Frank Ocean Covers the Winter 2017 Issue of 'i-D'

From his first mixtape Nostalgia, Ultra in 2011 to his latest album Blonde, Frank Ocean remains an enigma. It’s rare for the multimedia artist to divulge his musical learnings, creative processes, and more takeaways on- and off-stage. With that said, Frank gracing the Winter 2017 Issue of i-D is a huge deal. What’s more, the singer-songwriter relayed a photo diary complete with a personal essay in the publication’s “Sounding Off” issue—injecting a cross-pollination of pop culture references from Karl Lagerfeld to Rick and Morty‘s notorious McDonalds Szechuan sauce.

More precisely, the talented musician blesses fans with two covers for the magazine alongside a 32-page visual spread spotlighting imagery from his festival tours this past summer season. Included in the photo-set is filmmaker Spike Jonze, who captured a handful of intimate portrait photos of Ocean at his most recent shows. 

Read Frank Ocean’s essay below and head over to i-D to learn more. TLDR: he concludes the write-up with a hopeful statement, professing “if you liked two thousand and seventeen then you’ll love two thousand and eighteen”—a sign for more FO projects to come.

You can answer a lot of questions with “Yes.” But you can answer many more with “No.” No is run-of-the-mill. Yes is a gem. Whenever I feel alone I watch live television, something about it being okay on their end makes it okay on mine. Onstage one in-ear is my mic feed and the other one is a Tim Ferriss podcast. I go long periods without talking but I raise my voice when the people on the phone are in loud places. I’ve never given my fans nicknames because the ones I think of are embarrassing. I’m world famous. I had peace in my twenties. Big Pharrell praying hands those weren’t mutually exclusive. If you want to make your 30s sound appealing just mention “sexual prime.” Re: the photos… as Karl Lagerfeld would say they “came to me in a dream.” Summer two thousand and seventeen. We leaned into it. Bananaberry-flavored candies at the bottom of the cup. I’ll never know why or what’s with campouts for Szechuan sauce at McDonalds. But I’m way into it. Issa Dreamworld. If you liked two thousand and seventeen then you’ll love two thousand and eighteen.