Rihanna made her long-awaited return to music with 'Lift Me Up'

Rihanna has released her first solo single in six years, a song taken from the soundtrack of the forthcoming Black Panther sequel. Lift Me Up was released on Friday after the singer teased her return to music on social media earlier this week.

The song will appear in Marvel's Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which is set to be released in November.

Director Ryan Coogler said Rihanna's involvement in the project was to honor the late actor Chadwick Boseman. "Honestly, I think it was Chad," he said. "A lot of improbable things needed to happen for it to come through and Rihanna was very clear that she did that for him."

Boseman starred in the first Black Panther film and also appeared in Da 5 Bloods, 21 Bridges and the James Brown biopic Get On Up.

He died in 2020, four years after being diagnosed with colon cancer. Last year, Boseman was posthumously nominated for an Oscar for his performance in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.