July 4, 2016

Next week will mark the four year anniversary since Frank Ocean released his landmark debut album Channel Orange – and since then, fans have patiently waited for the R&B singer’s follow-up.

We’ve waited, and waited, and waited. Aside from the odd guest verse for Jay Z or Tyler The Creator, Ocean has been incredibly elusive since the album landed – adding to the heartbreak after he cancelled his Splendour In The Grass performance in 2013. Back in April 2015, this image of the man himself wearing Nike TNs (eshay) surfaced on his Tumblr page, which sparked rumours that a record titled Boys Don’t Cry would finally be dropping after its original intended release date in 2014. Unfortunately, all we heard was crickets – but now comes the biggest indication that the album will be arriving in the next few weeks.

Ocean took to his website to share a card stamped with numerous dates, all of which have past, except for one: July 2016. That’s all the information he’s given us, but given that the card is titled ‘DATE DUE’, most are taking it as confirmation that this is when Boys Don’t Cry will be surfacing. Given his extensive track record of delays, a lot of fans are also pretty skeptical of the information.

In 2016, we’re still feeling the huge effects that Channel Orange had in driving moody R&B to hipster palettes, so we expect the follow up to be huge – especially since James Blake has confirmed his involvement. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that it’ll actually be arriving this time around.