The release of the album's track list confirmed both the track placement of the track and the appearance of it on the album. It was later announced that the Channel Orange project was actually his debut album and would launch a corresponding tour.

The song was Ocean's first single in over a year, which was described as him coming 'back into the spotlight in a huge way.' The track was labeled indicating that it was to be the ninth track on the album. For example, the brief snippet of Frank Ocean’s new track “Pyramids” heard in an ambiguous trailer a few days ago left out one key detail of the track: the damn thing is 10 minutes long.' The cover artwork for the single features sexual Simpsons characters. Popdust noted that 'trailers won’t tell you everything. Later that day Ocean posted the full song used in the video, titled 'Pyramids' onto his SoundCloud account. The clip featured an expensive-looking car, and it also contained new music. On June 8, 2012, Ocean posted on his tumblr a cryptic, almost two-minute video, promoting an unknown project which was titled Channel Orange. Ocean performed 'Pyramids' during his Channel Orange tour through North America. The track has been featured during television promos for Channel Orange. The song has since debuted on the UK R&B Chart at number 31. The music video was directed by Nabil Elderkin and featured an orange car with an atmospheric background. The song was featured in a teaser for Ocean's then-upcoming album and was released with a cover that featured The Simpsons style characters.

The song received highly positive reviews and was called epic in nature by several publications, who praised the ambition and scope of the track's length, along with the lyrical merit. The track lyrically contains several extended metaphors referencing Cleopatra, pyramids, and strip clubs. The song explores a narrative of a pimp falling in love with one of his clients. On June 7, 2012, Ocean posted a small teaser video featuring a snippet of the song onto his Tumblr account, and released the full, nearly 10-minute song later that day onto his official SoundCloud account. The track features an uncredited guitar solo from singer John Mayer. The song was written by Ocean and produced by Malay and Om'Mas Keith. ' Pyramids' is a song by American singer Frank Ocean, released as the second single from his debut studio album Channel Orange (2012).

Cleopatra pyramids frank ocean