Apple Music has gotten the exclusive rights to the new visual album Endless from Frank Ocean, and it seems like a supplement to his upcoming album Boys Don’t Cry. There were several reports claiming that the album Boys Don’t Cry would become available on Apple Music two weeks ago, but it was not released. Instead, we have a visual album now.
More Ocean content on Apple Music
Ocean began a live stream on his website late Thursday night teasing the album. There was an Apple Music logo in the upper right corner of the video that was similar to what has been seen in the past from artists who are Apple partners. That video is available for streaming on Apple’s music service now.
An Apple Music representative told Pitchfork that there is a lot of Frank Ocean content coming to Apple’s music service, and the Endless visual album is just the start of it.
“Keep an eye out this weekend for more from Frank,” the executive said.
In 2012, Ocean offered an album titled Channel Orange which was hugely successful, and his new album will be a follow-up to it. The album won six Grammy nominations and a lot of praises from critics and fans. It was so popular that a follow-up has been highly anticipated for the last four years.
An approach similar to Beyonce
Beyonce put out visual albums with her last two major releases as accompaniments, and Ocean seems to be following the same approach, notes The Verge. With the album Boys Don’t Cry, Ocean has played his cards close to his chest. There was no news last year about his next release, which left his fans moaning, but later, he appeared in a mysterious Apple-hosted live stream where he was seen tinkering away in a woodworking shop — the same shop that featured in Endless.
This renewed the interest of fans. It might not be a full studio album, but the good part is that the visual album is at least some new music from the R&B genius.
Offerings from artists like Taylor Swift, Drake, Katy Perry and others have been exclusively streamed on Apple’s music service as well. The iPhone maker will soon have the exclusive streaming rights to Britney Spears’ upcoming album Glory. The fact that Apple has secured the exclusive rights to Frank Ocean content is a huge win against rivals like Tidal and Spotify. Earlier this week, the iPhone maker also entered into an exclusive partnership with Cash Money Records to create a documentary series.
