Rihanna will officially be heading to the Oscars next month.
The singer, having recently performed this year’s NFL Super Bowl halftime show, will be performing her Original Song nominee ‘Lift Me Up’ on the Academy Awards stage.
‘Lift Me Up’ was performed and written by Rihanna alongside Black Panther: Wakanda Forever director Ryan Coogler, Tems, and Ludgwig Goransson, the film’s composer.
Last October, Coogler explained how he convinced Rihanna to join the Marvel project, after not releasing new music sincce her 2016 album ‘Anti’.
“I can’t take sole credit for that,” Coogler said, per Metro. “We got an incredible composer, Ludwig Goransson, who is also a music producer, he’s got a great reputation. He made ‘This Is America’ with Childish Gambino.
“The movie was a major factor, big thanks to Jay Brown, Roc Nation and Jay Z who’s a friend and made the connection.”
He continued: “Look, Rihanna has given us a whole career, a whole catalogue of music and now she’s given us make-up and clothing and I think the world would understand if she hung up her mic, and I completely understand because I love her music and I feel that she’s given all that [we] could ask for.
“But the truth is we were looking for a great artist who could tell the story of the film, embrace the themes of the film and present them to the audience in a different packaging.”
Rihanna recently discussed her ninth album, saying it will be “ridiculous” if it doesn’t get released this year.
“I want it to be this year,” she said. “Like, honestly, it’d be ridiculous if it’s not this year. But I just want to have fun. I just want to make music and make videos.”
The post Rihanna to perform ‘Black Panther’ song at the Oscars appeared first on NME.
