All the hype and trickery surrounding the follow-up to Frank Ocean's Channel Orange, released over four years ago, has been exhausting. Now, all has been forgiven. His new album, Blonde, has arrived. It comes after he shared the video to the Blonde track "Nikes" this morning and after he released an entirely different "visual album," entitled Endless, on late Thurs. night (Aug. 18). The title of the new album comes as a surprise, as it had long been thought that the it would be called Boys Don't Cry. Shortly before the release of Blonde, however, Ocean updated his website to reveal the locations of four pop-up shops, each in a different city -- LA, New York, Chicago, and London, that would be giving out a magazine called "Boys Don't Cry."
The magazine features a CD copy of Blonde, as well as fashion photography, short stories, an interview with Lil B, and poems written by Ocean, including one titled "Boyfriend." Journalist Steven Horowitz snapped a photo of the poem as well as a handful of other pages from the mag. Here's a transcription of "Boyfriend":
my boyfriend drives a lil bucket
when it rain it fills up with rain
my boyfriend he gon pick me up
don't distract him at the wheel
in his lane
he's the only one
my boyfriend he misses me when i'm gone
so he don't forget me
there's a song he sings
calms his nerve, endings
my boyfriend is friendly
and we don't want no problems
i could say that i'm happy
they let me and my boyfriend become married
i could say that i'm happy
but cross my heart i didn't notice
hope to die no never, we voted
me and my boyfriend cast our ballot
every kiss reads like a poem
making wrongs right like a poem
i couldn't say i dream of you
because my dreams are filled with no one
and all is lost
me and my boyfriends we found
we don't hope for beyonds at all
me and my boyfriend spend time
and that's all i'm holding on
this time
we got permission
nothing's above condition
but this ain't a thang
it's a mission
can't join the band so sing along
me and my boyfriend got it going on
sleep with fans and t shirts on
asleep in vans your legs all strewn
across my lap
tan lines where your watch was strapped
you took it off to make time
cut your hair
you left it long
i love to stare
there's nothing wrong
and if i die while i'm asleep
i pray to God my boyfriend
keeps my secret
peace
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Frank also logged onto his tumblr page after the release of Blonde to share a couple of photos from "Boys Don't Cry," including the preface to the magazine -- a self-written passage that details the inspiration behind the Blonde title, a particularly eye-opening mushroom trip, his obsession with cars ("maybe it links to a deep subconscious straight boy fantasy"), how he didn't shed a tear for most of his teenage years, and how his boyhood stands as his favorite part of life.
He also shared images of two different Blonde album covers (see above gallery). Funnily enough, "Blond" and not "Blonde" (Apple Music's title for the album) is written on each cover. Lastly, Ocean wrote a note to his fans thanking them for their patience:
I HAD THE TIME OF MY LIFE MAKING ALL OF THIS. THANK YOU ALL. ESPECIALLY THOSE OF YOU WHO NEVER LET ME FORGET I HAD TO FINISH. WHICH IS BASICALLY EVERY ONE OF YA’LL. HAHA. LOVE YOU.