Over the course of Tuesday evening, many nominees and winners were named at The Golden Globes, and this included Wednesday’s star Jenna Ortega talking about the nominees for Best Song. These honorees included Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift, it also included Rihanna for her song in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. As the young actress read through the names she notably pronounced Rihanna’s name as Ri-anna (the correct way) rather than Ri-ah-nah (the common way), and as the clip went viral on TikTok, fans are shook.
The TikTok from Consequence noted that Ortega correctly pronounced it, it currently has over 20 million views and 2 million likes. You can check out the video for yourself here:
@consequence ♬ original sound - consequence
Then, scrolling down, the comments from fans, many of who didn’t realize they’d been pronouncing this year’s Super Bowl halftime performer’s name wrong (myself included), were baffled by the revelation. Like Deeveed, who wrote:
RHI-AWHNA was how I been saying it dammmm
Many comments were also about the moments people realized they had been saying her name wrong, like DisMiss who worte:
Ree-ah-nah is how i say it. Wasnt til a few years ago I heard Rihanna say her name and I was like 🤯
Myracle Maijia pointed out that this is indeed the correct way to say the “Umbrella” singer’s name, posting:
It is “re Anna” Rihanna approved.
Which is true, it is Rihanna approved, as the singer told a journalist at HLN exactly how to pronounce her name. She did confirm that it is pronounced: Ri-anna.
Back over on TikTok, Luma noted that they had seen an evolution in the way people pronounced Rihanna’s name, posting:
When Rihanna first came out, that’s how they pronounced her name on the radio all the time. Then all of a sudden changed it to Ree-Ah-nuh lol
Fenty Beauty, Rihanna’s makeup brand, also confirmed Ortega’s pronunciation, writing:
Miss Wednesday understood the assignment 🗣️
Ortega sure did understand the assignment, and hopefully, that means as Rihanna continues to give us massive performances following the fashion show Savage X Fenty Show Vol. 4 and goes on to perform at the Super Bowl and likely the Oscars, the presenters will get her name right.
I know I personally can’t wait to see the singer perform at the year’s biggest football game this year, and hopefully, that means new music will be released soon. I also think it’s important that this clarification about her name has been put back in the spotlight. This is because she’s going to be a busy bee in 2023, between her new TikTok account, a possible Oscar nomination for the song Ryan Coogler convinced her to make for Black Panther’s sequel, the Super Bowl, maybe new music, and who knows what else, she is always full of surprises. But one thing that is not a surprise or a question is how to say her name.
It’s worth noting that while we wait for all of Rihanna’s exciting upcoming events, you will be able to watch Black Panther: Wakanda Forever with a Disney+ subscription on February 1. And since Jenna Ortega was the one to clarify the pop star's name pronunciation for many, you can watch Wednesday with a Netflix subscription.
