Kanye West’s Sunday Service has become a fan favourite with videos often going viral. Typically, the performances are made up of a traditional gospel choir singing hymns alongside Kanye. The artist can be seen incorporating his distinct style to add an infectious beat which leaves those in attendance dancing to their heart’s content.
The Sunday Service has been met with a hugely positive response and has seen Kanye take his choir with him to perform at Coachella while also planning a new “Sunday Service” fashion line.
Video footage from the most recent event shows the choir singing gospel versions of grunge classics, “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and “Come As You Are”. Of course, in true gospel tradition, the lyrics were reinterpreted to fit a spiritual message. The choir jubilantly sang “Let your light shine, it’s contagious” as opposed to the screechy vocal of Cobain’s “With the lights out, it’s less dangerous”.
West has always been influenced by gospel singing and its surrounding culture; from “Jesus Walks” on his debut album The College Dropout, to much of his work on 2016’s The Life of Pablo, Kanye has always looked to include the emotive elements of the gospel choir.
West has also been outspoken about his admiration of Cobain, so seeing a gospel version of Nirvana tracks probably shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. Ye and Kid Cudi sampled Cobain’s “Burn The Rain” on their collaborative album Kids See Ghosts, and in his long line of iconic quotes, he once stated: “I am the new Jim Morrison. I am the new Kurt Cobain. The Bible had 20, 30, 40, 50 characters in it. You don’t think that I would be one of the characters of today’s modern Bible?”
Never change, Kanye.
For anyone yet to see the performance, catch it below.