Frank Ocean’s follow-up to “channel ORANGE” has been four years in the making, and fans are starting to lose hope that it’ll ever be released. Here’s a timeline of events leading up to the album’s release… maybe.
July 10, 2012
Frank Ocean releases his celebrated debut album “channel ORANGE.”
Dec. 15, 2012
Ocean tells The Guardian he “might not make another album” and might write a novel instead.
Feb. 19 2013
He tells BBC Radio 1‘s Zane Lowe he’s “10, 11 tracks into this next thing.”
April 25, 2013
In an MTV News interview, Ocean says the inspiration for the new album comes from the Beach Boys and The Beatles.
Oct. 15, 2013
He promises new music “when summer comes round again” in a now-deleted tumblr post.
March 24, 2014
Frequent Frank Ocean collaborator Nabil shares a photo of “Frank in the lab” on Instagram.
April 9, 2014
Ocean says he’ll skip performing at Coachella to “finish this bitch” in another now-deleted tumblr post.
June 25, 2014
The artist parts ways with 4 Strikes Management and publicity firm Life or Death PR.
Dec. 29, 2014
Rapper Lil B reveals on Instagram that he’s collaborating with Ocean, but the collaboration is later revealed to be an interview for the singer’s planned magazine.
April 6, 2015
Ocean announces that “Boys Don’t Cry” and the magazine will be released in July.
July 21, 2015
A fake album cover makes its way online, getting fans excited over nothing.
Aug 8, 2015
Ocean’s brother, Ryan Breaux, Rickrolls fans on Instagram, with a post captioned, “It’s finally out! Link in my bio.”
Aug 22, 2015
Ocean backs out of headlining FYF Fest, and is replaced by Kanye West.
March 29, 2016
“channel ORANGE” producer Malay teases new music from Ocean in as interview with Pitchfork, saying it’ll come “when he’s ready.”
July 2, 2016
Ocean’s website is updated with a picture of a library book “Due Date” card containing a list of due dates. The last is July 2016.
July 9, 2016
Ocean stars in the Calvin Klein Fall 2016 campaign. Reddit users search the website’s source code, and discover an announcement that Ocean is writing a novel.
August 1, 2016
A mysterious live stream appears on Ocean’s website. The New York Times cites an unnamed source confirming an August 5 release date for “Boys Don’t Cry” and the accompanying print publication.
August 5, 2016
No album is released.