For his 2012 debut album Channel Orange, Frank Ocean won himself a GRAMMY and the hearts of music lovers across the world, establishing himself as a generational talent and R&B heavyweight for years to come.
That was over three years ago -- rumors about his second album have been swirling non-stop since then, and it's been an impatient wait. It was scheduled to drop in July, and July came and went with no new album. But today, Frank Ocean's website (currently down, overloaded with traffic) appeared with the cryptic message "Will be opening soon..."
It appears that the release of his second album is imminent. By most accounts, it is going to kick ass. “Everyone should be excited about this new album — that shit is fire,” said Ocean collaborator Nabil Elderkin. “He’s making a great record. It blows the sophomore-album myth out of the water.”
Let's take a moment to trace Frank Ocean's steps during the past three years.
Brawling with Chris Brown
Frank Ocean got into a fight with Chris Brown while leaving Los Angeles' Westlake Studio in January 2013. "You parked in my spot," Ocean reportedly said. "Move." The parking lot then dissolved into an "all out brawl."
There are conflicting reports of who instigated the physical portion of the altercation -- Ocean's producer believed it was a setup. In the end, Frank Ocean didn't press charges, and Brown was reportedly later investigated for battery.
Fired his managers and publicist
Ocean decided he needed to retool his team in June 2014, ditching his managers Christian and Kelly Clancy and his publicist Heathcliff Berru of Life Or Death PR, both of whom represent Odd Future. He ended up signing with talent management group Three Six Zero, whose roster includes Calvin Harris and Roc Nation, and prominent Hollywood agency ID PR.
Life or Death PR said they were "relieved" to no longer have ties to Ocean.
Collaborated with some big names
Already renowned for his songwriting chops, Ocean became one of the most in-demand collaborators in the music industry after he released Channel Orange. Since then he's gotten in the studio with quite a few notable names.
He linked up with Pharrell and Jay Z in October 2012 and had a studio session planned with Danger Mouse soon thereafter. In 2014 he enlisted Hit-Boy & R&B superproducer Rodney Jerkins to help him with the album, as well as frequent collaborators Happy Perez, Charlie Gambetta and Kevin Ristro.
Ocean's musical output has been negligible in the past three years -- other than the intriguing "Memrise," the only new music he's released is a song called "Hero," which he put together with Mick Jones and Paul Simonon of The Clash & Diplo for Converse's "Three Artists, One Song" series.
At the beginning of the 2015, it came to light that Ocean had been working with Lil B & Chance the Rapper separately, which is odd because The Based God and Chance recently revealed they made their own collaboration album.) Noted French pianist Chassol revealed that present at some of his album sessions has been none other than Rick Rubin.
Changed his name
In November 2014, Ocean applied to legally change his name from Christopher Breaux (a pretty dope name in its own right) to Frank Ocean, but his request was denied due to unpaid tickets and a suspended driver's license.
Six months later, now sporting a squeaky clean record, Ocean got his name change granted.
Made a pair of albums
Ocean dropped some huge news in April -- the album would be released in July with the likely title "Boys Don't Cry," and he has “two versions” of it.
Despite his reclusive tendencies, Ocean has been giving periodic updates on the album's status for over two years, by interview or by Tumblr. In February 2013, he mentioned to Zane Lowe that he was "10, 11 songs" into the album. After a mid-2013 hiatus to go on tour and recover from injured vocal cords, he announced in October that he was getting back to work. In April 2014 he Tumbld, "I might skip on Coachella to stay in the groove and finish this bitch."
Frank Ocean has been careful not to rush this project, and all his hard work will no doubt bear fruit. His second studio album will be out soon enough.