of time looking into Frank Ocean’s life, these images appear to be real. Or there’s at least a strong case of evidence that pertains to their legitimacy. So lets take a look at the relevant documents, shall we?
The magazine appears to be named Blonde. The company that runs Frank Ocean’s website is called Blonde Racing LLC.
The livestream on Frank Ocean’s website is directed by someone called Francisco Soriano. Last year, this same director posted this picture of Frank Ocean skipping rocks into a pile of mud. On that same date and from the same location in Biloxi, Mississippi as Soriano’s picture, a singer and actress called Alycia Bella posted a picture of herself standing beside a quad bike. Bella has starred in Frank Ocean’s video for “Novacane” and can be heard talking on the track “END”. By putting these pieces of information together, credence can be given to the leaked images above, where Frank Ocean is riding on a quad bike – especially that Ocean can be seen wearing the same jacket in both the images of him skipping rocks and riding a quad bike.
Last year it was announced that Frank Ocean had interviewed Lil B for his magazine. Above, there is a previously unseen image of the Based God. In another leaked image from the magazine which has been posted to Tumblr, an extract from the pair’s interview can be seen.
Lastly, in a different image posted to Francisco Soriano’s Instagram, a colour TV can be seen being attached to a brick wall. Could this be the same colour TV that’s strapped to the wall on the front cover of the magazine? Who knows, but this is certainly more research than I’ve ever done in my life and a large part of me now wishes I’d applied myself this hard at school and become a scientist hell-bent on curing the world from terminal illness, rather than a “music journalist” who spends far too long looking at Instagram and eating shit lunches.
Anyway, all these pictures look nice, eh? Hopefully the album will come soon. Or death.
You can follow Ryan Bassil on Twitter.
