The day has come, people. Rihanna is back with an announcement for a new song titled, “Lift Me Up” for the new Marvel movie Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. “Lift Me Up” is Rihanna’s first song as the lead artist since 2016, written in collaboration with Nigerian singer and producer Tems, producer Ludwig Goransson, and director of the film Ryan Coogler.
According to a press release, Rihanna, Tems, Goransson, and Coogler wrote “Lift Me Up” as a tribute to Chadwick Boseman, the star of the first Black Panther film who died in 2020 of cancer.
Fans have anxiously awaited Rihanna’s return to music, as the pop icon has been on musical hiatus since her last full-length release, “Anti” in 2016. Here’s Kehinde Adebimpe, a senior studying cinemas studies, with her thoughts hiatuses.
I mean, if someone needs to take a hiatus, it’s good to stay out of the spotlight, like let’s give yourself some space. And, you know, she’s been working on her businesses, so that’s like a lot to handle. So, yeah, it’s a good thing.
Indeed, Rihanna has been hard at work these past six years growing her makeup and lingerie brands, Fenty and Savage x Fenty, respectively. But, in September, it was announced that she would be headlining the 57th Superbowl Halftime Show next February 12th, continuing assumptions of her apparent return to msuic. Karla Ortega, a junior studying communication, thinks the Superbowl Halftime Show is the perfect stage for possible new music.
I feel like that’s like the perfect platform to like promote that on. So many people are going to be watching. And I feel like if anything, she doesn’t promote it. I feel like people are just going to be going crazy because people just that’s all they’re expecting from her.
As for what we can expect sonically or thematically from Rihanna?
Hmm. I’m not too sure. I mean, like most of the big stars have been coming out with, like, electronic dance music, like Drake and Beyonce. Yeah. So maybe something like that or like something dedicated to her newborn baby. You don’t.
I feel like it’s just going to be an explosive soundtrack of that makes sense....So I feel like it’s just going to be pumped up. And, you know, you can just just see, like how she’s been kind of holding back and she’s just going to, like, let everything go now.
I feel like she makes really great music and I feel like her vibe goes with Black Panther. So I think it’s going to be like it’s not going to be disappointing.
“Lift Me Up” will be available on all streaming platforms this Friday, October 28th. The full Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack will be out November 4th.
For Annenberg Media, I’m Ashley Nguyen.