At long last, Beyoncé is back.
And as with everything she does, Queen Bey calculated the perfect moment to release “Break My Soul,” the first single from her upcoming seventh studio album, “Renaissance.” Forgoing the usual Friday drop day for new music, the 40-year-old superstar decided to release “Break My Soul” at midnight Monday on the observed Juneteenth holiday, setting off the week leading up to the big New York Pride weekend.
And in one twirling twist, “Break My Soul” is a dance anthem for anyone — whether they’re from the BIPOC community or the LGBTQ one — who has ever felt broken down by society but yet still is a survivor.
“I’m looking for motivation/I’m looking for a new foundation, yeah/And I’m on that new vibration/I’m building my own foundation, yeah,” she sings over a house groove that samples Robyn S.’s 1993 hit “Show Me Love.”
It’s a more pop-friendly turn from Beyoncé after the edgier affair of her critically-acclaimed last studio album, 2016’s “Lemonade.” In fact, “Break My Soul” recalls the dance-floor diva on songs such as “Sweet Dreams” and the criminally overlooked “Blow.”
But the song — which reunites Beyoncé with producing partners Christopher “Tricky” Stewart and The Dream and also features a co-writing credit from her husband Jay-Z — does have one thing in common with her 2016 hit “Formation”: It also includes queer artist Big Freedia, the Queen of Bounce from New Orleans.
Beyoncé samples the 1993 Robin S. hit “Show Me Love” on her new single “Break My Soul.”
Beyoncé’s seventh studio album, “Renaissance,” is due July 29.YouTube / Beyoncé “Release your anger/Release your mind/Release your job/Release the tide/Release your trade/Release the stress/Release your love/Forget the rest,” Big Freedia spits.
And it won’t be hard to “release your wiggle” with “Break My Soul,” which — after Drake’s house album “Honestly, Nevermind” dropped on Friday — signals that music’s biggest stars are taking it all the way to the clubs for the first real summer we’ve had since COVID spoiled the party in 2020.
