Frank Ocean has finally released two songs, “Dear April” and “Cayendo.”

After teasing the songs for months, performing them at his much-maligned nightclub event and releasing them on vinyl, the singles are finally on streaming platforms.

“Dear April” is a stormy, dreamy ballad from Frank to someone in he knows in the crowd. It feels like an anthem, and it’s perfectly devastating, totally appropriate for quarantine. The acoustic version is mostly his voice layered over electric guitar, and lyrically, it seems to be about rebirth.

Dear April (Side A – Acoustic)

Dear April, the only face in the crowd that I knowDear April, are you watchin’ him?Are you watchin’ him dance?Dear April, we were safe for a whileWe were safe as the years flew byIf you could take two strangersLead them left and rightAt a certain place and timeLike you took these strangersAnd our two strange livesAnd made us newAnd took us throughAnd woke us upI believe that no matter what it makes us doTake us through itAnd wake us up againAnd what we had won’t be the same now (Now, now)But you will make something newAnd it’ll take you through thisYou can take two strangersLead them left and rightAt a certain place and timeLike you took these strangersAnd our two strange livesAnd made us newAnd took us through itAnd woke us upI believe no matter whatTake us through itAnd wake us up againAnd what we had can’t be the same now, nowBut you will make somethingThat’ll take you throughIt’ll wake you up againJust like you made me new (You made me new)Just like you took me through (Took me through)Just like you woke me up (Woke me up, yeah)You made me newYou took me throughYou woke me up (Woke me up)

Dear April, are you watchin’ him dance?

“Cayendo” is a Spanish verb that means “to fall” or “to fall down.” The song, which is a mix of Spanish and English lyrics, is about unrequited love and longing.

Cayendo (Side A – Acoustic)

CAYENDO:

No hablará de mí, ni hablará de estoLo que él quiere de ti, yo no se lo negaríaSi esto no me ha partío’, ya no me partiré nuncaSi puedo soportar lo que siento, ¿por qué me ‘toy cayendo?[Verse]You stood me up, you lay me downYou know too much, I can’t be proudI still really, really love you, yes, I doWhen I still really, really love you, like I doIf you won’t, then I willIf you can’t, then I willIs it love to keep it from you?[Chorus]No hablará de mí, ni hablará de estoLo que él quiere de ti, yo no se lo negaríaSi esto no me ha partío’, ya no me partiré nuncaSi puedo soportar lo que siento, ¿por qué me ‘toy cayendo?¿Acaso voy cayendo?[Outro]You stood me up, you lay me downYou know too much (Too much), I can’t be proudI still really, really love you, yes, I do

Ocean has said that his forthcoming new album is inspired by “Detroit, Chicago, techno, house, French electronic” and that it would be a “full motion picture fantasy.” But if you think that these new, spare songs indicate that Ocean is finally peeling back the layers of mystery that surround him, you’re wrong.

“The expectation for artists to be vulnerable and truthful is a lot, you know,” Ocean said in a Rolling Stone interview last year. “When it’s no longer a choice. Like, in order for me to satisfy expectations, there needs to be an outpouring of my heart or my experiences in a very truthful, vulnerable way. I’m more interested in lies than that.”

The singles are Ocean’s first since 2019’s pair of singles, “In My Room” and “DHL.” Ocean’s last full-length project was 2016’s critically acclaimed Blonde, though in between he released a few gems including a cover of “Moon River” and launched his Beats Radio 1 show.

Ocean was born Christopher Edwin Cooksey in Long Beach, California, and he grew up in New Orleans. He enrolled at the University of New Orleans to study English, but after Hurricane Katrina destroyed his home, he transferred to the University of Louisiana and Lafayette and soon dropped out to move to Los Angeles to pursue songwriting. After collaborating with Tyler the Creator’s Odd Future collective and writing extensively for other artists, Ocean launched his solo career with “Thinkin Bout You.”