After years of speculation about whether Rihanna would return to music, the singer surprised her fans this Friday with the release of her song “Lift me up”. The song, the first in six years, is an emotional ballad that pays tribute to the deceased actor Chadwick Boseman and is part of the soundtrack of the film Marvel “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”. In this saga released in 2018, Boseman brought King T’Challa to life and it was one of his last jobs before he died in 2020 at the age of 43 from colon cancer.
“Blessed to have written this song in honor of Chadwick Boseman and even more blessed to hear the meanest @badgalriri sing it perfectly,” she wrote. Temilade Openiyi -a Nigerian artist known as teams-, who wrote the song with Rihanna, the composer Ludwig Goranssonand the director of the film, Ryan Coogler.
Marvel had published a mysterious message on Twitter in which the letter “R” of the film’s title was highlighted, which was quickly interpreted as a confirmation that the diva would be the voice of one of the songs.
In addition to Rihanna, Teams can be heard performing Bob Marley’s “No Woman, No Cry” and rapper Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright” in the “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” trailers.
Within the framework of the film, whose premiere was held this Thursday in Los Angeles, and with a release date on the big screen for the next November 11ththe lyrics talk about the loss of a loved one and it arose after a conversation with the director of the film about the meaning that it would adopt without the actor.
“After talking with Ryan and hearing the direction he wanted to make of the movie and the song, I wanted to write something that portrayed a warm embrace from all the people I’ve lost in my life. I tried to imagine how I would feel if I could sing to them now and express how much I miss them,” Teams said in a statement collected by vulture.
Thus, the first verses say “Lift me up / Hold me down / Keep me close / Safe and sound” (Raise me / Hug me / Keep me close / Safe and sound).
As fans speculated, the song would be part of the disk that the singer promised. It could be a double effort, made up of an album with pop tones and a more experimental one, based on his Caribbean roots.
“I like to think of it as a reggae-inspired record. It’s not going to be reggae as we know it, but there will be elements like that in all the tracks. It’s in my blood, no matter how far I am from that culture or the environment I grew up in. It never leaves me and, although I explored other styles, it is time to go back”, he had mentioned in the past in an interview with fashion.
“R9”the provisional name of the album -waiting for its official title- could be closer than it is believed since Rihanna confirmed in September that she will be the protagonist of the halftime show of the superbowl, next February 12 in Arizona. This mega show would be the perfect setting for the artist to include some of her new songs.
(With information from Reuters and EFE)
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End of the wait: Rihanna returned to music with her song “Lift me up”