Four years after his last album Channel Orange, Frank Ocean released his long-awaited album Blonde over the weekend along with a tidal wave of additional new creative offerings, a video for the track “Nikes”, a visual album called Endless, and a magazine (available only at pop-up shops in four cities) called Boys Don’t Cry (which had been the rumored title of Blonde. An interesting note: while the official title of the album is Blonde, Ocean decided to write ‘blond’ on the cover – linguistics experts, make of it what you will.
Gender and sexuality are at the center of Ocean’s new set of works.
Much of the magazine is given over to the eroticism of the automobile — there are photos of Mr. Ocean looking blissful around cars, a spread of racecar drivers deep in thought, a striking photo shoot of nude young Chinese men draped on and in a compact sedan. In an essay at the beginning of the magazine, Mr. Ocean suggests his car fixation might be part of “a deep subconscious straight boy fantasy,” but then adds, “Consciously though, I don’t want straight — a little bent is good.”
Mr. Ocean announced on his Tumblr in 2012 that when he was 19 he fell in love with a man. Sexual fluidity and ambiguity play key parts in the new projects. The magazine features both nude men and women, and there are small references to gender nonconformity throughout these works: a shot of Mr. Ocean wearing strong eyeliner in the “Nikes” video, and another in the middle of a car-based photo shoot in the magazine; or a sample of the drag icon Crystal LaBeija, taken from the documentary “The Queen,” on “Endless.” And most vividly, his album is called “Blonde,” but its cover reads “blond,” alongside a photo of Mr. Ocean, his short hair dyed neon green — the feminine, the masculine, the none of the above.
Among the gems in the magazine is a poem written by Ocean and you can read it below.
“Boyfriend” by Frank Ocean
my boyfriend drives a lil bucket
when it rain it fills up with rain
my boyfriend he gon pick me up
don’t distract him at the wheel
in his lane
he’s the only one
my boyfriend he misses me when i’m gone
so he don’t forget me
there’s a song he sings
calms his nerve, endings
my boyfriend is friendly
and we don’t want no problems
i could say that i’m happy
they let me and my boyfriend become married
i could say that i’m happy
but cross my heart i didn’t notice
hope to die no never, we voted
me and my boyfriend cast our ballot
every kiss reads like a poem
making wrongs right like a poem
i couldn’t say i dream of you
because my dreams are filled with no one
and all is lost
me and my boyfriend we found
we don’t hope for beyonds at all
me and my boyfriend spend time
and that’s all i’m holding on
this time
we got permission
nothing’s above condition
but this ain’t a thang
it’s a mission
can’t join the band so sing along
me and my boyfriend got it going on
sleep with fans and t shirts on
asleep in vans your legs all strewn
across my lap
tan lines where your watch was strapped
you took off to make time
cut your hair
you left it long
i love to stare
there’s nothing wrong
and if i die while i’m asleep
i pray to God my boyfriend
keeps my secret
peace
