Rihanna's first Oscar nomination in 2023, her Chadwick Boseman tribute "Lift Me Up" won best original song Nominated. Shockingly, the nine-time Grammy winner has never even attended the Oscars as a guest, leaving fans wondering if she will make her Oscar debut as a first-time nominee on March 12.
Rihanna will attend and perform at the 2023 Oscars. The Academy announced Rihanna as a performer on February 24. The billionaire mother will perform her nominated song "Lift Me Up" for the first time at the ceremony, and she'll also have a very special guest: her unborn child. Rih, who previously revealed she's expecting her second child with boyfriend A$AP Rocky , debuted her pregnancy on February 12 while headlining the Super Bowl halftime show. The baby was still in the womb during the Oscars, and someone was very jealous about it.
Rihanna took to Instagram on March 5 to tease her upcoming performance at the Oscars, sharing a photo of her 9-month-old son (who has yet to be named) standing up in his crib, looking very Depressing photo. "When my son found out his siblings were going to the Oscars instead of him," the 25-year-old wrote in the post, tagging Oscar and adding the hashtags #oscarnominee and #oscarperformancein1week . The Fenty Beauty boss also posted a throwback video of her showing him the "Lift Me Up" music video and jokingly calling her son "my fat boy."
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"Lift Me Up" premiered in November 2022 alongside "Wakanda Forever" and is Rihanna's first new song in nearly six years. She co-wrote the melancholy ballad with Afrobeat artist Teems, film director Ryan Coogler and Oscar-winning composer Ludwig Goransson, who were also nominated.
In the best original song category, Rihanna will be paired with Lady Gaga's "Hold My Hand" from Top Gun: Maverick , David Byrne and Mitski's " Everything Everywhere All At Once" ’s “This Is A Life” and Diane Warren’s 14th nomination, “Applause.” songs from Tell It Like A Woman , and "Naatu Naatu" from RRR , which beat out RiRi and Gaga at the 2023 Golden Globes. All of the nominated songs will be performed at the Oscars — except for "Hold My Hand," as the Academy has yet to announce whether Gaga will perform at the ceremony.
While she's not the first to do so, Rihanna joins a small group of artists who performed at the Super Bowl and the Oscars in the same year. Only Phil Collins, who performed at the 2000 halftime show, and fellow nominee Lady Gaga, who sang the national anthem at the 2016 Super Bowl, have accomplished the feat — unless you count Rih's upcoming baby . Considering their first two events are the Super Bowl and the Oscars, Rihanna's second child will have very high standards for their future parties.
