Rihanna Releases “Born Again,” Second New Song from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Soundtrack

Rihanna, 34, has released new single “Born Again” on Friday, along with the remainder of Marvel’s soundtrack for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

The soundtrack also features appearances from Tems, Future, Burna Boy, PinkPantheress, Stormzy and more, and those tracks are sandwiched in between Riri’s first two solo songs since her critically praised album, Anti. The album opens with lead single “Lift Me Up,” and closes with her latest, “Born Again.”

“Born Again” starts as yet another ballad, similar to the Tems-written “Lift Me Up,” but eventually transforms into a synthy epic. The track is cowritten by songwriting giants in The-Dream and James Fauntleroy, who of course is to thank for Riri’s 2016 track “James Joint,” with Swedish composer Ludwig Göransson pitching in, too.

The new song hits deep lyrically, touching on loss and bravery. “I’d give my heart to this place,” Rihanna sings. “I’d give my whole soul and whatever it takes, never run away. And I’d relive this just to see your face again. I know that you’d do the same, born again.”

It’s another emotional touch to the Ryan Coogler-directed sequel, which arrived in theaters on Friday, over two years after the death of Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman. The film itself did not recast his titular character of T’Challa as they honored the actor’s legacy and paid their respects with the sequel, after he died in August 2020 following a private battle with colon cancer.

“Lift Me Up,” released last month, led the soundtrack as a nod to Boseman. The song was written by Göransson, Rihanna, Coogler and Tems, who said it was a “great honor” to hear Rih sing the song.

“After speaking with Ryan and hearing his direction for the film and the song, I wanted to write something that portrays a warm embrace from all the people that I’ve lost in my life,” Tems shared in a statement. “I tried to imagine what it would feel like if I could sing to them now and express how much I miss them.”

After waiting patiently for new music, fans of Riri don’t have to wait as long for her to hit the stage again, as the singer will be headlining the Super Bowl Halftime Show in February 2023. News broke back in September when she shared an image on Instagram hinting that she will perform during the NFL event next year. The photo of Rihanna’s hand holds up a Wilson Duke football, was cryptically captioned the post with a single period but it wasn’t hard to figure it out.