Popular recording artist, Frank Ocean, typically only breaks his public silence when he releases a new project, however Ocean gave a rare interview for W Magazine where he dives into his motivations and some of the inspirations for his new music.
Since the singer-songwriter released his 2016 album, Blonde, he has been relatively quiet, giving no indication of any future projects to release. While Ocean states that he is working on music, when asked if he has any release dates in mind, he replied, “No.”
The New Orleans artist explained that the aesthetic he is currently interested in exploring is club life, specifically, “the many different iterations of nightlife for music and songs.”
Ocean, however explained that he no longer wants to be so open and honest when it comes to his lyricism, stating that he intends to lie more in his future projects.
“I believed for a very long time that there was strength in vulnerability, and I really don’t believe that anymore. ‘Strength’ and “vulnerability” sound opposite as words. And so to combine them sounds wise, but I don’t know if it is wise. It’s just this realization that hit me: ‘Oh, right, it’s a choice whether you will be truthful or a liar.’”
He continued, “Like, in order for me to satisfy expectations, there needs to be an outpouring of my heart or my experiences in a very truthful, vulnerable way. I’m more interested in lies than that. Like, give me a full motion-picture fantasy.”
Ocean also touched on his reputation as a social media recluse and his general reasoning for staying so silent publicly when it comes to his life and future projects.
“There’s something that happens when you say what you’re doing before it’s done, and most of it is not positive. You’re accountable for that version that you talk about, when it very well may undergo change. It’s usually better for me to make what I make, put it out or don’t, and then talk about it freely. And so I’ve done that from the beginning.”
When it comes to public interest in Ocean, he still doesn’t know what to make of it. “I wake up shocked that I do what I do for a living, and at the strangeness of being a figure that is asked questions, and that people want to talk about my thoughts or my anything. It’s rarely lost on me that it’s bizarro, you know?”
Photo Source: W Magazine