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| Posted on Frank Ocean's Tumblr |
It seems like the new trend in music is for artists to literally starve their fans of audio pleasure by committing social suicide-deleting various social media platforms and remaining under the radar for as long as possible. Back in the day and I mean way back, fans didn't have the same instant access that we demand from our beloved superstars. So when Frank Ocean decided to delete his Instagram and Twitter account, it seemed like he was done sharing and shit was really about to hit the fan. But if you're real cool and underground you'll have a Tumblr account, a land where teenage angst is highly prevalent and almost polluting, a place where artists are bred and nurtured; where the real cool hunting takes place. Artists are biting back and some may even say they're biting the bullet by opting out of the
fast lane of marketing and mass exposure, Beyonce did it, Drake is becoming infamously known for doing it and little Frank Ocean is being very prudent in the midst of the Hollywood melodrama. The moment you think you've forgotten about them they drop something mega! Beyonce's self titled visual album featured Frankie on 'SuperPower' and her no promo album is a prime example of what I'm talking about, if you'd of paid close attention you would have seen the signs and felt the heat of the hot album coming your way. Beyonce's Tumblr account was littered with visuals and photographs she took on tour and whilst spending time with family, some of these moments were even sampled in the visuals for songs like 'Blue'. Also who could forget that O2 advert where we first heard the snippet of 'Bow Down Bitches!' from 'Flawless'!? Since Tumblr is for the world of kids who really care about art, artists like Frank Ocean on Tumblr aren't harassed in the same way they would be on say Twitter or Facebook. Tumblr is like an open diary of writings, visuals and montages that when viewed together or separately all make sense to the individual. Ocean is known to share the reveries of his mind and soul in his music and on his Tumblr, it was here that the artist felt most comfortable talking about his sexuality in the simplest of formats, well the language that our generation, the generation he's appealing to understand and speak, a digital text box.
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| Frank's Letter To Fans |
I scoured through his Tumblr the way I would any other micro-bloggers account because I felt like he was one of us, his blog isn't over done and is just so authentic, I just hoped my wifi wouldn't fail me and refresh the page as his account became my number one go-to source in the run up to his debut album 'Channel Orange', fans could consume the musings and inspiration for some of the tracks by scrolling through his posts, this is how I understood the vibe of the album and knew he made it for me and other like minded young people. Frank Ocean is taking the same approach to music we saw Drake doing through the final quarter of last year, he boasted about how everyone wanted a feature from him since he established his exclusivity on another 'featured' track, Versace Versace'. We were all beaming with pride when we heard Frankie's beautiful voice infiltrate the chorus 'Oceans' for Jay Z's MCHG album, he was just the right man for the job, he surely is shutting down rumours that urban artists don't want to feature him because of his sexuality, you don't get any better
than Jay Z my friends. Every track he touched before Channel Orange - The OF Tape Vol. 2, and after on Tyler The Creator's album Wolf and Earl Sweatshirt's comeback album Doris sounds iridescent and dreamy. Frank Ocean smoothed out the rough edges of tracks with his liquid gold lyrics and vocals, his best friends know him best and allow his whole persona and vibe to take over any track he features on for them. With all this analysis I'm excited about the material he has shared with us so far, he answered a fan on Tumblr asking when we should expect some new music and he said we should wait for summer to come back, now we're all doting on summer for another important event! Hearing Frank on 'SuperPower' and 'Sunday' and not forgetting about those golden treasures he performed live in Munich has really got me in the mood for some Frankie Oceeeaaaaan!!
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