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She’s back. Rihanna’s “Lift Me Up” from the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack is here and it’s a touching tribute to Chadwick Boseman. The song—which came two weeks before the Black Panther sequel’s premiere—is Rihanns’s first solo song in more than six years.
Rihanna first teased the single on October 26, with a post on her social media. The song was also hinted on billboards across the world.”lift me up 10.28.22,” she tweeted at the time with a clip of “Lift Me Up.” The song was written by Rihanna, Ludwig Göransson, Tems, producer Ludwig Göransson and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever director Ryan Coogler. In a Marvel press release for “Lift Me Up,” Göransson talked about how working with Rihanna was an “honor.” “After speaking with Ryan and hearing his direction for the film and the song, I wanted to write something that portrays a warm embrace from all the people that I’ve lost in my life,” Göransoon said. “I tried to imagine what it would feel like if I could sing to them now and express how much I miss them. Rihanna has been an inspiration to me so hearing her convey this song is a great honor.”
So what are Rihanna’s “Life Me Up” lyrics and what is the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever song about? Read on for the full lyrics to Rihanna’s “Lift Me Up” and the inspiration for her newest single.
What are Rihanna’s “Lift Me Up” lyrics about?
What are Rihanna’s “Life Me Up” lyrics about? “Lift Me Up” is a tribute to late actor Chadwick Boseman who played Wakanda’s leader, King T’Challa / Black Panther, in four Marvel Cinematic Universe movies: 2016’s Captain America: Civil War; 2018’s Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War; and 2019’s Avengers: Endgame.Chadwick died from colon cancerin August 2020 at the age of 43 and his death had a profound impact on the cast and crew involved with the Black Panther movies. The tribute is clear in lyrics like: “Keep me in the warmth of your love when you depart / Keep me safe / Safe and sound.”
Director Ryan Coogler also explained to The Hollywood Reporter in October 2022 how he thought of the idea for Rihanna to record the main single from the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack.“[I was] looking for artists who would embody it thematically,” he said. “Rihanna, man, we knew she 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. I can’t wait for people to hear it.”
The original Black Panther’s soundtrack was written and curated by Kendrick Lamar with artists featured like Schoolboy Q, Vince Staples, Jorja Smith, Travis Scott, the Weeknd and Khalid. The lead song “All The Stars” featuring SZA scored an Oscar nomination for original song, in addition to numerous Grammy nominations. In a press statement, Marvel’s collaboration “ushers in the next era of Rihanna’s iconic career.” The single will be the first solo single from the “Umbrella” singer since her album ANTI was released in 2016. The single will also be her first music released before Rihanna performs at the anticipated 2023 Super Bowl LVIII Half-Time Show in February 2023. The Black Panther 2 soundtrack, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever – Music From and Inspired By, will be available on November 4, 2022. The soundtrack album producers include Ryan Coogler, Ludwig Göransson, Archie Davis and Dave Jordan. The Black Panther: Wakanda Forever – Original Score, composed and produced by Ludwig Göransson, will be available on November 11, 2022 from Hollywood Records.
In an interview with the Associated Press in 2021, Rihanna teased her upcoming ninth studio album, which will be her first LP since 2016’s Anti. “You’re not gonna expect what you hear,” she said at the time. “Just put that in your mind. Whatever you know of Rihanna is not gonna be what you hear. I’m really experimenting and music is, like, it’s like fashion. You should be able to play. I should be able to wear whatever I want and I treat music the same way.” Rihanna also added that she’s “having fun” while recording her new record, which will be “completely different” from her past releases. Rihanna also called Anti her best album “to this day” in a 2022 interview with Vogue and revealed that she wanted her next album to be “completely” different from the record. “I’m looking at my next project completely differently from the way I had wanted to put it out before. I think this way suits me better, a lot better,” she said. “It’s authentic, it’ll be fun for me, and it takes a lot of the pressure off.”
“Lift Me Up” was also nominated for Best Original Song at the 2023 Oscars. In an Instagram post in March 2023, Rihanna joked about how she and her son with A$AP Rocky learned about her first Oscar nomination. “my son when he found out his sibling is going to the Oscars and not him @theacademy #oscarnominee #oscarperformancein1week,” she captioned a series of photos and videos of her and her baby boy watching the Oscar nominations.
In an interview with Forbes in March 2023, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever‘s music supervisor, Dave Jordan, explained how Marvel Studios got Rihanna to record an original song for the Black Panther sequel. “Whenever you go after big artists, it’s not going happen in a week,” he said. “It always takes months because there’s layers of people you have to go through.”
He continued, “We knew that we had something very special, and if we could just show her the film. By the time we showed her the movie, it was pretty clear what the vision was. She saw the movie in New York, if I remember correctly and was all in, immediately.” Jordan also confirmed there were no backup artists if Rihanna declined to record “Lift Me Up.” “We’re just going make it happen. It just has to happen,” he said. “It’s just destiny.”
In an interview with Empire magazine in 2022, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige explained why the studio decided to not recast T’Challa after Boseman’s death.“It just felt like it was much too soon to recast,” he said. “Stan Lee always said that Marvel represents the world outside your window. And we had talked about how, as extraordinary and fantastical as our characters and stories are, there’s a relatable and human element to everything we do. The world is still processing the loss of Chad. And [director] Ryan [Coogler] poured that into the story.” He continued, “The conversations were entirely about, yes, ‘What do we do next?’ And how could the legacy of Chadwick — and what he had done to help Wakanda and the Black Panther become these incredible, aspirational, iconic ideas — continue? That’s what it was all about.”
Producer Nate Moore also explained why T’Challa wasn’t recast in a 2021 inteview on “The Ringer-Verse” podcast. “We just couldn’t do it,” he said. “When Chad passed, it was a real conversation we had with [director Ryan] Coogler about what do we do, and it was a fast conversation,” Moore said. “I think we all feel so much of T’Challa in the MCU on the screen – not in comics – is tied to Chadwick’s performance, is what he brought to that role both on and off-screen.” He added that the most difficult challenge of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was how to tell “a story without T’Challa” He continued, “[There will be a] level of … catharsis in people coming back this universe without that guy, because that guy and that universe to me are one in the same”.
Winston Duke, who plays M’Baku in the Black Panther movies, also explained on “Jemele Hill is Unbothered” podcast in 2022 why he agreed with Marvel’s decision to not recast Boseman as T’Challa. I think for this iteration of Black Panther, it’s very hard for me to comment on something like that because I’m of the mind that this is Chadwick’s role. Chadwick created this and Black Panther wouldn’t be the same without Chadwick Boseman who stood for the things that he stood for. When you cast a person, you’re also casting their experiences, you’re casting their politics, you’re casting all these things. Black Panther was heavily defined by the actor that did it, in my opinion,” he said.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever premiered in theaters on November 11, 2022, and is available to stream on Disney Plus. Here’s how to watch it for free. Read Rihanna’s “Lift Me Up” lyrics via Genius below.
Image: Marvel / Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures /Courtesy Everett Collection.
Rihanna “Lift Me Up” lyrics
[Chorus]
Lift me up
Hold me down
Keep me close
Safe and sound
[Verse 1]
Burning in a hopeless dream
Hold me when you go to sleep
Keep me in the warmth of your love
When you depart, keep me safe
Safe and sound
[Chorus]
Lift me up
Hold me down
Keep me close
Safe and sound
[Verse 2]
Drowning in an endless sea
Take some time and stay with me
Keep me in the strength of your arms
Keep me safe
Safe and sound
[Chorus]
Lift me up
Hold me down
Keep me safe
Safe and sound
[Verse 3]
Burning in a hopeless dream
Hold me when you go to sleep
Keep me safe
We need light, we need love
[Chorus]
(Lift me up) Lift me up in your arms
(Hold me down) I need love, I need love, I need love
(Keep me close) Hold me, hold me
(Safe and sound) Hold me, hold me, hold me, hold me
(Lift me up) Hold me, hold me, hold me, hold me
(Hold me down) Hold me, hold me
(Keep me safe) We need light, we need love
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