Frank Ocean has been historically evasive to the public. He doesn’t do a ton of interviews, especially after Blonde. After 2016, there have been some scattered singles but nothing suggesting or tying to a new album. Even the 2023 Coachella performance felt strange and fragmented, with a scrapped ice rink and a reported leg injury on the second weekend. The best you’re likely to get nowadays is the occasional set of Instagram stories.This reluctant relationship with the public has been something Frank Ocean has been battling for over a decade now. The Odd Future recluse was practically radio silent in the buildup to Endless and Blonde, causing fans to borderline harass him. But ultimately, Ocean has always felt this way, especially when he dug himself further into the music industry. During a 2016 interview with Jon Caramanica of the New York Times, Frank Ocean touched on his relationship with fame. He admitted that there was always this uneasy tension with fame. Unless it held personal significance, he didn’t have the innate desire to be in industry spaces. This worsened as he became more famous, leading to his quiet departure from the public eye.Frank Ocean Candidly Talks About Fame“I was always reluctant to do those things except in cases where they had this nostalgic significance to me. Like performing at the VMAs, being tapped to perform at the Grammys. Me saying yes to those things had a lot to do with how those things made me feel before I was actually in the business. And just wanting to be rubbing shoulders with those people and being seen at those places. I still was reluctant and sort of skeptical of those things because I questioned whether or not I was prepared,” Frank Ocean explained.Then Ocean muses about a life where his work takes all the attention, but not him, as a public figure. He likens that experience to Daft Punk. How they’re famous with the masks but not under them. Still, there’s an acceptance of who he is and how far he’s gone.“Sometimes I’m fascinated with how famous my work could be while I’m not so famous,” Ocean continued. “Super-envious of the fact that Daft Punk can wear robot helmets and be one of the most famous bands in the world, while also understanding that will never be my situation. It’s too late. It’s hard to articulate how I think about myself as a public figure. I’ve gotten used to being Frank Ocean. A lot of people stopped me on the street when I hadn’t put music out in a while, literally would yell out of an Uber, ‘Frank, where the album?’”The post Frank Ocean Opens up on His Complicated Feelings on Fame (And Why He’s Jealous of Daft Punk) appeared first on VICE.