Frank Ocean new album: How to listen and stream Boys Don’t Cry when it drops

Another week, another confusing record release strategy

After two missed release dates a year apart and a confusing decoy of a “live stream” video, Frank Ocean is set to finally release his second album, Boys Don’t Cry, on Friday 5 August.

It will be launched through an exclusive deal with Apple Music, according to the New York Times, who cite a ‘person with knowledge of the release plans’.

If indeed this is the case (and it would make sense, that live stream has an Apple watermark), it means you’ll need to sign up for Apple Music to listen to the Channel Orange follow-up, which costs £9.99 a month (£4.99 for students through Apple’s UNiDAYS promotion).

We'll update this piece as soon as the album hits

You might want to turn off auto-renewal off though (Apple Music app > profile icon > View Apple ID. > Subscriptions > Manage > switch Auto-Renewal off), if you’re the kind of person who, like me, is liable to forget that you’ve signed up for the service indefinitely.

Beyond Apple Music, there is no news on whether Boys Don’t Cry will hit Spotify (or Tidal) right now, though given Channel Orange is on Spotify it’s very possible the new album will be added a couple of weeks after the Apple Music launch, as was the case with Drake’s recent album VIEWS.

Frank has steered clear of trying to hype the album with singles, teasers and even interviews about its genre, so what he's going to put out on Friday is a delightful mystery.

Until the album drops, please enjoy snippets of the avant-garde score to Frank's unexplained workshop video which some hero has collated on Soundcloud:

Read more: Frank Ocean is the last superstar to value time and secrecy