New Music: Beyoncé – “Break My Soul”

New Music: Beyoncé – “Break My Soul”

“Break My Soul,” the lead single for Beyoncé’s highly anticipated seventh studio album, Renaissance, came about two hours early and the kids are losing it.

It’s me. I’m the kids.

After years of largely depriving us of truly danceable music, Bey has given us the banger we deserve. Based on samples of Robin S.’s early ’90s classic, “Show Me Love,” and Big Freedia’s “Explode,” “Break My Soul” is a House track with the kind of R&B feeling that cannot be avoided on a Beyoncé song. It feels like a song written specially for millennials — a.k.a. the burnout generation — but after the last few years we’ve had, its lyrics will speak to the hearts of the masses. The hook feels like a battle cry for the overworked, and Big Freedia’s chanting throughout the song makes you want to drop every single thing that’s stressing you out — your job, your shitty friends, you name it.

British Vogue editor-in-chief Edward Enninful had described Renaissance as music that takes him “back to the clubs of [his] youth.” Many thought that meant it was a disco album, but given that he was born in ’72, a dance album always seemed more likely. With “Break My Soul,” we now know what time it is. And we are pleased.

The song was written by BlaqNmilD, Jay-Z, Tricky Stewart, The-Dream and Beyoncé (and produced by the latter three). All songwriters of the sampled tracks — Big Freedia for “Explode,” Fred McFarlane and Allen George for “Show Me Love” — are also credited on “Break My Soul.” As previously reported, Renaissance arrives on July 29.