Frank Ocean dropped a gorgeous new song on a surprise radio show

One of my favorite things about Frank Ocean’s music is its lushness. Even the austere Endless, one of his two albums from last year, is rich in texture. But after he dropped both Endless and Blond(e) last year, we really didn’t think Ocean would be back so soon. Like, what were the chances he was going to drop a totally new song in 2017?

Color us corrected. On a surprise episode of his Beats 1 radio show, Frank Ocean dropped the clever new song “Chanel.”

Why “Chanel”? Sure, the singer is no stranger to brand shoutouts. (He has a song named “Nikes,” after all.) But here, Ocean flexes his clever lyrical strength. The Chanel logo is a set of two back-to-back Cs. The hook of the song is:

"I see both sides like Chanel / See on both sides like Chanel"

“See on both sides like Chanel” is a sly tip of the hat to Ocean’s purported bisexuality. And the opening line itself — “My guy pretty like a girl” — lays that out too. As for the texture of the song? “Chanel” has an almost fuzzy retro feel to it, which fits with the rest of Ocean’s lyrics. Those, he posted on his quite prolific Tumblr: false

The official album art for “Chanel” reminds me a lot of the black and white Endless visuals. There is a negative chance that this is coincidence:https://frankocean.tumblr.com/post/158255623056

And just because Frank Ocean is nothing but thorough, he dropped a playlist (with “Chanel”) on Spotify. Listen up below: