After being lied to for 371 days about his latest album's release, I've finally moved to the stage of acceptance. Frank Ocean's new album "Boys Don't Cry" was slated for release in July of 2015 and finding this wasn't true a year ago practically ripped the internet in half. Memes flourished, people cried, fans were angry and disappointed. Following the album not being released, Frank has disappeared from the public. Only resurfacing for Kanye West's Madison Square Garden Yeezy Season 3 launch and having a feature on his latest album, "The Life of Pablo" and for a Calvin Klein promotion, Franklin Ocean has gone ghost, but I can't say it's without a reason. Let's take a moment to really think about the benefits of his phantom act.
1. Free publicity.
The mass amount of hype Frank has gained over the past year has come from him staying silent. He and his new album are practically an urban legend at this point. I first discovered Frank Ocean towards the end of my sophomore year of high school and was hopeful that he'd have another release before I graduated. We don't always get what we want, however.
2. Building album anticipation.
This has been the most talked about release for more than a year now. The world is waiting for Frank Ocean despite how many people are tired of waiting or think he's overrated; when that album drops everybody gonna listen.
3. Enjoying his life.
Frank went through many hardships after the release of his last album "Channel Orange" that no amount of money could fix. We often don't take into account that musicians are people too and sometimes need time off and get stressed out. No amount of zeros in your bank account can cure a stressful situation other than student loans.
4. Album quality.
With four years to sculpt this album to his exact vision there is practically a guarantee that this album will be fire from front to back. "Channel Orange" can hold me over for a good amount of time with hits like "Pyramids" and "Thinkin Bout You."
5. He's not ready.
After his recent hardships and trials we can definitely expect this to be a personal album from Frank. With music that gets into the personal life of the artist, there's this constant reinforcement to be precise in their self-expression. For all we know, Frank could have made four different versions of "Boys Don't Cry" and never released them because he wanted to add certain stories and verses or withdraw them.
