Frank Ocean

Credit: Def Jam

Frank Ocean is finally ready to drop his Def Jam studio set, and fans have to only wait a month and a week to hear it.

With a teaser trailer posted to his blog, Ocean teased "Channel Orange," due on July 17. The video features a slow, sweeping shot of a ritzy car, its passengers (if any) unclear. However, the song playing over seems to indicate all sorts of sexy happening, with his love interest "workin' at the Pyramid." Is Ocean lusting for a stripper named Cleopatra?

"Channel Orange" comes on the heels of "nostalgia, ULTRA," the mixtape he dropped last year that yielded buzz songs like "Novacane." This year, after a messy release history, "Thinkin Bout You" was dubbed to be the leading single from the new album (it was originally written for Bridget Kelly, who also released her version).

Ocean, who is also part of hip-hop collective Odd Future, has been signed to Def Jam for much longer than a year. He'd mentioned in interviews last year he wasn't considered a priority at the label until after Odd Future had blown up on everybody's radar after the South By Southwest Music conference; it seems he finally got on the dance card.

However, it is a little strange that Def Jam is announcing this so close to the release date. "Thinkin' About You" seems to be the only possible new inclusion in the tracklist, though it's up in the air if they'll be borrowing any "nostalgia, ULTRA" songs. He could certainly use more exposure to hip-hop/R&B audiences, which he'll get during his tour in July and part of August -- but he's spending some of August and beyond opening for Coldplay, and who knows what the feedback from that will be.

Ocean wrote and featured on a couple of Kanye West and Jay-Z's "Watch the Throne" tracks, "Made in America" and current WtT single "No Church in the Wild," which helped with visibility late last year, however. Think Jay-Z will show up on this tracklist to return the favor?

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Here are Frank Ocean's tour dates:

07/13 – Seattle, WA @ Showbox at the Market
07/14 – Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
07/16 – San Francisco, CA @ Regency Ballroom
07/17 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern
07/19 – Austin, TX @ La Zona Rosa
07/20 – Dallas, TX @ Southside Music Hall
07/22 – Atlanta, GA @ Center Stage
07/23 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
07/25 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
07/26 – New York, NY @ Terminal 5
07/28 – Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
07/29 – Montreal, QC @ Club Soda
07/31 – Toronto, ON @ The Guvernment
08/01 – Detroit, MI @ TBA
08/04 – Chicago, IL @ Lollapalooza
08/07-11 – Oslo, NO @ Oya Fest
08/08-11 – Helsinki, FI @ Flow Festival
08/09-11 – Gothenburg, SE @ Way Out West Festival
08/16-18 – Kiewit, BE @ Pukkelpop
08/18-19 – Essex, UK @ V Festival
08/18-19 – Staffordshire, UK @ V Festival
08/24-26 – Paris, FR @ Rock en Seine
08/28 – Copenhagen, DK @ Parken Stadium !%
08/30 – Stockholm, SE @ Olympic Stadium !%
09/02 – Paris, FR @ Stade de France !%
09/04 – Cologne, DE @ Rheinenergie Stadium !%
09/06 – The Hague, NL @ Malieveld !%
09/07-08 – Isle of Wight, UK @ Bestival
09/12 – Munich, DE @ Red Bull Stadium !%
09/16 – Prage, CZ @ Slavia Eden Stadium !%
09/19 – Warsaw, PL @ National Stadium !%
09/22 – Hannover, DE @ AWD Arena !%