Fresh off of her record-breaking 2023 Super Bowl Halftime performance, Rihanna is set to perform “Lift Me Up” from Marvel’s “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” during the Oscars telecast on March 12, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced on Thursday.
“Lift Me Up” was co-written by Rihanna, Tems, Ludwig Göransson and the film’s director Ryan Coogler. The ballad is nominated for best original song at this year’s Oscars, marking Rihanna’s first-ever Academy Award nomination.
“Hold My Hand” by Lady Gaga and BloodPop, written for “Top Gun: Maverick,” is also nominated in the best original song category. Other films with songs nominated are “Tell It like a Woman,” “RRR” and “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”
It’s already been a huge year for Rihanna. Earlier this month, the nine-time Grammy-winner announced she’s expecting another child with rapper A$AP Rocky following the Super Bowl, where she performed live for the first time in seven years.
“Wakanda Forever” is nominated for five Oscars this season and made history with its star Angela Bassett earning the first-ever acting nomination for a Marvel film. Bassett earned one previous acting nomination for her portrayal of Tina Turner in 1993’s Turner biopic “What’s Love Got to Do With It?”
The Oscars will be broadcast live on ABC from the Dolby Theater in Hollywood on Sunday March 12 at 8pm EST/5pm PST.
Rihanna‘s halftime performance at Super Bowl LVII caused a ton of outrage for folks watching on TV … they flooded the FCC with complaints, saying her set was too big on sex.
The overall takeaway from the folks who felt compelled to complain about Rihanna to the feds … the lyrics and choreography were way too sexualized, with some viewers even comparing it to porn.
TMZ obtained the 103 complaints made to the Federal Communications Commission — a U.S. government agency that regulates television — regarding this month’s Super Bowl broadcast … and almost all of them had to do with RiRi’s halftime show.
Meanwhile, many viewers across the country clutched pearls over the “overtly sexual dancing” and song content heavy on s£xual content.
Rihanna was pregnant so she didn’t dance much … and most of the ire was directed at the background dancers, who some say made gestures that “were patently offensive and completely inappropriate for children.”