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The 65th Annual Grammy Awards red carpet came and went—and Rihanna was nowhere to be found.
Maybe her absence doesn't come as a total surprise, considering that the "Love on the Brain" singer had no nominations at this year's ceremony. (She was last nominated back in 2018, and even won the golden gramophone for Best Rap/Sung Performance for "Loyalty.")
Still, considering Rihanna's show-stealing arrival at this year's Golden Globe Awards, it's understandable that fans may still have held out hope that they would catch a glimpse of the star on the Grammys red carpet.
Rihanna's lack of nominations at this year's Grammys is simply due to the fact that she hasn't released new music in six years. Though, she finally ended that musical hiatus when she dropped "Lift Me Up," a powerful ballad featured in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. The song went on to nab Rihanna her first Oscar and Golden Globe nominations.
Black Panther director Ryan Coogler previously spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about getting Rihanna to create new music for the second installation of the Marvel franchise. For the movie's closing track, he envisioned a song that could honor the memory of leading star Chadwick Boseman, who died in 2020, as well as reflect the experience of parenthood. (Rihanna recently welcomed her first child, a baby boy, with boyfriend A$AP Rocky in May 2022.)
"It's her experience with loss in there, and her being a mother. She's a new person now. [Parenthood] changes you to your core. I hear it in her voice. It's her, but it's a new her," Coogler told the outlet.
Fans can expect to hear more of Rihanna very soon with her highly anticipated performance for the Super Bowl Halftime Show later this month. She teased the performance in an interview with Reuters.
"It's a challenge that I was willing to accept, and I'm really looking forward to it," she said. "It's going to be a lot of hard work, the biggest thing I've ever done in my entire career."
