Source: USA Today – Rihanna has mostly lived in our makeup bags, lingerie drawers and Instagram feeds for the past six years as she focused on her beauty and apparel businesses and became a mom. Now, she’s back in our ears with the release of “Lift Me Up” – her first new music since her 2016 album “Anti.”
The song is the lead single of the “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” soundtrack and was co-written by the bad gal herself in collaboration with Tems, the movie’s director Ryan Coogler and Swedish composer Ludwig Göransson in tribute to late “Black Panther” actor Chadwick Boseman.
The song comes as a soft ballad with sweet strings that make Rihanna’s voice the focal point as she sings a simple chorus, “Lift me up, Hold me down, Keep me close, Safe and sound.”
Before eager ears got the chance to hear the full more than a 3-minute song, Rihanna teased the new music with a 14-second clip of her humming the opening notes.
Co-writer Tems said Rihanna’s voice “has been an inspiration” to her and she wanted to write “Lift Me Up” so that it felt like a “warm embrace” from all of the people she’s lost.
“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 news release Wednesday.
The full “Black Panther” soundtrack will release on Nov. 4, a week before the movie releases on Nov. 11.
Rihanna, 34, and her boyfriend A$AP Rocky had a date night without their baby as they stepped out on the red carpet for the world premiere of the film Wednesday night. The “Fashion Killa” couple sauntered down the press line in coordinating Rick Owens outfits.
The singer is expected to get on an even bigger stage in February as she’s set to headline the 2023 Super Bowl halftime show. Very few details about her performance have surfaced since she made the announcement in September.
Jay-Z, who founded the Roc Nation label that has an entertainment partnership with the NFL, praised the halftime show choice in a news release saying Rihanna is “a generational talent, a woman of humble beginnings who has surpassed expectations at every turn.”
The rapper added: “A person born on the small island of Barbados who became one of the most prominent artists ever. Self-made in business and entertainment.”
In May, Rihanna and A$AP Rocky welcomed their first child together after breaking the internet with a pregnancy announcement in January.
Ahead of their baby’s arrival, Rihanna graced the cover of Vogue magazine’s May issue where she discussed her relationship with Rocky.
“People don’t get out of the friend zone very easily with me,” she said in the cover story published on April 12. “And I certainly took a while to get over how much I know him and how much he knows me because we also know how much trouble we can land each other in.”
