Frank Ocean releases “Moon River” cover

At roughly 3 AM Eastern, Frank dropped a late Valentine’s Day present on the digital doorsteps of his followers. The video, uploaded to Blonded’s YouTube channel, featured a cover of "Moon River," a song by Johnny Mercer and Henry Mancini written for Audrey Hepburn to sing in the film Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

From Frank Ocean’s Tumblr:

in the late nite

This is the first new material Frank has released in 2018. This cover of the Academy Award-winning tune uses layered vocals and minimal instrumentation. Arranger Davide Rossi (Goldfrapp, The Verve, Coldplay) played strings and brass on the track.

The track debuted at number 10 on Billboard’s Hot R&B chart on March 3rd, Frank’s fifth top-ten placement since the chart began in 2012. You can listen to the track on Apple Music and Spotify.

Here are some classic renditions of the tune from years past, along with a nice history of the song from americansongwriter.org.

The artwork for “Moon River” was created by Kevin McCaughey, a Chicago-based graphic designer who has worked with Frank before. McCaughey created the Endless posters from the 2017 Cyber Monday sale as well as some promotional posters for Panorama and the alternative artwork for “Chanel” that came with the remix in “blonded 002.”

Check out the artwork in full resolution below, along with the alternate versions Frank posted on Instagram.

Kevin McCaughey, 2018

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