Sparse trailer for Kanye West Imax film released

NEW YORK: A brief trailer for rapper Kanye West’s Imax film “Jesus is King” came out on Thursday, as tickets went on sale for limited screenings starting next week.

The much touted movie will feature “songs arranged by West in the gospel tradition along with new music from his forthcoming album ‘JESUS IS KING.’”

Multiple release dates for the album, which apparently sees the mercurial artiste take a sharp departure from rap to gospel, have come in gone in the past month.

Rather than release the album, West has been touring the United States and doing pop-up stagings of his “Sunday Service,” his performance series that includes gospel choirs and a dose of Christian spirituality.

The film brings the service “to life,” its website said, and was filmed in the summer of 2019.

West first publicly performed a Sunday Service at April 2019’s Coachella festival, having previously held them only for select guests, mostly celebrities.

Imax announced that limited screenings of the film would begin Oct 25, thought its website where tickets are available for purchase had showtimes starting Oct 24. The sparse trailer for the film featured a bright light at the end of a tunnel, which the viewer appears to get closer to as a chorus of melancholic gospel rings out.

“Saved by his grace, it’s in his will,” the voices sing.

West has long included tinges of religiosity in his music, most blatantly with his 2004 hit “Jesus Walks.” But his previous work remained definitively rap with hits of gospel, and now the 42year-old appears to be taking interest more in the latter. — AFP