Rihanna has just released her first single under her own name in almost six years. The music, “Work,” is included on the soundtrack for the upcoming Black Panther sequel.
Following hints that she would be returning to music earlier this week on social media, the singer finally released her new single, Lift Me Up, on Friday.
The track will make its debut in Marvel’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which is scheduled to hit shelves in the month of November.
According to the film’s director, Ryan Coogler, Rihanna’s participation in the production was a way for her to pay tribute to the late actor Chadwick Boseman. “Honestly, I think it was Chad,” he stated. “A lot of improbable things needed to happen for it to come through and Rihanna was very clear that she did that for him.”
Boseman’s cinematic credits include the original Black Panther movie as well as 21 Bridges, a biography on James Brown, and Da 5 Bloods. In 2020, he passed away, having been given a colon cancer diagnosis four years earlier. After passing away, Boseman was recognized for his work in the film Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom by receiving a nomination for an Academy Award.
Coogler continued, “We knew [Rihanna] was at a point in her life as well where she was focusing on different things – focused on business, motherhood, which is a big theme in our film. We were holding out hope that maybe it could work out and boy did it for this song.”
Rihanna, Coogler, and Nigerian singer-songwriter Tems co-wrote Lift Me Up. Tems has previously collaborated with Drake, Justin Bieber, Future, Wizkid, Beyonce, and Khalid.
Swedish composer Ludwig Goransson, who composed the original Black Panther picture as well as Creed, Venom, and Tenet, produced and co-wrote the song.
