It’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for: Rihanna’s long-awaited return to music… as a Smurf. Paramount Pictures has unveiled the first trailer for its upcoming animated movie Smurfs, in which the pop star voices Smurfette and covers Belinda Carlisle’s 1987 pop classic “Heaven Is a Place on Earth.” Along with a sneak peek at the film’s plot and cast, the trailer also includes a special introduction to the clip by Rihanna as her normal human self, and later on promises more “new music from Rihanna.” Watch it below.
In addition to starring in Smurfs, Rihanna also produced the film and wrote original songs for the soundtrack. “I tried to get the Papa Smurf role, but it didn’t work out,” Rihanna joked back in 2023 when announcing her participation in the film at a CinemaCon event. This is just the latest movie part she’s secured in her acting career, following onscreen roles in Ocean’s 8, Battleship, This Is the End, and Childish Gambino’s Guava Island.
Directed by Chris Miller and Matt Landon, Smurfs hits theaters on July 18. It also stars John Goodman, Natasha Lyonne, Nick Offerman, Octavia Spencer, Sandra Oh, Amy Sedaris, Nick Kroll, and Kurt Russell, among others. Though the franchise is the same, Smurfs differs from 2011’s The Smurfs (starring Katy Perry as Smurfette) and 2017’s Smurfs: The Lost Village (starring Demi Lovato as Smurfette).
Compared to her huge 2023, Rihanna, now the mother of two children with A$AP Rocky, has stayed out of the spotlight lately. That year, she headlined the Super Bowl halftime show and gave updates on her still-unreleased new album. Rihanna also performed her Black Panther: Wakanda Forever single “Lift Me Up” at the Oscars and earned a nomination for Best Original Song; the Academy Award went to M.M. Keeravani and Chandrabose for RRR’s “Naatu Naatu” instead.
Read about Rihanna’s ANTI at No. 12 in “The 200 Best Albums of the 2010s.”
