In a new interview, Ryan Coogler unveils how he convinced the pop superstar to broke her self-imposed hiatus to create a track titled 'Lift Me Up' as a tribute to the first film's star, who died in 2020 aged 43.
- Oct 31, 2022
AceShowbiz - Rihanna seemingly needs to be convinced before making a return to music. In a new interview, "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" director Ryan Coogler unveiled how he told the pop superstar to get out of her self-imposed hiatus.
Rihanna returned to music to record a song in honour of Chadwick Boseman. The pop star broke her hiatus and got back into the studio to create a track called "Lift Me Up" for the "Black Panther 2" soundtrack and the movie's director Ryan has now revealed she saw the project as a tribute to the first film's star Chadwick, who died in 2020 aged 43.
According to Screenrant, Coogler explained how the collaboration came about during a press event, saying, "The truth is we were looking for a great artist who could tell the story of the film, embrace the themes of the film, and present them to the audience in a different packaging ... This film is different [to the first film]. It made sense that it would be a woman, and it made sense that it would be someone who could speak to not necessarily the words but the feeling of motherhood, because that's a major theme in this film."
He added of the pop star, "I think it timed up that she was in that kind of space in her life, and she was open. It was really the trailer, I think, when she saw the performances that everybody was putting down. That was what kind of put her over the edge and [made her] say, 'Hey, I want to see this film. I want to see if I can figure this out.' "
However, Coogler revealed Rihanna was very open about the one big reason she wanted to record the song. He went on, "The truth is, once she played us the record, she said straight up, 'I did this for Chad.' It was him, man. And sitting here thinking about it, it's hitting me right now ... Chad brought us all together, you know what I mean? He just keeps on and keeps on giving. I'm just really thankful that Rihanna was the latest gift to join the family, and I can't wait for folks to see how it's used in the film."
