“Help me up/Hold me tight/Keep me close/Safe and sound”.
After six years of absence, the warm and powerful voice of Rihanna resonated this Friday, October 28 at 6 a.m. on streaming platforms around the world.
His new song is called “Lift Me Up”.
A pretty acoustic ballad of 3 minutes 15, very gently, carried by an acoustic guitar and violins, which allows him to reconnect with music with grace and delicacy.
Which has not always been the case in the career of the stirring singer of "Umbrella" and "Don't Stop The Music".
“Lift Me Up” is the first extract from “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”, the second part of the Marvel saga.
The song was written in tribute to Chadwick Boseman, the actor who played the superhero in the first part of the saga, who died of colon cancer in August 2020, at just 43 years old.
It was composed by Nigerian singer and musician Tems, Swedish Oscar-winning producer Ludwig Göransson, Rihanna and Ryan Coogler.
Recorded in five countries, the song was produced by Göransson, who had already produced the soundtrack to the first "Black Panther" and worked with Childish Gambino in particular.
"After talking with Ryan
(Coogler)
and hearing his direction for the film and the song, I wanted to write something that portrays a warm embrace to all the people I've lost in my life," says Tems, who signed the lyrics.
I tried to imagine what it would be like if I could sing for them now and express how much I miss them.
Rihanna has been an inspiration to me, so to hear her pass on this song is a great honor.
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She is expected to announce a world tour soon
This ballad marks Rihanna's comeback.
The soundtrack of “Black Panther” will be released on November 11, at the same time as the film and it should include a second song interpreted by the singer.
His long-awaited new solo album, which has been talked about for two years, supposedly finished and reggae-heavy, has yet to be announced.
Nothing is official, but her release should logically coincide with her participation in the show at halftime of the next Super Bowl, February 12, 2023. A first that makes her, she says, “nervous and excited”.
The 34-year-old singer should also soon announce a world tour, which would pass by the Stade de France next summer.
She has not been on stage since the end of 2016 for her last album, "Anti", which had marked a rather experimental turn.
Since then, the shrewd businesswoman has devoted herself to her cosmetics brand "Fenty Beauty" and to that of lingerie "Savage & Fenty", which have been massively successful and brought her a considerable fortune.
She has been in a relationship since December 2020 with the turbulent American rapper A$AP Rocky.
They are the same age and had a baby boy together last May.