Beyoncé is back and she’s starting her new era with an empowering dance track for folk who are so done with their draining jobs. The queen dropped the first single off her upcoming multi-part album “Renaissance” today, June 21. “Break My Soul” feels joyous and liberating which makes its post-Juneteenth and Pride month release date fitting.
Pitchfork notes that the track “features two prominent samples: a modified synth melody from Robin S.’ classic house hit ‘Show Me Love’ and a vocal lifted from Big Freedia’s ‘Explode,’ from the 2014 LP ‘Just Be Free’: ‘Release ya anger/Release ya mind/Release ya job/Release the time/Release ya trade/Release ya stress/Release the love/Forget the rest.’”
The song starts with the declaration: “You won’t break my soul.” In the next stanza Beyoncé sings, “Now I just fell in love/And I just quit my job/I’m gonna find new drive/D*mn they work me so d*mn hard/Work by nine/Then off past five/And they work my nerves.” She gets it.
The Beyhive has been tweeting about how it’s giving anti-capitalist and pro-LGBTQIA+ vibes. Catch us blasting the track this Pride weekend.
No news yet on whether or not we’ll get a music video for the song. But if we do get one, we’re guessing from the concept photo that it will be a celebration of Black culture and will include callbacks to ’60s/’70s glam.
As for the rest of “Renaissance,” a source also told Variety earlier this month it will feature both dance and country-leaning tracks. In British Vogue’s cover story on Beyoncé’, editor-in-chief Edward Enninful shares his thoughts on the album when the star played it for him, “Soaring vocals and fierce beats combine and in a split second I’m transported back to the clubs of my youth. I want to get up and start throwing moves. It’s music I love to my core. Music that makes you rise, that turns your mind to cultures and subcultures, to our people past and present, music that will unite so many on the dance floor, music that touches your soul.”
We’re definitely excited to hear the rest.
Photo courtesy of Beyoncé’s Instagram
Follow Preen on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, and Viber