Rihanna is expected to sing her Oscar-nominated song "Lift Me Up" for the film "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" at the awards.
Rihanna didn't include "Lift Me Up" in her triumphant Super Bowl 2023 halftime performance on Feb. 12, and there was a reason.
Turns out she was saving the song for the Oscars. Rihanna will perform the ballad released for the movie "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" on stage at the 2023 Academy Awards, which will take place at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood on Sunday, March 12.
"Lift Me Up," with music by Tems, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler and Ludwig Goransson and lyrics by Tems and Ryan Coogler, is nominated for this year's Academy Award for Best Original Song.
Pregnant Rihanna's appearance at the 95th Academy Awards was announced on Thursday, February 23 by Glenn Weiss and Ricky Kirshner, executive producers and showrunners of this year's award ceremony.
Producers will continue to make announcements about the artists who will sing at the awards in the coming weeks.
Rihanna isn't the first artist to perform at the Academy Awards and the Super Bowl Halftime Show in the same calendar year.
Phil Collins performed at both events in 2000, though he was not the sole Super Bowl halftime headliner, but part of a lineup that also included Christina Aguilera, Enrique Iglesias and Toni Braxton.
Collins had performed the song "Two Worlds" from the movie "Tarzan" on January 30, 2000 at that year's Super Bowl. Two months later, on March 26, Phil Collins performed another Tarzan song he wrote at the Oscars, "You'll Be in My Heart," which eventually won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. .
In addition to Rihanna's "Lift Me Up", four other songs are up for the Oscar for Best Original Song this year.
These are 'Applause' from 'Tell It like A Woman' (with music and lyrics by Diane Warren), 'Hold My Hand' from 'Top Gun Maverick' (with music and lyrics by Lady Gaga and BloodPop) , 'Naatu Naatu' from 'RRR' (composed by MM Keeravaani and lyrics by Chandrabose) and 'This Is A Life' from 'Everything Everywhere All At Once' (composed by Ryan Lott, David Byrne and Mitski and lyrics by Ryan Lott and David Byrne).
"Lift Me Up" was Rihanna's first solo song in nearly seven years and earned the famous singer her first Oscar nomination.
