Out of hibernation, fans go crazy for 30 second Frank Ocean clip: An inside look into fan culture.

By Alya A.

By Getty Images

On December 8th 2023, Frank Ocean released a clip of him in the studio dancing to what seems to be a preview of his upcoming project. The video started with a melody for a couple seconds before Ocean’s voice came through. Like many of his other songs, the track sounds like it’s laced with a bit of electronic backing, as he gently serenades us. All the while, he’s dancing in the background, flashing us that typical Ocean smile.

Not only were fans and the media shocked after Ocean broke his long silence, but music teases like these have caused the media and fans to become impatient. Suddenly, these 30 second clips have turned into glorified album releases – and Frank Ocean dropping an album was the last thing on anyone’s 2023 bucket list.

“I do believe a talented artist like Frank Ocean is working on something that won’t disappoint us and meet the expectations of his old songs,” said Yara Yehya, a 16-year-old from Egypt. “Frank Ocean’s songs are very endearing, and they always bring me out of a bad mood. Overall, I still love listening to his songs even if they are old.”

According to HuffPost online, Frank Ocean brought up his late brother during a heartfelt Coachella speech. He mentioned how much he missed his brother and added that he didn't attend Coachella to promote any upcoming albums. Instead, his performance was a tribute to the time they had spent together at music festivals just like Coachella. So, with that being his last public showing, fans were hardly expecting a new drop.

Ocean isn’t the only star to have fans going crazy over Instagram clips: Ariana Grande confirmed that she’s currently working on her seventh album over several Instagram posts. She had previously taken a long break from music to focus on her current role as Glinda in the movie version of the Broadway musical “Wicked”. We haven't heard much from Ariana Grande this year besides a trip down a memory lane as she re-recorded her debut album “Yours Truly” and a recorded remix of “Die for you” By The Weeknd. 

The extremes of fandom aren’t limited to excitement over potential drops. Sometimes the love fans have for their favourite artists lead to deadly consequences. On November 17, a fan died at Taylor Swift’s concert in Brazil. According to Nicki Swift, the fan, Ana Clara Benevides Machado fainted before passing away due to cardiorespiratory arrest. 

So - why is it that fans are so dedicated to their favourite artists, even when that dedication doesn’t necessarily work in their best interest? Well, it varies from artist to artist. Still, in Ocean’s case, fans are so dedicated to him because a lot of people including celebrities such as Beyonce, Claire Danes, Rihanna, Brad Pitt and the rest of his fanbase deem to find his music inspiring and in Beyonce’s words “touching”. Hence, people find this release as a big deal because people have been so eager to hear Frank Ocean perform his music and release an album since he hasn't released nor performed on stage for over 7 years.