Frank Ocean unwrapped nine minutes of new music during the singer’s surprise Christmas episode of his Blonded Radio show on Apple Music Saturday.
Fans tuning in hoping to hear Ocean’s first new songs since April 2020 were instead gifted with a lengthy piano piece featuring Ocean rapping and ad-libbing; as the singer wrote on his Instagram Stories, the majority of the track was recorded in a single take in the summer of 2020.
Ocean’s Blonded Radio episode also included audio culled from his discussion with Dutch extreme athlete and motivational speaker Wim “The Iceman” Hof, conducted following the death of Ocean’s younger brother Ryan Breaux in August 2020.
“Me and @iceman_hof had a conversation some time ago when I was in the earlier stages of grief and I remember marbling afterwards at how his energy blasted through the phone,” Ocean added. “So much vim in this Wim. We spoke for a while about his work, the purpose of grief and how going into the cold water changed his life.”
He continued, “It reminded me of conversations in the studio with players I know. Freewheeling, psychedelic, emotionally charged, intelligent and generous. I enjoyed listening to him, so in this edit I just let him speak interrupted.”
Ocean last released his singles “Dear April” and “Cayendo” in April 2020, with the singer concentrating on his luxury brand Homer in 2021.
From Rolling Stone US
