After blowing everyone away at the Super Bowl halftime show, Rihanna will perform “Lift Me Up” at the 95th Oscars, executive producers and showrunners Glenn Weiss and Ricky Kirshner announced on Thursday.
The “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” ballad is the superstar’s first Best Original Song nomination. She shares a writing credit with director Ryan Coogler, composer Ludwig Göransson and Nigerian singer Tems.
The Grammy-winning artist’s performance comes weeks after her Super Bowl halftime show, her first time on stage in more than four years, during which she surprise-announced her pregnancy.
The Oscars performance will make Rihanna the second artist to perform on the Super Bowl halftime show and do a nominated song at the Oscars in the same year, following Phil Collins in 2000. But Collins was one of several performers at that Super Bowl; Rihanna will be the first to headline at the Super Bowl and then perform on the Oscars.
Also competing in the category are Lady Gaga and co-writer BloodPop for “Top Gun: Maverick”s “Hold My Hand”; Diane Warren for “Applause,” from the anthology movie “Tell It Like a Woman”; “RRR”s “Naatu Naatu,” by M. M. Keeravani and Chandrabose; and “This is a Life” from “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” by Mitski, David Byrne and Son Lux.
The Academy has not announced if all the Best Original Song nominees will perform during the telecast, but a person with knowledge of the plans told TheWrap that it was likely all the songs would be performed on the show.
Rihanna, Mitski, Son Lux, BloodPop, Keeravani and Chandrabose are first-time nominees, while Warren – who holds the record for most-nominated songwriter without a win – scored her 14th nod. Byrne, along with Ryuichi Sakamoto and Cong Su, won Best Original Score for 1988’s “The Last Emperor.” This year marks his second nomination and first in the Best Original Song category. In 2019, Gaga won for “Shallow” from “A Star is Born” with her collaborators Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando and Andrew Wyatt.
Jimmy Kimmel will host the 95th Oscars on Sunday, March 12. Additional performers will be announced in the weeks leading up to the ceremony.
