LONDON –
Chart-topper Rihanna released her first solo in six years on Friday, an emotional ballad written in tribute to the late actor Chadwick Boseman.
“Lift Me Up,” the first new song by the Barbados-born Rihanna since her 2016 album “Anti,” is featured on the soundtrack of the upcoming Marvel movie “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”
The move is a sequel to the 2018 box office hit “Black Panther,” in which Boseman stars as King T’Challa.
The actor passed away in 2020 after a 4-year battle with colon cancer, which he kept secret. He is 43 years old.
“So lucky to have written this song in honor of Chadwick Boseman and even luckier to hear that the worst @badgalriri performed it perfectly,” Tems, the song’s co-writer, wrote on Instagram, mention Rihanna.
Rihanna’s fans have been waiting for the sequel to “Anti”, her eighth studio album. While the singer, born Robyn Fenty, has performed “Lemon” and “Believe it” in recent years, “Lift Me Up” is her first solo release since ” Anti”.
Earlier this week, the 34-year-old Grammy winner, who will perform at the Super Bowl tournament show in February, unveiled a new track in which she sings: “Raise me / Hold me down / Hold me near/Peaceful.”
In recent years, Rihanna, who topped charts that include “Umbrella,” “Diamonds” and “Work,” has evolved her makeup and lingerie lines. She welcomed a baby in May with rapper partner A$AP Rocky
Reported by Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Edited by Andrew Cawthorne
