Oscars 2023: Rihanna to Perform 'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever' Original Song
Rihanna is tackling another first! On Thursday, it was announced that the singer will perform her Oscar-nominated single, «Lift Me Up,» from at the 95th Academy Awards.The nine-time GRAMMY winner earned her first Oscar nomination for the film soundtrack's lead single, which plays during the end credits of the sequel. The song was penned by singer Tems, Oscar winner Ludwig Göransson, Rihanna and director Ryan Coogler, and serves as a eulogy to Chadwick Boseman, who played King T'Challa, aka Black Panther, and died at the age of 43 after a four-year battle with colon cancer. In the Best Original Song category, the song is up against Diane Warren's «Applause» (Lady Gaga's «Hold My Hand» (NTR and Ram Charan's«Naatu Naatu» (and Son Lux, Mitski and David Byrne's «This Is a Life» (The release of «Lift Me Up» marked the soon-to-be mom of two's first single in six years and the first foray in the next era of Rihanna's iconic career. The single picked up a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song (Motion Picture), but ultimately lost to «Naatu Naatu» from . In October 2022, Coogler opened up to ET about being «forever grateful» for Rihanna's contribution to the emotional track — and for coming out of musical hibernation. «I'll say this, I didn't get [Rihanna] to do anything.