Rihanna to perform Lift Me Up from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever at Oscars 2023

Rihanna will be performing her Oscar-nominated song Lift Me Up from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever at the 95th Academy Awards ceremony. Executive producers and showrunners Glenn Weiss and Ricky Kirshner made the announcement on Friday (February 23). 

Written by Rihanna, vocalist Tems, Oscar winner Ludwig Göransson, and Wakanda Forever director Ryan Coogler, Lift Me Up earned Rihanna her first Oscars nomination. The song acts as an eulogy to Chadwick Boseman, who played King T'Challa, aka Black Panther in the movie. The actor passed away at the age of 43 following a four-year fight with colon cancer. 

The other nominees for the best original song are Applause from Tell It like a Woman, Hold My Hand from Top Gun: Maverick, Naatu Naatu from RRR, and This Is a Life from Everything Everywhere All at Once. 

More on Rihanna's singing career 

Lift Me Up is Rihanna's first single in six years and it is seen as start of the next phase of her legendary career. The song was also nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Original Song (Motion Picture) but lost to Naatu Naatu from RRR. 

The 35-years-old singer has already had a successful year. The nine-time Grammy winner announced her second pregnancy with rapper A$AP Rocky earlier this month, following the Super Bowl, where she made her first live performance in seven years.

Wakanda Forever is up for five Oscars this year including Angela Bassett in the Best Supporting Actress category for her performance of Queen Ramonda. This marks Marvel's first-ever acting award nomination. For Angela, this marks her second nomination at the Oscars overall. She got her first nomination in the Best Actress category for her portrayal of Tina Turner in What's Love Got to Do With It. 

Oscars 2023 will take place on Sunday, March 12, at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood. Jimmy Kimmel will return as the host after previously leading the awards show in 2017 and 2018.