Frank Ocean fans, rejoice! The R&B singer is set to officially headline the 2023 Coachella Festival, per an official announcement from the festival co-founder.
It’s been almost five years since the last Ocean album, Blonde, was released. Earning rave reviews, the project catapulted the already acclaimed and successful singer into the stratosphere, with fans clamoring for any sign of new music since its release.
While he has dropped a few singles, like “In My Room,” Ocean may be officially be gearing up for a comeback, or at least some major live performances.
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival co-founder, Paul Tollett, opened up to the Los Angeles Times exclusively to discuss the future of the popular music festival. Coachella, like most shows, was postponed indefinitely in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While there is no 2021 date, the show is set to return in 2022, and the lineup for 2023 is already being finalized with Ocean confirmed as a headliner.
While the LA Times reports Tollett would usually never confirm an artist this far out from a show, he told the outlet, “fans deserve some reassurance after the chaos and uncertainty of the last year and a half.”
He shared, “Right now, it’s the Wild West. I’m just trying to be as fair as I can to artists and to the fans to make sure that eventually they get to see everyone that we talked about.”
With Coachella returning in 2022, the foundation has some time to plan and also adjust depending on the future of the pandemic, specifically with the recent uptick in cases. Tollett told the LA Times, “We’re monitoring everything. I don’t want to put anything in cement right now, because I just don’t know.”
Fans should be especially excited for the 2023 show , onsidering how exclusive and mysterious Ocean is as an artist.
In one of his few interviews from the past few years, the singer opened up to Gayletter about the music industry. He said in the interview, “Well, f-cking with major music companies, you’re going to be… deflowered. Anytime you get into the business side of the arts, there has to be some degree of objectification or commodification that you’re comfortable with, of yourself and of your work.”
Check out Ocean’s latest song from 2020, “Dear April,” below:
Have you subscribed to theGrio’s podcast “Dear Culture”? Download our newest episodes now!
TheGrio is now on Apple TV, Amazon Fire, and Roku. Download theGrio today!