In an open letter released online, Frank Ocean has revealed that he has had a gay relationship.

Following a storm of speculation that Ocean would come out on his forthcoming album, Channel Orange, it seems that the singer has decided to make an earlier announcement.

Frank Ocean wrote a letter via Tumblr, which appears to confirm that he is gay, describing a relationship that Ocean had with another man.

Ocean starts with an inclusive message. "Whoever you are, wherever you are... I'm starting to think we're a lot alike," he writes initially. "Human beings spinning on blackness. All wanting to be seen, touched, heard, paid attention to."

Ocean then goes on to recount a love affair that he had with a man when he was 19 years old.

"We spent that summer, and the summer after, together. Everyday almost. And on the days we were together, time would glide," he writes. "Most of the day I'd see him, and his smile. I'd hear his conversation and his silence... until it was time to sleep. Sleep I would often share with him. By the time I realized I was in love, it was malignant. It was hopeless. There was no escaping, no negotiating with the feeling. No choice. It was my first love, it changed my life."

Whilst Ocean appears to suggest he is bisexual elsewhere in the letter, he also indicates that his feelings towards women may not be on a par with his attraction to men.

"I reminisced about the sentimental songs I enjoyed when I was a teenager… the ones I played when I experienced a girlfriend for the first time. I realized they were written in a language I did not speak."

- By Fiona Guest