Queen Bey is back and boy does she mean business. The internet (and Beyhive) feverishly speculated that Beyoncé would be releasing new music, when she started to delete content from her social media platforms. And they were right on the money. The 28-time Grammy winner announced last week that she would be releasing a new studio album, Renaissance, and dropped visuals from her British Vogue July 2022 shoot, via her Instagram.
But she left fans in even more anticipation when she announced on Juneteenth that she would be releasing the lead single from her forthcoming album at the stroke of midnight. The marketing genius then released it a few hours earlier than expected. Break My Soul — an upbeat, house inspired track filled with lyrical affirmations features Big Freedia and samples house music legend Robin S..
Break My Soul shot to number one on the iTunes chart within hours of its release. This is now the second time that Beyoncé has tapped Big Freedia for a collaboration, the first being for her critically acclaimed song Formation, back in 2016. Freedia, known as the “Queen of Bounce” and considered a New Orleans rap legend — has also collaborated with Drake on Nice For What, released in 2018. Break My Soul samples Show Me Love, a house classic originally performed by Robin S., which was released in 1990. The song reached number one on Billboard and is considered by VH1, Complex and The Guardian to be one of the greatest dance songs of all time.
Both Big Freedia and Robin S. spoke about their excitement to be a part of Beyoncé’s Break My Soul record for Renaissance, which is her first album in more than six years.
.@bigfreedia reveals how the collaboration with @Beyonce for #BreakMySoul came to be and gives her thoughts on what she thinks fans can expect from #RENAISSANCE 👑 pic.twitter.com/uvVDPOhO6k
— DC3 SQUAD (@DC3_SQUAD) June 22, 2022
“Thank you so much [Beyoncé] for giving me my flowers while I’m still alive. I am honoured… Maybe we can do a collab together, that’s always a dream.” —Robin S, singer of “Show Me Love” which was sampled on “Break My Soul”pic.twitter.com/l00wmE2v1Y
— #1 RENAISSANCE STAN (@BIacklsKing) June 22, 2022
Twitter (and social media in general) once again did their thing and showed their excitement and funny takes on the newly released single, with countless viral tweets expressing opinions on Break My Soul and house music in general. Michelle Obama even decided to share her thoughts on Beyoncé.
Queen @Beyonce, you’ve done it again! “Break My Soul” is the song we all need right now, and I can't help but dance and sing along while listening to it. Can’t wait for the album! 💃🏿
— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) June 21, 2022
It's time to give the Queen of Bounce, @bigfreedia, her flowers. https://t.co/p2DCh9OoAW pic.twitter.com/CULWV0JwEn
— TIDAL (@TIDAL) June 21, 2022
https://twitter.com/ayem0/status/1539314967337439232?s=12
“Release your trade” is VERY specific, Beyonce lol 👀
— Dewayne Perkins (@DewaynePerkins) June 21, 2022
I’m sorry @beyonce but I cannot and will not release the trade.
— Kalen Allen (@TheKalenAllen) June 21, 2022
Me at brunch with the homies this summer pic.twitter.com/eiZxrIF7z9
— Anthony Moore (@AllThatandMoore) June 21, 2022
Me after listening to Break My Soul: pic.twitter.com/p2Splfvqvi
— 𝑟𝑢𝑚𝑖𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒́ (@rumiyonce) June 21, 2022
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CfDmfzmI7Oa/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
Between the recent release of Drake’s new house inspired album and Beyoncé’s Break My Soul, it seems like we all will be shaking our ass’ this summer to house music. What do you think of Beyoncé’s new single?
Remind me again of Beyoncé’s struggles? Girl has never had a 9-5 in her life and now she wanna tell us all to quit our jobs and find our souls. She perpetuated hustle culture while having every type of help at her disposal. She doesn’t care about your soul, she cares about your wallet.
It’s not that serious babe it’s just a song