Tyler AdkissonYou may have heard that Frank Ocean is dropping his new album, "Boys Don't Cry," at some point in July, but — like any story involving Ocean — the news should be taken with a grain of salt. Here's what we know.
On July 2, Ocean updated his website for the first time in nearly a year with a photo of a library card marked "Due Date," with the latest smudged stamp reading, "July 2016."
Then Ryan Breaux, Frank's brother, shared the same library slip image on his Instagram with the caption, "BOYS DON'T CRY #JULY2016."
Although these signs point to the album's impending release, there's been no confirmation from Ocean's camp that he'll be dropping anything in July, let alone an album.
But there are some hints hidden in the library card.
After publishing the library slip image, Ocean's website then republished an old photo of the singer sitting next to a stack of magazines titled "Boys Don't Cry."
The republished image first appeared on Ocean's Tumblr on July 2 of 2015, a year to the day from his website's most recent update. The republished photo also displayed the photo's original caption: "I got two versions. I got twoooo versions. #ISSUE1 #ALBUM3 #JULY2015 #BOYSDONTCRY."
The republished photo of Frank does feature two versions of magazines titled "Boys Don't Cry," so it's possible he was alluding to different editions of the magazine.
Besides the stamp for July 2016, there's also a stamp for Nov. 13, 2016, on the library slip — albeit out of chronological order.
But it's unclear which of Ocean's projects will be released first. His producer Malay told Pitchfork in March: "When he's ready, the world is gonna get it. It could be tomorrow … well not tomorrow but maybe a month."
This video includes clips from The Island Def Jam Music Group / Frank Ocean and images from Getty Images.
