What a month: hot on the heels of her Feb. 12 Super Bowl halftime performance, pop superstar Rihanna will perform on the 2023 Oscars telecast on March 12, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Thursday.
The Barbadian singer-songwriter, who is the second-best-selling female music artist of all time, will presumably perform “Lift Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which she co-wrote with Tems, Ryan Coogler and Ludwig Göransson, and which is nominated for the best original song Oscar (marking her first-ever Oscar nom).
Other best song Oscar nominees this year are Diane Warren’s “Applause” from Tell it Like a Woman, Lady Gaga’s “Hold My Hand” from Top Gun: Maverick, “Naatu Naatu” from RRR and David Byrne’s “This Is a Life” from Everything Everywhere All at Once.
This relatively early announcement of Rihanna’s participation could give a further shot of adrenaline to a show that is coming off its two lowest-rated installments ever, but was already primed for a rebound thanks to major nominations for huge blockbusters like Top Gun: Maverick and Avatar: The Way of Water.
Other performers and presenters for the 2023 Oscars will be announced in the coming days.
The 2023 Oscars, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, is set to air on ABC on Sunday, March 12 at 8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT, live from the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood in Los Angeles.
