Fashion and makeup mogul, Rihanna has finally listened to her fans, as she drops a new single title Lift Me Up.
The singer turned makeup mogul at midnight on Friday, dropped her first solo release since her Anti album in 2016. “Lift Me Up,” part of the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack, is a moving tribute to the late Chadwick Boseman.
“Lift me up, hold me down / Keep me close, safe and sound,” she sings over the ballad’s strings-heavy instrumental. She goes on to describe drowning in an endless sea, but finding strength in the arms of the person she’s singing to.
The song was co-written by Tems, Ludwig Van Göransson, and director Ryan Coogler, and it’s not the only taste of Rihanna that Black Panther 2, out November 11, will offer.
Few other details have been released about the song, or the soundtrack album that Rihanna is said to be curating in a manner similar to the way Kendrick Lamar helmed the first film’s album.
“After speaking with Ryan and hearing his direction for the film and the song, I wanted to write something that portrays a warm embrace from all the people that I’ve lost in my life. I tried to imagine what it would feel like if I could sing to them now and express how much I miss them,” Tems said in a statement. “Rihanna has been an inspiration to me so hearing her convey this song is a great honor.”
Along with her Super Bowl performance, Rihanna is prepping for her fourth annual Savage X Fenty fashion show which will feature Anitta, Burna Boy, Don Toliver, and Maxwell as performing artists. The event will be premiering exclusively via Prime Video with other bold-faced names such as Ángela Aguilar, Avani Gregg, Bella Poarch, Cara Delevingne and more set to make appearances.
Boseman, who played King T’Challa in the original “Black Panther,” died of colon cancer in 2020 at the age of 43. The follow-up film centers on Wakanda’s leaders as they contend with the death of their ruler and fight to protect their nation from intervening world powers. Angela Bassett, Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyong’o and Winston Duke co-star in the film.