Frank Ocean posts open letter on Tumblr discussing life, travel, and music

“Untitled” (Tumblr: @frankocean).

Frank Ocean shares his recent activities and spontaneous thoughts in a new letter on Tumblr. The missive arrives as a screenshot of a TextEdit document on his MacBook, much like his previous blog posts.

Most notably, Ocean says he’s been “working on a lot of music” and hanging out with rapper Jay-Z and producer Pharrell Williams. He also talks about traveling the world and potentially relocating to New York City, Tokyo, or somewhere far from California. He particularly enjoyed his meals at the New York Bar at the Park Hyatt Tokyo Hotel, which he refers to as the rooftop restaurant in Sofia Coppola’s 2003 movie Lost in Translation.

Among his other random musings, Ocean would like to start a car club and write a novel about twins, “some type of nature-versus-nurture tale.” He also opens up about his recent relationship with someone unnamed and says that he’s possibly “lost all religion.”

A full transcript of Ocean’s letter is available below.

Transcript:

No better than the next man, just doing a different thing with my time. Got to. I wanna write a novel about twins, some type of nature-versus-nurture tale… I’ve said that to a neighbor before. It’s an open-ended idea. I want to start a car club. I’m playing with two names for it. I sketched a logo for it. It’s not there yet. I was going to build an arcade. The more I lived with that idea… the less it stuck. It’s morphing. Sort of like my potential relocation to NYC or Tokyo or some place very far from the coasts of California. I was falling for someone new, if I already hadn’t. It was incredible. It was ridiculously awesome. It came and went and maimed us a little. Not much. I’ve possibly lost all religion, I’ve sunken into passivity in certain areas of my life… all while being the honest opposite in others. The number-one rule in relationships, from what I hear, is to never just leave. I flew around the world in 2012. Had a special time. I had brunch at the rooftop restaurant from Lost in Translation. Like 9 times. I found absolute silence in a meditation session in that house in the hills. I have a dog who misses me [Everest]. He’s so big now. Damn. He knows about as much as me, as to what the fuck is going on. I have to write a song for someone now because they paid for my ticket and my hotel, and I let them. Oh, I eat steaks again now. It’s been 10 years. All I really have to say is that love is all there is. Every other sentence just belabors the point. Maybe not in a boring way, I don’t know what I’m saying. I sat in the studio days ago with Jiggaman [Jay-Z] and Pharrell. Pharrell looks 19. They seemed like old friends. I wonder how many trophies are lodged in their minds. I wonder why they still build. I build things for the sport and the therapeutic benefits. For immortality biiiitch. I say immortality in jest, because we all know one thing for certain. Holy fuck, I don’t wanna write about that right now. It’s hard to ascertain what’s happened in my life the last couple years. I suppose this is what going through things feels like. This is what happens to youth. I can’t imagine a decade from now. How I’ll feel about it all. Oreos don’t work with almond milk like regular milk. That just came to mind. Not sure why. No matter. I’m working on a lot of music. I’m gonna get back to that now. Good night moon.

Update 2016-08-20:

Frank Ocean mentioned recording with Pharrell and his desire “for immortality biiitch” (i.e., to build a lasting legacy) in his since-deleted 2012 Tumblr letter. He brings up a similar concept in his 2016 track “Pink + White”—produced by Pharrell—in which he sings:

Bitch, I might like immortality (Woo)
This is life, life immortality

He also discusses immortality in “Futura Free,” another song from his 2016 album Blonde.

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