MUSIC SUPERSTAR Rihanna has been announced as performer at 2023 Oscars

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that music superstar Rihanna will make her debut performance at this year’s ceremony.

Fresh from her highly successful Super Bowl halftime show on February 12, the Grammy Award-winning pop star is set to perform Lift Me Up from the movie Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

The track, which reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100 last November, features credits from Wakanda Forever director Ryan Coogler, composer Ludwig Göransson, and Nigerian singer Tems.

It was also nominated for Best Original Song at the Oscars, marking another first for the pop star. The movie itself received five nominations, including Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Angela Bassett, Best Costume Design, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, and Best Visual Effects.

Rihanna’s performance at the Super Bowl doubled as an announcement to the world that she was pregnant with her second child. Dressed in a bright red jumpsuit, she performed 12 of her hits in 13 minutes.

At the 95th Oscars, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, Rihanna will be competing against other nominees for Best Original Song, including Lady Gaga, who received a nomination for Hold My Hand from Top Gun: Maverick, and Diane Warren, who received her 14th Oscar nomination for Applause” from Tell It Like a Woman. Lady Gaga previously won an Oscar in 2019 for Shallow with Bradley Cooper.

“Lift Me Up is a song that holds great meaning to us as it was written as a tribute to the extraordinary life and legacy of our friend, the late Chadwick Boseman, and his influence on this film,” Göransson said in a statement. Boseman, known for his role as King T’Challa in Marvel’s “Black Panther,” died in 2020 after a four-year battle with cancer. 

“It was an honor to work with these incredible musicians in crafting a song for our film and for our friend,” Coogler said in a statement after the nomination. “It was meant to be a tribute to love and the spectre of loss, and I couldn’t be happier that it is being recognized.”

The movie earned five nominations in total including Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Angela Bassett, Best Costume.