Rihanna’s ‘Lift Me Up’ sets emotional ‘Wakanda Forever’ tone

CNN
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Rihanna’s first solo new music in six years is out and tugging at heartstrings.

“Lift Me Up” from the “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” soundtrack was released Friday. The song is already a hit with her faithful fan base, known as Rihanna’s Navy.

The singer teased the release of the song on Wednesday. Within an hour of her posting the 14-second teaser, there were more than 70,000 tweets generated about it, according to Twitter.

The new song begins with Rihanna humming the melody before she launches into the emotional lyrics.

“Lift me up/Hold me down/Keep me close/Safe and sound,” she sings. “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.”

Rihanna also debuted a moving music video for the song on Friday, featuring scenes from the movie.

The song was written by Rihanna, fellow artist Tems, Oscar winner Ludwig Göransson and “Black Panther” director Ryan Coogler as a tribute to the late “Black Panther” star Chadwick Boseman.

Boseman died in 2020 at age 43 following a private battle with colon cancer.

There is already plenty of reaction to the song on social media, including one person who threw in a hopeful prediction by tweeting, “just finished listening to rihanna’s future oscar winning song lift me up.”

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever – Music From and Inspired By” will be released on November 4 and the film hits theaters a week later.