Rihanna will perform the Oscar-nominated song “Lift Me Up” from “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” at the 95th Academy Awards ceremony, executive producers and showrunners Glenn Weiss and Ricky Kirshner have announced. Hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, the Oscars will air live on ABC and broadcast outlets worldwide on Sunday, March 12.
“Lift Me Up,” with music by Tems, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler and Ludwig Goransson and lyric by Tems and Ryan Coogler, is nominated for original song. It is Rihanna’s first Oscar nomination.
Rihanna, who has not released a new album since 2016’s “Anti,” headlined the Super Bowl halftime show earlier this month — although her musical performance was somewhat overshadowed by the fact that she revealed she is several months pregnant with her second child. Rihanna made no reference to it during the show but was visibly pregnant and reps confirmed the news to Variety shortly after the performance.
While many actors and celebrities have presented or accepted awards at the Oscars while pregnant, Catherine Zeta-Jones is the only other name in recent memory to perform a musical number at the Academy Awards while pregnant. Jones was eight months pregnant when she performed “I Move On” from “Chicago” at the 2003 Oscars with Queen Latifah. Jones won the Oscar for best supporting actress that year, and she gave birth to her daughter Carys just a few weeks later.
The 95th Oscars will be held on Sunday, March 12 at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood and will be televised live on ABC and in more than 200 territories worldwide.
