Breaking Down Frank Ocean’s Cryptic Message in Four Acts

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The story introduces a person who goes by the name of “The Recording Artist” as the protagonist. In the story, The Recording Artist sets out on a mission to “navigate the radio system.”

Context: The Recording Artist is said to be a “fictitious” character, but all signs are pointing to this character being Frank Ocean. Forgetting about the obvious fact that the singer released this story on the back of his own merch, there are various Easter eggs throughout the story that point to it being about him. In 2017, Frank began to challenge radio airplay demands and began a brief stint in exploring the medium via a partnership with Apple Music. Head to Act 2 for more details. 

In a plan to navigate the radio system, The Recording Artist goes up against The Chairman (played by Succession actor Jeremy Strong) of a major record label. In a boardroom meeting with The Chairman and two suited figures, The Recording Artist attempts to explain his business model of dropping a string of singles as opposed to a full-length album, which is the more standard approach. The Recording Artist tells The Chairman that albums are “outdated, and releasing singles is more united to modern consumption habits where people curate their own playlists, which are then shared within private circles.” Unfortunately, “the meeting does not appear to be productive.” 

Context: After releasing Endless and Blonde in 2016 four years after his debut album (Channel Orange), Ocean reverted to dropping loose singles. In 2017, he debuted tracks like “Chanel,” “Provider,” “Biking,” and “Lens” on Blonded Radio. In October 2019, the singer then released “DHL” as well. It was his first single in two years. A month later, Frank dropped another song, “In My Room,” leading many fans to believe he would be dropping a follow-up to his 2016 album. Frank Ocean never explicitly outlined his new strategy nor shared his opinions about the “outdated” system, but his release of singles for two years suggested that he was experimenting with an alternative approach and challenging the music industry’s traditional distribution model. In 2016, Ocean left Def Jam after fulfilling his contract. At the time, it was believed he bought his way out of his contract in order to sign a distribution deal with Apple Music. As an independent artist, Ocean spoke to W Magazine about wanting to escape the album format. “The medium—the CD, vinyl set, or whatever—has moved to an intangible, and there’s no 45-minute limit, 60-minute limit, or 120-minute limit. It’s just so elastic,” he said that August. “You don’t have a lot of people doing it that way, because in a lot of the contracts of today with the labels, there’s an expectation to turn in a set amount of albums.”

In addition to the singles distribution model, The Recording Artist launched live radio events that were held on Thursday nights in a New York City nightclub. The first night was a success, with performers and guests rocking out until 3 a.m. The Recording Artist hoped to expand these events to “larger raves across the world,” but the COVID-19 pandemic occurred soon after the first event, crushing future plans. 

Context: The parties in the story are similar to the parties Ocean threw in October 2019 in NYC. The events were called PrEP+, which was a reference to the HIV preventative drug. The parties were hosted on Thursdays in The Basement at The Knockdown Center and described in a press statement as “an ongoing safe space made to bring people together and dance.”  Bouffant Bouffant, Sango, Justice, and Sherelle played DJ sets, and according to partygoers in attendance, they played a mix of Detroit, Chicago techno and house music including remixes of “Chaka Khan’s “Ain’t Nobody” and “Sylvester’s “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real).” During the event, Frank also previewed new singles including “Cayendo” and “Dear April.”

The event was later criticized, by fans and activist organizations like ACT Up, over its use of the AIDS crisis as a party theme. “We love you Frank, but 80’s nightlife was revolutionary because of people living with HIV and their caretakers. Let’s uplift our elders and honor their legacy,” the organization tweeted on Oct. 17. One day after the party, Ocean released a statement on Tumblr, defending the name of the party and his intentions. “I decided to name, what was otherwise going to be a night of lights and music inspired by an era of clubbing that I loved PrEP+ because while designing the club which is inside of an old glass factory basement in Queens I started to imagine an era where so many lives were lost and so much promise was lost forever along with them, what would it have been like if something, anything had existed that in all probability would’ve saved thousands and thousands of lives,” he wrote. When PrEP+ was first announced, it was said to be the “first in a series of nights,” but the plan was derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic that hit in March 2020.