Does The Element Of Surprise Matter For Frank Ocean?

After years of waiting, Frank Ocean finally treated fans to new music when he live-streamed his visual album, Endless. The impromptu release understandably freaked out the internet, who have been debating when we’ll be able to hear the latest from the singer/songwriter/rapper.

Dropping a project unexpectedly is a growing tactic in the music industry, especially since Beyoncé released her self-titled album in 2013. However, it was just a few years ago that there was an insane number of teasers leading up to every release. Teasers teased teasers for snippets of songs — the hype was unreal. But is a surprise release a superior strategy?

Beyoncé’s album was precedent-setting for a reason. The anticipation for new music reached a point where fans were in serious deprivation mode — and when Bey delivered, she delivered. Not only did fans not unexpect a new Bey album to grace our music libraries, but the cohesive, empowering project included an incredible visual for each track. In an instant, Beyoncé elevated herself to a new level of stardom.

The term “pulling a Beyonce” casually catapulted into the pop culture vernacular as other artists followed suit. In 2015, Drake surprised fans with his If You're Reading This It's Too Late album and went on to set a streaming record. Likewise, in March 2016, Kendrick Lamar made headlines when he unexpectedly dropped his untitled unmastered.

In some cases, the surprise is the return of an artist from hiatus. Adele caused a global meltdown (of the best kind) when she dropped her comeback single, “Hello,” in October 2015. Although fans later found out the release date of her full-length album ahead of its release, the debut of the single was unexpected.

For every surprise release, there’s a well-curated promotional rollout for an album. Take, for example, Taylor Swift’s 1989 and Justin Bieber’s Purpose, two projects that topped charts and were well-received by critics. However, there’s no doubt that fans knew about the albums and were eagerly anticipating them.

Even Beyoncé’s second surprise album, 2016’s Lemonade, had context for its release. The visual debuted on HBO and was followed by the announcement of the 13-track LP. Even if fans didn’t expect the movie to be part of her album, there was still buzz addressing the possibility of new music.

That brings us back to Frank, who created a fair amount of discussion around the promise of new music. For years, he referenced a sophomore album, with excitement growing this summer. The Endless live stream fulfilled fans’ hopes of new music, with rumors circulating that the artist would be releasing even more in the following days.

With musicians running the gamut between detailed promo plans and unexpected releases, how does the element of surprise factor in? Does it factor in at all?

Judging by the tweets of Beyoncé’s fans before the release of Lemonade, they will take her music in any form, be it a surprise album or an announced LP. Of course, there was an incredible amount of attention given to the delivery of Lemonade, but ultimately, the project’s staying power is credited to Bey and her incredible team of collaborators.

On the other end of the spectrum, Adele’s 25 became the first album to sell more than 3 million units in one week. The reason is the same as the reason Lemonade was such a success — fans simply wanted the music. As surprise delivery is exciting and creates drama around the release, but ultimately, fans are here for one thing: The latest from their favorites.

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