Frank Ocean fan sets up website that will automatically text you when the new album finally drops
Boys Don't Cry has been in the pipeline for more than three years
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Your support makes all the difference.Never mind the Swifties or the Beyhive, Frank Ocean fans win all the prizes simply for not giving up on their main man despite his relentless album release teases.
The singer has been hinting that Boys Don’t Cry will drop for over a year, leaving fans gagging for a listen to his first new record since 2012’s Channel Orange. So far it’s been more than three years in the making, and nothing (that library card with the stamps implying multiple different due dates is getting boring).
Fortunately one of Ocean’s more devoted fans has come to the rescue to put an end to the constant social media scouring and refreshing of feeds required in the hunt for evidence that the album is finally out there.
Shahzeb Khan, a 20-year-old computer science and engineering student, has set up (650)82OCEAN, which promises to “automatically look at Spotify, iTunes and Twitter for the latest in Frank Ocean news”. As soon as the site detects that Boys Don’t Cry has dropped, it will automatically send all subscribers a text or email with a link to where they can listen to it.
“I’m home for the summer and like everyone else I’m a huge Frank Ocean fan and I’ve been anticipating the album and checking up on blogs and websites constantly and there’s been radio silence,” he told Billboard. “I just got tired of refreshing my browsers all day.”
Khan wrote the site’s code in just one day. It uses “machine learning” to check for movement on the livestream that sparked excitement last week, while also searching for updates on music news publications and social media.
Nearly 6,000 fans have signed up for the service so far, so if you want to be among the first to hear the new album, you know what to do.
Here’s hoping Khan’s techhy know-how is up to the job, particularly on 13 November if fans can put any faith in the ongoing library card farce.
Frank, where ya at?
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