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With “Break My Soul,” Beyoncé Attempts a House Renaissance

The first single from Beyoncé's Renaissance marks, if not a cultural reset, at least a musical shift for the singer.

Beyoncé, Break My Soul
Photo: YouTube

Beyoncé, the undisputed queen of surprise, dropped her new song, “Break My Soul,” a few hours earlier than expected tonight. The track is the first single from Renaissance, her long-awaited follow-up to 2016’s acclaimed Lemonade.

Produced by Bey, Tricky Stewart, and The-Dream, “Break My Soul” marks, if not a cultural reset, at least a musical shift for the R&B icon. The song samples liberally from both Robin S.’s 1993 hit “Show Me Love” and Big Freedia’s “Explode,” following in the tradition of ’90s house music with a driving kick drum, bouncy keyboards, and gospel flourishes.

Lyrically, “Break My Soul” finds Beyoncé revisiting the familiar theme of self-empowerment—“Motivation/I done found me a new foundation/And I’m taking my new salvation/And imma build my own foundation”—as Big Freedia hypes, “Release your anger/Release your mind,” throughout. The singer delivers a relatively subdued performance—she even raps at one point but is presumably saving the vocal acrobatics for other tracks from the album.

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Listen below:

YouTube video

Renaissance will be released on June 29th on Columbia Records.

Sal Cinquemani

Sal Cinquemani is the co-founder and co-editor of Slant Magazine. His writing has appeared in Rolling Stone, Billboard, The Village Voice, and others. He is also an award-winning screenwriter/director and festival programmer.

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