Is Frank Ocean Coming Out Of Retirement?

This text is written by a scholar author from the Her Campus at U Conn chapter.

I do know we’ve got all been fooled by a title like this a number of occasions previously decade, as Frank has disappeared from the media. I cannot consider it until I see it both. BUT, there have been robust hints from Frank himself that there may be an album in 2025? (Or possibly I’m delusional.) In any case, let me break it down for you:

Frank’s New Finsta Profile “Kiki boy”

Frank *allegedly* created a brand new Instagram account below the username “kikiboyyyyyyy” in March 2025. It was a non-public account with below ten followers, with a few of them being SZA, Sean Matsukawa (an audio engineer and producer who has labored with SZA, Kendrick Lamar, and others), Michael Zowuru (producer on tracks from Lana and Blonde), and Frank himself. 

Frank additionally instructed The New York Times final 12 months that he and Zowuru have been engaged on new music collectively in Miami. On the time, it felt like a uncommon, fleeting second the place Frank really gave us a glimpse backstage of his works, however nothing had come out of it. Now, with the looks of this account and the truth that Uzowuru is without doubt one of the few followers, it looks like possibly there’s something quietly nonetheless within the works. 

The account’s profile image incorporates a shot of Michael Jordan in a 1997 interview the place he discusses popping out of retirement. This made followers speculate that Frank is implying his personal return to music through the use of this profile image as a symbolic trace. 

Additional fueling the rumors, a billboard that claims “Kiki Boy 2025” has (once more, allegedly) been noticed in Coachella proper earlier than the primary weekend of the music competition this 12 months, in keeping with Rolling Stone. This timing couldn’t really feel extra intentional, after the creation of the Instagram account with the identical username. Although he by no means absolutely advertises his music, Frank has dropped very delicate hints to sign new initiatives previously. For instance, the mysterious livestream for his visible album Countless, main as much as Blonde, and the restricted Boys Don’t Cry journal drop commemorating Blonde‘s release. The fact that the billboard includes a specific year, 2025, only makes it seem more like a hint that something official might finally be coming this year. No announcement, no social media posts, just a quiet sign placed exactly where the music world’s eyes can be watching. So Frank.

His look on Payton Talbott’s YouTube Channel

Frank made a uncommon look (together with his voice) in a latest video titled “BPPV IX”, posted by the UFC fighter Payton Talbott on YouTube. Between the 11:35 and 12:09 minute marks, you’ll be able to hear a brief snippet of Frank singing within the background. Followers instantly latched onto the clip, questioning if it was one other delicate signal that Frank is feeling extra comfy reemerging and possibly even getting ready to share one thing greater. 

Followers speculated that this snippet was a response to Playboi Carti’s DM on Instagram, the place he urges Frank to “post a snippet or some.” This screenshot was launched again in December 2023 by Carti himself, however went viral once more just lately after the discharge of Carti’s album I AM MUSIC. This album was a long-awaited drop that his followers have been itching for after years of its teasing and delays. With its launch and the resurfacing of this DM on the web, followers began to make use of it as a lighthearted jab at Frank’s personal elusive nature in terms of releasing new music. Frank’s voice in Talbott’s video felt like a delicate nod again to Carti’s problem. Whether or not or not it was this playful DM that pushed him to behave, we are going to by no means know. However ultimately, we obtained one thing new from Frank, and that alone looks like a win. 

Frank’s Exercise on Instagram

Frank made his return to Instagram in Aug. 2023. Whereas he has not been constantly energetic, the glimpses of exercise we do get from him are sufficient to maintain his followers holding on. Most of his posts come by way of Instagram tales, together with selfies, songs he’s listening to, and the occasional candid moments. Once in a while, although, he offers us a bit extra. One instance is a narrative he shared from London, displaying him engaged on new music. Sitting at a keyboard, with different devices scattered round him. Moments like this really feel uncommon, however every one sparks a wave of pleasure and offers his followers a bit extra hope that at some point he’ll share his work with us.

In Nov. 2023, Frank even revealed a snippet of a brand new monitor he was engaged on. True to his signature low-key fashion, it was not a flashy announcement or a extremely produced teaser. The monitor was a easy clip that includes his voice layered over a stripped-down instrumental. Inside minutes, it flooded social media with theories of a possible new album dropping and was sufficient to ignite hope in his followers as soon as once more. That, in fact, didn’t come as there was no follow-up of the album drop date, a title reveal, or perhaps a affirmation that the monitor can be formally launched. But it surely did function a reminder that even in his silence, he’s nonetheless creating, nonetheless experimenting, and nonetheless has tales left to inform. 

Taken collectively — the finsta account, the snippets, amongst different appearances he has made each in actual life (like at Coachella 2024), and on Instagram (exercise on his tales and posts) — we are able to undoubtedly conclude that Frank has been slowly stepping again into the general public eye. Though some particulars, just like the rumored billboard and the declare that his finsta profile image was from Michael Jordan’s retirement interview, have been referred to as out as faux, the larger image nonetheless factors in a single course: he’s persevering with to do what he loves, simply on his personal timeline. 

When he chooses to share it with the world is solely on his personal phrases, simply because it has at all times been. Till then, each glimpse, each delicate trace, is sufficient to hold his followers believing that at some point he shall be able to return.