The wait is finally over. Rihanna has dropped her first solo single in six years, “Lift Me Up,” the lead single from the soundtrack to Marvel’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, the sequel to the 2018 superhero film starring Chadwick Boseman. The singer co-wrote the ballad with Nigerian songwriter Tems, Swedish producer Ludwig Göransson, and film director Ryan Coogler as a tribute to Boseman, who died in 2020.
Described by Tems as a “warm embrace,” the song opens with gentle but dramatic humming followed by an understated arrangement of piano, Spanish-inflected guitar, and vocals. “Lift me up, hold me down, keep me close, safe and sound,” Rihanna sings in unadorned fashion. The track lacks the climactic power one might expect from a movie anthem of this kind, and it isn’t the return to form that many fans have likely been waiting for, but it has a dreamy, lullaby-ish quality that suits its somber subject matter.
Watch the music video for “Lift Me Up” below:
The soundtrack to Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will be released on November 4th. Details about the long-awaited follow-up to 2016’s Anti remain scarce, but Rihanna will headline the Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show in February.
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Terrible. Amateur singing and an infantile song even a kid wouldn’t want to hum.