Four years of broken promises, endless waiting and a plethora of delays are among the tribulations that loyal fans of Frank Ocean have endured in anticipation of his sophomore album.

Initially slated to be released in July 2015, the album was put off for a whole twelve months. And then another. The supposed final release date, Aug. 5, arrived, but no album came. Just when the seemingly unfaltering loyalty of his fans began to waiver, Ocean dropped his long-awaited album, “Blonde”, a magazine bearing what was originally thought to be the title of the album, “Boys Don’t Cry”, along with a visual stream titled “Endless” within a period of two days beginning in the early hours of Aug. 18.

Many fans have been waiting for new Ocean material since the release of his first album, “Channel Orange”, in 2012. Junior London Keller says he has been a fan of the reclusive R&B star for about three years now.

“I got into it [‘Channel Orange’] kind of late, like a year after it came out,” Keller said.

According to Billboard, 12 tracks from the album have made the Hot R&B songs chart, an achievement only held by the likes of Beyoncé and the Weeknd. The album itself reached No. 1 on the Billboard chart.

Keller enjoys the album as a whole but finds that “Blonde” does not quite match up to its predecessor. He feels that there is more substance to the individual songs in “Channel Orange”.

“It [‘Blonde’] is something you can sit and listen to all the way through, but it has a lot of interludes and partial songs which is sort of annoying,” Keller said. “It’s kind of hit or miss.”

“Blonde” and its visual companion “Endless” were both released exclusively on Apple Music and are projected to remain that way for their first two weeks of existence. Keller says that paying for an Apple Music subscription is a worthy investment just for that reason.

“Apple Music is definitely worth it. The app doesn’t use much data and you get new, exclusive releases right away,” Keller said.

One abnormality about “Blonde” is the fact that it was released to Apple Music independently outside of Ocean’s contract with Def Jam Recordings. While it is unclear if “Blonde” will achieve the accolades that its precursor did, the feat of achieving No. 1 on the Billboard chart as an independently released album is one that will be remembered by those in the music industry for years to come.

18lgregory@usd489.com