Rihanna Performs—and Pays Tribute to Chadwick Boseman—at Oscars 2023

One month to the day after performing a medley of her biggest hits at Super Bowl LVII—and revealing her second pregnancy in the process—Rihanna took the stage at the Oscars 2023 to perform “Lift Me Up,” her nominated song from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

The ballad, an elegiac ode to Chadwick Boseman—the original Black Panther star, who died of colon cancer in 2020—marks Rihanna’s first solo vocal effort since the release of her last album, Anti, in 2016. She shares writing credit (and the Oscar nomination) with Nigerian singer-songwriter Tems, Wakanda Forever director Ryan Coogler, and composer Ludwig Göransson, an Oscar winner for his work on the first Black Panther film. 

Draped in jewels, the Grammy winner performed her soaring song on a platform that gradually rose as the music swelled. 

Rihanna and her cowriters face stiff competition in the best original song category: they’re up against previous winner Lady Gaga, who’s nominated with Bloodpop for “Hold My Hand” from Top Gun: Maverick; David Byrne, Ryan Lott, and Mitski, who joined forces for Everything Everywhere All at Once’s “This Is a Life;” honorary Oscar winner and 14-time nominee Diane Warren, for “Applause” from Tell It Like a Woman; and the buoyant “Naatu Naatu” from international sensation RRR, written by Kala Bhairava, M. M. Keeravani, and Rahul Sipligunj.

Fans hoping to see another celebrity at the Dolby Theatre, though, were destined to be disappointed. Rihanna revealed in a tweet earlier this month that her eldest child with A$AP Rocky—whose name has still not been publicly revealed—would be sitting out the ceremony. But evidently, the infant is still a fan of “Lift Me Up.”