Musician Frank Ocean has released Endless
He’s a soulful crooner, but has now also earned the title of the most epic procrastinator after casually delaying his album release by more than a year. Luckily, Frank Ocean’s fans are a forgiving bunch and they’ve finally got the album they’ve been waiting for.
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Ocean released his visual album, Endless, at midnight on Thursday in the United States via Apple Music. The black and white video is 45 minutes long and includes a cover of singer Aaliyah’s famous 1994 slow jam, At Your Best (You Are Love), which was originally a 1976 hit by the Isley Brothers.
The video follows Ocean as he builds a staircase, which is a follow-up from a teaser he released around three weeks ago, showing him having a go at the same staircase. Fans got into investigator mode to find the warehouse where Ocean had built the stairs and, although they seemed to find a plausible location in Brooklyn, the owners released a note saying Ocean had never set foot in the place.
The video is directed by Francisco Soriano, who previously directed Ocean’s video for his Channel Orange single, Lost. The songs feature artists like Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood, James Blake and most notably, Jazmine Sullivan, who sings on a number of tracks.
The album may just be one album Ocean is set to release this week, rather than the one and only album he was expected to launch in July 2015. That album was titled Boys Don’t Cry and may still be released over the weekend, but Rolling Stone reports it will come under a different name.
After more than a year of waiting (which actually accumulates to four years when you factor in the fact that Ocean’s last album, Channel Orange, dropped in 2012), many fans were losing the hope of ever hearing another album from the singer in this lifetime. Even UK singer Adele was rankled.
“I’m just f*cking waiting for Frank f*cking Ocean to come out with his album,” she said to Rolling Stone in November 2015.
“It’s taking so f*cking long. That sounds so stupid, coming from me, doesn’t it?”
But the artist might be paying his dues by blessing fans with both a visual album and then a second release this weekend.
Endless Track List
1. Device Control
2. Alabama
3. U-N-I-T-Y
4. Commes Des Garcons
5. Wither
6. In Here Somewhere
7. At Your Best (You Are Love)
8. Mine
9. Ambience 001: In a Certain Way
10. Ambience 002: Honeybaby
11. Hublots
12. Slide on Me
You can preview Endless here through Apple Music.
And you can witness the joy – and relief – Ocean brought to his fans in some of their pained, forgiving and hyped reactions: