Frank Ocean's New Anniversary Music Slammed As 'Lectures Over a Beat'

Frank Ocean has released two new songs on the anniversary of his first album but fans are criticizing the content, calling it "lectures over a beat."

The new tracks were released unexpectedly on Blonded Radio, Ocean's Apple Music 1 show, on Sunday, July 10. The date marked ten years since the release of Ocean's seminal debut album Channel Orange.

While every release by Ocean is always hotly anticipated by his fans, this one has been met with disappointment online.

The releases play more like conversations with a backing track than songs. The first, "Blonded Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," a reference to The Beatles famous song about LSD, features a conversation with psychologist Dr. James Fadiman in which he and Ocean discuss microdosing and psychedelic drugs. The background music is scored by Ocean himself.

The second track, "Blonded ENERGY!" features Ocean speaking to Chinese healer Mingtong Gu.

Fans expecting to hear new traditional music from Ocean were left disappointed and many voiced their frustration and disappointment on social media.

Twitter user @thesinksinside shared a meme of a man with a gun to his head smiling, pretending to be fine and wrote: "Frank Ocean fans when they want new music but all they get is lectures over a beat."

"Being a Frank Ocean fan is hoping that Blonded Radio announces a new album and it just some guy explaining shrooms," wrote @thoughtfulbae, describing their reaction to the "Blonded Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" track.

User @earth2tiana seemingly got their hopes up too high. "frank ocean let me down... but i have no one to blame but myself," they wrote.

"If frank ocean doesn't drop a track after this 40 minute interview on psychedelics then I'm restarting the war on drugs," joked @RhysFields, but they added: "These beats kinda slap though."

Over on Reddit, conversation threads started up with topics like: "Frank Ocean is actually just a merch brand that sometimes drops a song" and "This man never gonna drop."

Others commented that while they were expecting new music, they got a "TED Talk" about microdosing instead. Some called the track a "lecture on drugs and yoga" over a "Sonic the Hedgehog beat."

Ocean's fans are always looking for clues on when he might release new music. The former Odd Future member has released a number of singles in the last few years but he's not launched an album since 2016's chart-topping Blonde.

He's yet to make an announcement on any prospective new music, but eagle-eyed fans have spotted a clue that something could be brewing.

The Frank Ocean fan account @blahnded announced in all caps that "Frank Ocean just updated his Spotify banner." Updated cover art or artwork on an artist's page usually coincides with a new release.

Ocean's two new tracks, "blonded Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and "blonded ENERGY!" can be heard on Apple Music here.