Frank Ocean has always been relatively lowkey, even when he is consistently dropping music. Although we can't really say it's been "consistent" just yet, the r'n'b singer did deliver new sounds to his fans quite recently, with the release of "Provider." The song appeared on HBO's Insecure, making it one of many dope, exclusive records for the TV series' soundtrack, which also includes new music from fellow acclaimed singer, Bryson Tiller. The visual for "Provider," thus far, is only available on Ocean's website. It features artist Tom Sachs putting together a boombox, before he pops up in a cassette tape and "Provider" begins to play, with the lyrics for the song displayed on the screen in a classic sing-along style, bouncing alongside a little Hello Kitty logo.
Apart from this rare release, Ocean has been staying busy this past year with a series of live performances, mostly as part of festivals, as well as his Blonded Radio series on Apple Music (it's worth noting he's debuted a few loose tracks on Blonded Radio), and some highly selective feature placements-- namely on A$AP Mob's "RAF" posse cut and Calvin Harris' big single "Slide" with Migos. He's even hit the gossip pages when it appeared he brought a mystery man to the Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor fight the other week.
Ocean updated his Tumblr the other day, an event in and of itself. The new post is a video of Ocean performing Blonde song "Nikes" (a personal favorite, who's with me??) alongside bandmate, Buddy Ross. In this heartfelt rendition of "Nikes," the singer is only backed by piano keys, creating a stripped down and more poignant feel in the process. It's definitely worth a watch or three, check it out below. The video is captioned simply with "-5."
Do you still have the singer's Blonde album on rotation or are you itching for more new offerings? You can always revisit Channel Orange.