How does she do it? Once again, Lupita Nyong'o has us in tears with her performance. Only this time, it's not some Academy Award-worthy movie that has us bawling our eyes out, it's the 30-second trailer for Jay-Z's new album. Nyong'o is the star of Jay-Z's latest teaser for 4:44, which may or may not be his Lemonade but is definitely a visual album that also features Moonlight star and fellow Oscar winner Mahershala Ali.
This clip, titled "MaNyfaCedGod," focuses solely on Nyong'o. She doesn't say a word, just lets her facial expressions do the talking in the black and white clip. If we were to guess, we'd say Nyong'o is definitely going through some stuff. She stares the camera down and gives one of the best crying faces we've ever seen. Seriously, can someone get an Oscar for a 30-second performance? If so, Nyong'o has our vote.
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Just as Nyong'o looks like she's about to speak, the teaser cuts away to let us know we'll have to wait until Friday, June 30 to see this film in full. You'll also need a Tidal subscription, since 4:44 will be released exclusively there. Luckily, if you're a Sprint customer, you'll also get access to Jay-Z's latest project, which got him to bring back the hyphen in his name. Not to mention, Sprint users will get a free 6-month Tidal HiFi subscription.
Unlike a previous 4:44 teaser, which featured Jay's new song "Adnis" as Ali does a little boxing with Danny Glover, this one doesn't let us hear any of his rhymes. No surprise, since the rapper has clearly wanted to keep this project as mysterious as he can. Perhaps, taking a page from his wife Beyoncé's epic secret album drops.
What we do know, it there is a charitable aspect to this project. Tidal and Sprint will work through the 1Million Project to provide underprivileged high school students with free mobile devices and internet access to improve their studies.
Oh, and that Nyong'o is clearly going to kill it in this film. As if she could do anything else.