Frank Ocean’s new albums Endless and Blond/e are officially ineligible for the 2017 Grammy Awards. This is because the albums have missed the submission deadline for nominee consideration, although they were released more than a month before the September 30 cutoff.
Although a fairly significant move overall, considering how highly regarded the Grammy Awards are for musicians, we have no doubt that he has his reasons and we’re totally fine with whatever those reasons are. Already a two-time Grammy winner for his incredible 2012 record Channel ORANGE, perhaps he just didn’t feel the need to put Blond/e up there on parade. He hasn’t done a single interview or any media since, or for a long time before, the release (except for a possible Zane Lowe interview which reportedly happened in Tokyo, and has yet to surface), and by and large he seems to have continued to lay low since it came out in August.
Yes, the Grammys are revered, but they’re hardly the be all and end all of what makes music good or remembered or acclaimed. Considering recent antics including the broken relationship with his record label, his obvious lack of regard for album and tour cycles, and his total absence from the public eye, he clearly doesn’t give too much of a fuck about these things. So why should we?
Besides, if Frank was nominated this year then there’d be too much competition between he and Chance the Rapper, the obvious standout contender, what with his literal game-changing campaign to make mixtapes and free releases eligible for nominations, not to mention his kind of strange, yet endearing advertisements asking the Grammys for consideration.
Last week we also found a version of Frank’s opening single Nikes pitched down to approximately his organic voice – check that out right here and watch the stunning video below.
Image: Boys Don’t Cry