I suppose it was only a matter of time, really. Kanye West’s newest bonkers project has just been announced on Twitter, and you’ll be pleased to know that he’s launching his first ever opera.
Yep, opera like the dramatic, singing, theatre shows. That sort of opera.
It’s called Nebuchadnezzar: A Kanye West Opera – named after Nebuchadnezzar II, the most powerful Babylonian king. Nebuchadnezzar is also a pretty prominent figure on the Bible, who threw three guys into a fire (don’t worry, God saved them), invaded Jerusalem, and was sent mad by God for 7 years as a punishment for boasting. There’s a lot going on.
The opera is going to be directed by Vanessa Beecroft, a performance artist that Kanye has worked with before on a number of other projects. The music will be done by Peter Collins and Infinities Song, Kanye’s Sunday Service collective, and the whole thing is set to be performed at the Hollywood Bowl on November 24.
This isn’t the first time Kanye has mentioned Nebuchadnezzar, which isn’t all that surprising seeing as he’s been all about the Bible recently. His most recent album, Jesus Is King, is a gospel album all about his love of God.
Anyway, in an interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music’s Beats 1, Kanye was talking about his Yeezus tour from 2013 through to 2014.
“[God] is saying, Let me take this Nebuchadnezzar-type character—Nebuchadnezzar was the king of Babylon, and he looked at his entire kingdom and said, I did this. I stood on the top of the mountain talking about Yeezus, saying, ‘I’m a God’—I had a guy dressed as Jesus.”
Kanye is a master of pulling out weird and wonderful stunts, and it doesn’t get too much grander than an entire opera. As with everything, we’ll just have to wait and see how this turns out, but I’ll be looking forward to seeing bonkers footage after November 24.