Frank Ocean in 2014
(Picture: Getty Images)Frank Ocean shared new music yesterday, on the 10th anniversary of his debut studio album Channel Orange.
The Californian-born rapper and musician released the music on two new episodes – 012 and 013 – of his Apple Music 1 radio show, Blonded Radio.
In the first episode, titled Blonded Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, Ocean composed the 35-minute instrumental score which runs behind his interview with Dr. James Fadiman – a researcher on microdosing psychedelics.
Then in the second episode, titled Blonded ENERGY, Ocean speaks to teacher Mingtong Gu about Chinese traditional medicine and the ancient healing practice of Qigong. He also composed the soundtrack which runs behind their conversation.
To accompany the new episodes, Ocean released a new poster and some t-shirts on his website.
The last time Ocean released a radio episode was on Christmas Day, when he also released a new 9-minute track.
Blonded Radio began back in February 2017. Its first episode was a two-hour show that included a selection of songs chosen by Ocean. Since then, the project has somewhat morphed into more of an artistic venture. In Blonded Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, for example, Ocean’s interview with Fadiman is more of a soundscape than an interview.
Ocean’s first album, Channel Orange, was released by Def Jam Recordings and blasted Ocean into the spotlight. It included features from André 3000, John Mayer, Earl Sweatshirt and Tyler, The Creator and won a 2013 Grammy for the Best Urban Contemporary Album.
The last time Ocean released an album was in 2016 with his certified-platinum record Blonde. Since then, fans have had to satisfy themselves with irregularly-released singles: since 2016 Ocean has released 10, including 2017’s Chanel and 2019’s DHL and In My Room.
He has also featured on other artists’ tracks, such as Calvin Harris’ 2017 song Slide alongside Migos, and on Travis Scott’s 2018 Carousel.
As well as releasing singles, the singer-songwriter has been busying himself with a luxury fashion brand called Homer, which he unveiled in August last year alongside a brand new store in Bowery, New York (the New York Jewelers Exchange).
At the time, Ocean gave his first interview in two years to the Financial Times, where he said: “I seldom appear on stage. and I keep things to myself. But I’m perfectly happy wearing $3m worth of jewellery and going to the studio, or for a walk in the desert.”
In June it was announced that he will be directing a film with A24 – the studio behind Everything Everywhere All At Once and The Souvenir.
It has also been reported that Ocean will headline Coachella next year. He was first scheduled to play on the main stage in 2020 but the festival was postponed due to covid.
Speaking about the very delayed scheduling, in August 2021 Coachella co-founder Paul Tollett said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times, “Right now, it’s the Wild West. I’m just trying to be as fair as I can to artists and to the fans to make sure that eventually they get to see everyone that we talked about.”
