Frank Ocean hasn't put out new music since 2017, when he released his single "Provider." Finally, the ever elusive artist has announced the upcoming vinyl release of two singles. The songs are titled "Dear April" and "Cayendo" and are now available for preorder on his official website. After announcing these singles, Ocean surprised his fans by releasing a third single titled "DHL." The song's beat is chill, downbeat and unwound, and Ocean raps about the simple pleasures in life with ease, producing a relaxing track with a slightly warped undertone to the beat. It sounds like a song for the end of the night, to be played as the party rolls to an end or as you space out during the ride home.
Ocean's next album has been long awaited by his fans, and he stated recently that he's been very interested in club and that this new release will be influenced by "Detroit, Chicago, techno, house, French electronic." In an interview in September Ocean talks about the heavy expectation for artists to be truthful and counters this by claiming, "I'm more interested in lies than that."
Our expectations for artists to always be vulnerable in their music and our tendencies to accept music as the truth are probably partly due to how vulnerable music makes us feel, and the truth it reveals in us. In a way, singing is storytelling and storytelling isn't always based in reality. In fact, it rarely is. Many artists may make music inspired by the truth of their stories, but why should they be expected to bare their souls to the world? Music, regardless of its content, produces shared collective emotions that resonate with us in a way that allows us to open up, connect through that emotion, and feel our emotions in a way we don't normally do. Who cares if the lyrics tell a true story? Fictional books and movies affect us profoundly all the time, so why shouldn't we think of music in the same way?
