Frank Ocean returned to the scene the latter half of this year with the release of his new albums Blonde and Endless.

He hasn’t done any major press interviews since then, other then his brief Q&A at the White House, but that all changes today.

Recently sitting down with John Caramanica of the New York Times, Frank gave his first major interview in quite a while, where he discussed a slew of things. The crooner spoke on his new music, why he boycotted the 2017 Grammy’s, the exhausting process of leaving Def Jam, his move to London in 2013 and much more.

See some excerpts from the interview below and be sure to read the full interview over at NYT:

On escaping Los Angeles to London in 2013:

“It started to weigh on me that I was responsible for the moves that had made me successful, but I wasn’t reaping the lion’s share of the profits, and that was problematic for me. I had, in the midst of all of this, this feeling of isolation. Within my circle, there was a lot of places I thought I could turn that I felt like I couldn’t turn to anymore.”

On dating and if its difficult to do with his increased celebrity:

“I think normal would be the word, whatever that word means, which is usually nothing. I’m in a very different place than I was four or five years ago with all that stuff. Different in my relationship with myself, which means everything. There’s no, like, shame or self-loathing. There’s no, you know, crisis.”

If he’s been in love since 2012:

“Not the lasting kind.”

On the process Ocean describes as a “a seven-year chess game,” the decision to buy himself out from Def Jam:

“It started to weigh on me that I was responsible for the moves that had made me successful, but I wasn’t reaping the lion’s share of the profits, and that was problematic for me,” he said. “With [Blonde] in particular, I wanted to feel like I won before the record came out, and I did, and so it took a lot pressure off of me about how the record even would perform after the fact. Once the goal is met, everything else is lagniappe. It’s not essential for me to have a big debut week, it’s not essential for me to have big radio records.”

On choosing not to submit Endless or Blonde for the 2017 GRAMMYS:

“That institution certainly has nostalgic importance. It just doesn’t seem to be representing very well for people who come from where I come from, and hold down what I hold down.

I think the infrastructure of the awarding system and the nomination system and screening system is dated. I’d rather this be my Colin Kaepernick moment for the Grammys than sit there in the audience.”

Spotted: Miss Info