Opinions & Features

Rihanna’s comeback with ‘Lift Me Up’ was everything we hoped for

After six years, music superstar Rihanna made her musical comeback by releasing her first track, “Lift Me Up,” for Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. The award-winning singer’s return to the music industry after taking a break to work on her business, which increased her status by making her a billionaire, is hugely crucial to the music and movie industries. 

Everyone, notably the “Navy”, is delighted about Rihanna’s return. Since the announcement, it has been difficult to miss the widespread acceptance of Rihanna as the singer of the tribute song to the late Chadwick Boseman; it just seems fitting. 

The song did not disappoint. The song, which Tems co-wrote, is a stunning work of art. It’s a ballad that subtly piques your interest in King T’Challa’s persona and Boseman as an actor. The song honors the late actor Boseman, who portrayed the main character in the first “Black Panther” movie and died in November 2020 at the age of 43 after a protracted battle with colon cancer.

The song’s lyrics are a big remembrance of both how Boseman’s role inspired his fans and how they felt when they saw him in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Both times, he gave individuals a sense of security. Additionally, as a result of being reminded of his selflessness throughout his life journey, the fact that he knew his time was limited and chose to share his talent with the world sends listeners of this song on an emotional rollercoaster.

Beautifully expressing the lyrics was Rihanna. In music, lyrics are frequently extraordinarily well written, but if they are not delivered in a way that makes the emotions of the song come through, the track may not have the effect that it was intended to have. Rihanna’s graceful and heartfelt delivery in this instance makes it flawless since it gives the listeners all it was intended to.

As Rihanna’s first collaboration with a Nigerian, her work with Tems is legendary. Temilade Openiyi, better known by her stage name Tems, has demonstrated her prowess in the music business by confirming that she co-wrote the song “Lift Me Up.” It is important to note that Rema was included in this song, which helped to popularize Nigerian acrobat musicians abroad. We anticipate more collaborations with African acts now that Rihanna has returned to the music scene. 

Rihanna’s first single in six years is the song included on the Wakanda Forever soundtrack album. Rihanna hasn’t released any new music since her eighth studio album, “Anti,” was released on January 28, 2016.

The singer will also start performing live again. In September, it was announced that she would take the stage at the Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show in February.

Deborah Dzifa Makafui

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