Today, Rihanna makes her official return to music after six years, and it’s for a specific reason: To honor the late Chadwick Boseman.
“Lift Me Up,” released today, is the lead single from Marvel’s upcoming Wakanda Forever soundtrack. On it, Rihanna sings of longing for someone you’ve lost and looking for the light in dark places.
The song was written by Rihanna, Tems, Ludwig Göransson and Black Panther director Ryan Coogler for Boseman. Coogler shared that Rihanna’s intentionality is what has made the song so powerful.
“When she recorded ‘Lift Me Up,’ which was incredibly moving for me, she said, ‘I was trying to do this man and his family justice. I was trying to make something worthy of what he gave to us,'” Coogler told HipHopDX. “So I take no credit in that. We was all just playing a role.”
Boseman, who played King T’Challa in the original Black Panther, died of colon cancer in 2020 at the age of 43. The upcoming sequel will follow Wakanda’s leaders as they deal with the aftermath of their leader’s death and fight to protect their nation from outside powers.
Wakanda Forever — Music For and Inspired By will drop Nov. 4, a week before the sequel premieres in theaters Nov. 11.
