Track Review: Beyoncé’s ‘Renaissance’ Commences With “Break My Soul”

Bey is back and she’s sleeping real good at night. After six years, Queen Bey has made her grand return with the first taste of RENAISSANCE, her first solo studio album since 2016’s landmark Lemonade. Drawing inspiration from Robin S.’s legendary “Show Me Love,” “Break My Soul” is a sizzling mixture of 90s house and NOLA bounce that transforms a sample of Big Freedia’s “Explode” into a rousing dancefloor anthem of pure unadulterated joy.

Helmed by the same dream team that crafted “Single Ladies,” “Break My Soul” recalls the fearless experimentation of that track while simultaneously continuing the narrative thread from Lemonade. “Break My Soul” arrives at a pivotal moment for house music in the mainstream. From KAYTRANADA (99.9% & BUBBA), Vince Staples (Big Fish Theory), and Tinashe (“Die a Little Bit”) to the latest albums from Lady Gaga (Chromatica) and Drake (Honestly, Nevermind), house music — in a plethora of its regional and cultural subgenres — has been inching its way towards center stage for the better part of the last half-decade. Of course, that’s far from an exhaustive list, and there’s also the vital Black and queer underground (Honey Dijon, Cakes da Killa, Dawn Richard, Rochelle Jordan, Zebra Katz, etc.) that’s been keeping the integrity and authenticity of the culture and music alive regardless of where the mainstream’s attention is directed. It’s time to dance again, and who better than Beyoncé to usher in the official start of summer with an absolute banger?

Rafael Pavarotti

“Break My Soul” is a liberating listen; Big Freedia’s commanding voice heralds Beyoncé’s return with “I'm 'bout to explode, take off this load / Bend it, bust it open, won't ya make it go.” In a cyclical moment of continuity, Freedia also helped Beyoncé close out Lemonade by lending her voice to the iconic album closer “Formation” and appearing on the fifth-to-last stop on The Formation World Tour. Six years removed from Lemonade, Bey has traded the sorrow and weight of that album for the relentless optimism and positivity of house music. Lyrically, “Break My Soul” respects the history of house by crafting a song that aims to inspire and uplift everyone’s spirits. In the song’s first verse, she croons “Now, I just fell in love, and I just quit my job / I'm gonna find new drive, damn, they work me so damn hard”; the third verse gifts us mantras like “We go up and down, lost and found / Searchin' for love / Looking for something that lives inside me.” Up until this point, Beyoncé’s musical output post-Lemonade has been a bit heavy, but “Break My Soul” marks a transition to space that’s lighter, brighter, and more stable and secure.

Parkwood / Columbia

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Beyoncé record without 1) that inimitable, endlessly malleable voice and 2) musical callbacks to her Southern roots. Bey spends the majority of the song in her warm, rich lower register, but when she sneaks into the higher parts of her range for some mind-blowingly crisp belts and riffs, she lifts the song into another stratosphere. Nonetheless, she’s not just singing; “Break My Soul” calls to house chants with the swaggering rap-sung second verse. With a gleeful wink, Bey delivers bars like “The queens in the front and the Doms in the back / Ain't takin' no flicks but the whole clique snapped.” Furthermore, Bey’s trademark vocal stacks and background harmonies contribute to the massive wall of sound that characterizes the engineering of “Break My Soul.” Bey’s new single sounds big. Stuart White grants the song an outstanding mix, blending pounding piano, blaring bass, thumping drums, Big Freedia’s booming commands, Beyoncé’s sultry croons, and the exuberant choir that comes in towards the end. Choirs on uptempo records are always terrific, but, here, the direct reference to gospel house echoes throughout the song’s vocal production from the very first growl to the last impassioned riff. There are myriad elements at play in “Break My Soul,” but the song is engineered with such a steadfast commitment to balance that it never feels overwhelming or one-dimensional. The greatest part of “Break My Soul,” however, is the way Beyoncé & Co. blend the abrasive energy of NOLA bounce with the soulful vigor of house music. It’s a choice that adds some unique character to the song while simultaneously providing a preview for where Beyoncé will take her interpretation of various subgenres of house on the rest of RENAISSANCE.

“Break My Soul” is predictably safe. It is, after all, not only a lead single but also an introduction to a new era of Beyoncé’s career and musical evolution. Structurally, the song does take a few liberties that take a few listens to get accustomed to; the variety between each verse shakes up the verse-chorus structure in a particularly intriguing way. Regardless, this is a song for the dance floor and the summertime if there ever were one. Let the Renaissance begin!

Score: 78