Frank Ocean’s eagerly anticipated Coachella performance is just days away, and excitement continues to build thanks to new footage that has surfaced online.
Ahead of his headlining set at the Indio, California festival on Sunday (April 16), a video of the elusive singer allegedly rehearsing circulated on social media.
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The clip, filmed from a neighborhood located near the festival grounds, contains faint audio of what sounds like Frank singing his fan-favorite Blonde song “Nights.”
The Reddit user who uploaded the footage claimed to have also heard the Grammy-winner perform a brand new track which they described as “the most immaculate techno club music with Frank vocals.”
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Frank previously spoke about being inspired by EDM in a 2019 interview with W magazine, saying: “I’ve been interested in club, and the many different iterations of nightlife for music and songs. And so the things I look at now have a lot to do with those scenes: Detroit, Chicago, techno, house, French electronic.”
According to the Redditor, Frank also performed “Biking,” “White Ferrari” and “Nikes” during his rehearsal.
Frank Ocean was heard rehearsing Nights ahead of his Coachella performance. 🎶 pic.twitter.com/fLC2Mgapbl
— Frank Ocean Updates (@blahnded) April 12, 2023
Anticipation for Frank Ocean’s Coachella comeback has also been fueled by an unlikely source: BMW. The German car manufacturer uploaded two videos to their U.S. Instagram page this week containing winking references to the R&B maestro.
The first captured an electric garage door lifting up to reveal an orange BMW E30 M3, strikingly similar to the one featured on the cover of Frank’s 2011 mixtape nostalgia, ULTRA. “Feeling ultra nostalgic, so to speak,” read the caption.
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The second opened with a close-up of a road sign reading, “Welcome to the city of Coachella,” before zooming out to the reveal the aforementioned car in all its glory in the Coachella Valley desert.
The caption read: “The past meets the future this week. As far as what comes next, we’ll let you guys prophesy,” referencing a line from Frank’s “Nikes.”
While further details about Frank Ocean’s Coachella set remain scarce, it will mark his first major festival performance in six years. It’s been a similarly lengthy wait since his last album, 2016’s Blonde, which has resulted in plenty of speculation that new music will arrive to coincide with his onstage comeback.
The intensely private singer has kept his cards close to his chest, but earlier this year he did rekindle hope that he’ll one day drop a new project.
Frank’s recent Blonde vinyl rerelease was accompanied by a foldout poster that told the story of a “fictitious Recording Artist” and his dealings with the music industry.
The story, which closely mirrors Frank’s own journey, stated that the artist initially wanted to forego the “outdated” album format and instead solely release singles, which he believed was more suited to “modern consumption habits.”
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After the pandemic, however, the artist U-turned on his plans and “is again interested in more durational bodies of work.”
In addition to this weekend’s performance, Frank Ocean will also take the Coachella stage on Sunday, April 23, to close out the second and final week of the festival.
