Rihanna has announced her first new single in six years.
The singer tweeted the title and date “10.28.22” of the song Lift Me Up along with a 14-second clip of the song.
Lift Me Up will be the upcoming lead single Miracle “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”.
In the clip, rising music can be heard as well as the Barbadian singer’s distinctive hum as the “R” comes into view, next to her name and the song’s title written in Wakandan, which is used in the fictional world of comics language.
The song is slated for release on October 28, two weeks before the film’s November 11 premiere.
The release of Lift Me Up marks the beginning of Rihanna’s return to music that will eventually lead her to headlines Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show in February.
The Nigerian singer-songwriter Tems, who co-wrote the song with Rihanna, Swedish composer Ludwig Goransen and film director Ryan Coogler, said it was “a great honor to hear Rihanna perform the song” “.
Temes said: “After talking to Ryan and hearing his direction for the film and song, I wanted to write something to portray the warm embrace of all the people I’ve lost in my life. I tried to imagine what that would feel like. Like I can sing to them now and express how much I miss them.”
The song is said to be a tribute to the life of Chadwick Boseman, who played King T’Challa in the first Black Panther film.
Boseman, widely acclaimed for his performance in the first film, died of colon cancer in 2020 at the age of 43.
Wakanda Forever focuses on the leaders of fictional nations as they deal with the death of their monarch and fight to protect Wakanda from other world powers.
The film stars Angela Bassett, Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke and Martin Freeman.