Rihanna Keeps Her Style Simple & Subdued in Her Music Video Return

Rihanna loves nothing more than a good, voluminous coat. She wore a pink puffer to announce her pregnancy, the Balenciaga outfit she donned for her latest trip to the Met Gala was arguably more coat than gown, and she’s not afraid to pull out a floor-length jacket to create a memorable street style look, no matter the temperature. So it only makes sense that, for her first music video since 2017, the newly released clip for the Wakanda Forever soundtrack single “Lift Me Up,” she’s highlighting outerwear.

The song, co-written with Nigerian singer Tems, along with Ryan Coogler and Ludwig Göransson (Wakanda Forever’s director and score composer, respectively), is a solemn ode to late star Chadwick Boseman. Fittingly, Rihanna’s wardrobe choices for the video are subdued, yet undeniably her.

Cut with clips from the upcoming Marvel film, Rihanna stands on a beach as a fire burns in memoriam and the sun slowly sets behind her.

Rihanna wears a light gray dress with a corseted bustier underneath a puffer jacket in a similar shade. (The color palette reflects the gray Rick Owens dress she chose to wear to the film’s premiere earlier this week.) Her hair, likewise, is let loose, and her makeup (all Fenty products, of course) is subdued.

Rihanna took a co-starring role in her partner A$AP Rocky’s “D.M.B.” video earlier this year, but this is the first video she’s made for a song she’s actually appeared on since the clip for N.E.R.D.’s “Lemon” single all the way back in 2017.

She’s teased that “Lift Me Up” is the beginning of an entirely new era. She also has a Super Bowl halftime performance booked for the first quarter of next year, so hopefully we don’t have to wait quite as long for her next music video fashion statement.